M&S will continue to harness AI-powered solution WasteInsight to tackle food waste as part of its sustainability commitments, as it seeks to become a net zero business across its value chain by 2040.
Since launching in 2007, M&S’ Plan A has underpinned the retailer’s ESG vision and in 2021 it reset its Plan A goals, aiming to become net zero across all operations by 2040. Alongside responsible sourcing, reducing carbon emissions and recycling, food waste reduction is among the ten immediate priority areas M&S identified for transformation on its journey to net zero.
M&S first partnered with Retail Insight in 2021, and deployed WasteInsight. The platform has delivered dynamic markdown strategies to help M&S reduce food waste, while increasing sell-through.
WasteInsight puts retailers in control of food waste through data-led, actionable insights that support businesses’ entire waste journeys. Analysing foundational retail data, the solution applies a Machine Learning (ML) model to provide dynamic markdown prices that encourage sell-through and reduce waste.
As well as enabling dynamic discounts, WasteInsight also addresses expiration management, offers more efficient donations to charities and drives improved forecasting accuracy, allowing retailers to sell more while wasting less.
Chris Thomas, head of product for store operations at M&S, commented: “Our collaboration with Retail Insight over the past three years has been incredibly impactful. The WasteInsight solution has delivered significant waste reduction benefits over the past three years, as well as improving overall operational efficiency. We look forward to continuing to work with the Retail Insight team to help us meet our net zero targets.”
A company profile in the UK 360° looks at how M&S has grown from a market stall in 1884 to a food, fashion and homewares business invested in multichannel retail.
Argos, Asos, Currys, John Lewis, Schuh, Screwfix and Tesco are also profiled, which offers a briefing on the UK market as a whole, how shoppers buy and want to buy, the retailers, brands and marketplaces that are succeeding in this market, and the services that the most successful provide to their customers.
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