Extending M&S's Outlet Stores to Online Customer
Domain : Retail
M&S briefed us to launch a new standalone online outlet offering 1,300 clothing products across womenswear, lingerie, menswear and childrenswear, as well as a range of home products. Built on Amazon’s Webstore platform, order management and delivery operations would be handled by Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) which meant M&S didn’t need to make an upfront investment in physical infrastructure.
To start selling excess stock at the earliest possible opportunity, M&S asked us to launch the new outlet in just 5 weeks! In order to design, develop, test,and deploy the new store with a full catalogue available to shoppers to such a demanding timetable, we developed a 2-stage project plan which prioritised the early delivery of a minimum viable product. A stage 2 release soon after the initial launch would incorporate integrations with warehouse management, shipping and refund systems to automate key operational processes.
Approach
For the initial launch, we imported M&S’s entire product catalogue for the outlet which, with all the associated variations in colour, size and price, which amounted to a total of over 55,000 SKU’s. Combining Amazon’s Webstore platform with Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) enabled us to build a highly scalable, robust and secure outlet for M&S, utilising Amazon’s tried and trusted shipping and returns solutions while also enabling shoppers to use their Amazon account to place orders on the site.
Solution
We continued developing the site beyond the initial launch, upgrading the back-end of the new store by integrating Amazon’s Webstore with M&S’s warehouse management system (Red Prairie), DHL’s shipping system and Amazon’s refund system. Automating these processes was essential because, unlike the high street outlets, M&S‘s online outlet would feature regularly refreshed ranges from more recent M&S collections
The standalone online outlet was available for nearly four years before being integrated into the company’s main UK website as M&S Offers. By the end of 2015, M&S’s online outlet had contributed between £8-12 million a year to the company’s revenues, and firmly established itself as an incredibly efficient channel for clearing excess inventory. By extending their popular outlet offering online, M&S had achieved more than just creating a new channel to help clear unsold stock from previous season’s collections. The company had also responded to customers’ increased desire to bag a bargain by offering shoppers access to great value online
