M&S downplays teething problems at Castle Donington site

Marks & Spencer has insisted that customer service will not be affected by teething problems at its new non-food warehouse in Castle Donington.

Sky News reported last night that the 900,000 sq ft warehouse in Leicestershire had been hit by IT glitches that had prompted M&S trading directors to express concern that allowing their stock to flow through the site would disrupt availability.

M&S opened the warehouse in April. It will eventually fulfil all of M&S’s online orders.

However, the retailer said it was still early days for Castle Donington and that the original plan was to ramp up capacity gradually over the next 18 months.

“We’ve said from day one that operations at Castle Donington will build over a long period of time to protect customer service, nothing’s changed and it’s early days on site as we follow the ramp-up plan,” it said.

At the weekend, M&S revealed that 12 leading British women including Tracey Emin and Helen Mirren would be fronting a new ad campaign for the autumn/winter clothing collection.

The new clothing collection is the first from the new non-food management team led by M&S’s former executive director of food John Dixon. The team was drafted in last year to turn around the performance of the division.