Blue Yonder completes M&S Clothing & Home project

With consumer demand and shopping preferences changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers need an even more strategic approach to forecasting and fulfillment. That’s why Marks & Spencer (M&S)  has been working with Blue Yonder, as part of M&S’s plans to reduce costs and improve stock flow by re-engineering its end-to-end supply chain. Blue Yonder has now completed implementation of its demand and fulfillment capabilities through Luminate^TM Planning so M&S can quickly pivot to consumers’ rapidly changing shopping patterns in order to address demand, particularly across online channels.  

Luminate Planning, is cloud-based solutions portfolio built on Microsoft Azure, and provides M&S with a more accurate view into demand by consolidating and synchronising demand signals, as well as external variables across the retailers’ 1,000 stores. M&S can now evaluate demand scenarios and use prescriptive recommendations to make more accurate decisions; from staging the right inventory through the distribution network to minimising stock-outs and maximising inventory turns.  

Implementing Blue Yonder’s solution is an important early step in M&S’s supply chain modernisation and provides a strong foundation for its supply chain, removing barriers to further accelerate the supply chain speed to provide the best service for its customers. For M&S colleagues it offers a better experience with a modern, user-friendly and highly-configurable solution to respond to fast changes in the market.  

“As part of our fast-moving Never the Same Again programme we’re re-engineering our Clothing & 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,” said Matt Horwood, chief technology officer, M&S Clothing &Home. “The ability to access new Luminate Planning capabilities will help us increase the speed of our supply chain to be more agile, with a strong, modern, supply chain platform foundation – ultimately better serving our customer online and in-store.”