Marks & Spencer is giving all store managers and support centre staff Microsoft AI assistants to free them up from time-consuming administrative tasks.
The AI will be able to complete tasks such as compiling data and sales insights, summarising meeting notes and creating shift rotas, giving store managers more time to focus on customer service, availability and team support.
M&S has bought 11,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licences – one for each store manager and support centre employee – and will provide an AI training programme for all users.
M&S said a deeper partnership with Microsoft was supporting the use of AI at scale across the company.
“We’re already embedding AI across M&S – supporting stock forecasting and ordering, generating marketing materials, and powering a colleague help hub with AI agents,” said M&S CEO Stuart Machin.
“Now, 11,000 colleagues will have AI support at their fingertips, pulling together summaries from multiple sources and giving them the data, analytics and insights they need in seconds.
“As we reshape M&S for growth, scaling the use of AI is central to our technology transformation and today’s announcement is just one of the steps forward on that journey.”
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Clapham Common store manager Nicole Ritchie, who is already using Microsoft Copilot, said: “I already love using AI in my daily tasks. Every morning, I ask Copilot to pull together my morning huddle and shift handover notes.
“I can’t wait to see how Microsoft 365 Copilot will take this to the next level, using data and information from different sources to focus on clear actions and talking points, all ready for me to share with my team. This will free up more time to spend with my team serving our customers.”
Microsoft UK & Ireland CEO Darren Hardman said: “It’s great to see M&S driving AI-powered transformation of the retail sector. By putting Copilot into the hands of the people closest to its customers, M&S is turning store data into clear actions and insights, enabling teams to spend more time delivering exceptional service to customers on the shop floor.”
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