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 LuminateTM Planning so M&S can quickly pivot to consumers’ rapidly changing shopping patterns in order to address demand, particularly across online channels.
Blue Yonder’s Luminate Planning, a cloud-based solutions portfolio built on Microsoft Azure, provides M&S with a more accurate view into demand by consolidating and synchronizing 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 minimizing stock-outs and maximizing inventory turns.
Implementing Blue Yonder’s solution is an important early step in M&S’s supply chain modernization 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.”
“By migrating to our cloud-based solution built on Microsoft Azure, M&S now has a more adaptive supply chain that can quickly pivot as customer demand changes – whether in stores, online or other channels,” said Johan Reventberg, president, EMEA, Blue Yonder. “M&S is a very strategic customer for Blue Yonder, we continue to enable the M&S transformation journey hand-in-hand with our strategic partners. It is exciting to participate in the acceleration of M&S’s transformation into a leaner, faster, bolder business.”
As strategic partner to M&S, Blue Yonder and Microsoft, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) played a critical role in executing the journey to the cloud by leading the overall program delivery and implementing sophisticated data and integration patterns. TCS also supported the enhancement of Power BI reports to M&S business KPIs to enhance visibility on its business performance.
“With the help of our long-standing partner, Blue Yonder, TCS delivered a complex and business critical program to support M&S in their digital transformation journey,” said Abhijit Niyogi, vice president and business head – Retail, Europe, Tata Consultancy Services.
This new deployment is the latest example of Blue Yonder working in collaboration with M&S and other tech partners as part of the retailer’s transformation. Last year, M&S combined Blue Yonder’s workforce management solution and Microsoft Teams to ensure that each of its stores has the right colleague working the right shift at the right time; M&S’s workforce can see and swap shifts, review their schedule and make changes as needed no matter where they are.