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M&S expanding capacity at online distribution centre

06 Nov '20
4 min read
Pic: M&S
Pic: M&S

M&S is expanding capacity at its online distribution centre at Castle Donington, ahead of the festive season, as the retailer gets set to deliver the most digital Christmas yet. It is investing in people, technology and space to cope with the rush. Customers are turning to online - with Christmas related searches up 80 per cent in comparison to last year.

In August, M&S reported a 39.2 per cent increase in its online sales and has seen over 1.5 million new downloads of its popular app since the relaunch of its Sparks loyalty scheme in July. Customers are already turning to online - with Christmas related searches up 80 per cent on last year.

In preparation, M&S is building capacity at its Leicestershire-based distribution site in three ways.

It is investing in people power. Since July, M&S has recruited 400 new permanent colleagues, and over 500 fixed term colleagues will join for the Christmas period. In line with M&S’s Never the Same Again commitment to build more flexible, efficient teams across the business, all new colleagues are now trained in a minimum of two of the four core tasks (receiving products, putting products away, picking products and packing products) helping to create a more agile workforce.

Keeping in view safety and wellbeing of employees, the Castle Donington site has adapted quickly with hygiene and social distancing measures in place from the outset - from door closing devices to increased cleaning schedules to perspex screens between workstations. All new colleagues complete an induction that covers all aspects of health and safety and emphasises the importance of the measures that have been in place throughout the pandemic continuing.

The company is also introducing new technology. Since it first opened in 2012, the site at Castle Donington has used high levels of automated technology. Ahead of Christmas, supporting M&S’s people are two new “Autobagger” machines - nicknamed Percy and Penny. These new machines can each pack 2,000 items every hour, and like the rest of the site, are powered by 100 per cent renewable energy - with 25 per cent coming from the solar panels installed on the roof at Castle Donington.

Additionally, the team is achieving operational efficiencies through the application of Microsoft Power BI and improving ways of working through utilising the communications platform Microsoft teams. M&S Teams usage has quadrupled during the pandemic.

The company is also adding extra, more efficient space. Last year M&S completed the build of its new mezzanine floor at Castle Donington and it is fully operational for Christmas 2020. The record despatch from the mezzanine last year was 50,000 single items - this year the team is aiming for 75,000 by utilising updated picking and packing IT logic. This IT mapping has made the routes colleagues follow more efficient - meaning they can pick 15 per cent more product but walk the same distance.

Paul Burns, M&S’s clothing and home head of logistics said, “We’re set up to ensure our colleagues can safely help our customers shop online with confidence this Christmas – from great new team members to investing in our tech.”

In addition to improvements at Castle Donington, M&S is utilising its advantage as a bricks and click retailer to support accelerated online growth. Teams at 140 M&S stores are already picking online orders, for click and collect and home delivery, in order to support growing demand. During the pandemic M&S has flexibly switched on this service and has an additional 100 stores set up and ready to pack orders in response to local demand.

Following customer shopping changes during the pandemic, over 40 per cent of M&S parcels are now collected at an M&S Food-only store versus just 30 per cent last year. Following a successful trial at four stores, during November M&S is extending its new contactless Click and Collect service to a further twelve stores.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SV)

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