M&S confirmed to Just Style the details shared by its MD of Clothing, Beauty and Home, John Lyttle, in a Reuters interview in which he claimed a fashion supply chain overhaul could raise its fashion, beauty and home online operating margin into double digits from the £1.4bn ($1.84bn) it generated in 2024/25.
Crucially, he said he wants to double annual online non-food sales to nearly £3bn and plans to increase the online share of total fashion, home and beauty sales from 34% to 50% in the medium term.
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Lyttle pointed out that, as it stands, the retailer is behind its main competitors, such as Next, by at least 10 percentage points when it comes to online penetration so he sees this as a real opportunity for growth.
He explained that M&S can increase online sales by making better use of the breadth and depth of its product range and promoting its ‘click and collect’ and returns options that exist in more than 1,000 stores to even more customers.
On the fashion supply chain side, M&S is keen to have more long-term partnerships with its suppliers in countries such as China, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to reduce risks.
It has consolidated its suppliers in recent years but Lyttle noted there are still more opportunities to be had from resetting how M&S buys its products. It can also unlock more margin based on its scale, increased cost discipline and reduced complexity.
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By GlobalDataM&S’ supply chain overhaul will include a £120m three-year investment in automation to boost its capacity, cut down on its complexity and provide significant cost savings.
The retailer is investing in robotic technology that will speed up sorting ‘click and collect’ parcels and extend cut-off times for next-day delivery. It is also speeding up the launch of a new planning platform that has a merchandising capability that can automate a task that would’ve been manual in the past.
Lyttle did tell the publication that this automation will not come at the expense of jobs, stating: “Growing our business means we’re moving more product, therefore we need more people to help us do that”.
Earlier this month (November), M&S revealed its fashion, home and beauty segment faced a significant downturn in sales during the first half (H1) of the financial year ending 27 September 2025, largely due to disruptions in online operations caused from a cyber attack.
