Manor Fresh using M&S supplier portal

The cloud-based portal in use by M&S supplier Manor Fresh

Marks & Spencer has introduced a portal for its fresh food suppliers to improve efficiency and decrease the potential for human error.

The retailer is aiming to improve product availability for customers by replacing its “out of date, 20-year-old fresh food supply chain network, which left little room for growth,” according to M&S’s fresh food supply chain manager, Lee Warner.

The cloud-based portal has been designed for improved product visibility across the supply chain and more efficiency, removing the need for manual data input by suppliers.

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Created with Logistics Reply, the online portal allows incoming products to become instantly visible to M&S as they are despatched from each supplier.

Fresh product suppliers for M&S now use mobile scanners to scan product data into the portal and instantly create notices in compliance with M&S standards.

The portal was developed with M&S and a steering group of four of its key suppliers.

Warner said it would mean “a much faster, efficient and more accurate supply chain”.