US-based technology company Blue Yonder has finished installing its Luminate Planning supply chain solution at British retail chain Marks and Spencer (M&S).
The digital transformation of M&S’s end-to-end supply chain will allow the British retailer to lower costs and enhance stock flow.
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The Cloud-based Luminate Planning solutions portfolio runs on Microsoft Azure. It predicts problems and opportunities and provides actionable recommendations using machine learning.
Luminate Planning also allows users to proactively pivot in response to changes in customers’ shopping behaviour to address demand, especially via online channels.
The solution will allow M&S to provide the right inventory through its distribution network, reduce stock-outs and increase inventory turns, among other actions.
M&S Clothing and Home chief technology officer Matt Horwood said: “As part of our fast-moving Never the Same Again programme, we’re re-engineering our Clothing and Home supply chain. This means ensuring our market-leading demand platform remains up to date.
“We’ve worked collaboratively with Blue Yonder, our long-time supply chain provider, and other partners to digitally transform from on-premises to Cloud-based architecture.
“The ability to access Luminate Planning capabilities will help us increase our supply chain’s speed to be more agile, with a strong, modern, supply chain platform foundation, ultimately better serving our customers online and in-store.”
Working with Blue Yonder is part of M&S’s plan to optimise its supply chain to enhance customer experience.
The two companies collaborated last year when M&S implemented Blue Yonder’s workforce management solution and Microsoft Teams to transform its workforce scheduling for 80,000 colleagues.
In March, M&S expanded its online business with the launch of 46 flagship websites in new markets, doubling its online platform to more than 100 countries.
The company said it was also planning to increase the number of international markets where it has a pureplay online presence to nearly double.
