M&S customer data 'failings' trigger Sparks investment

Marks & Spencer is investing “well north of £200m” in a tech upgrade to put the Sparks loyalty scheme at the core of its operations, after admitting that, despite running the scheme for a decade, “today, customer data is not very powerful for us, but tomorrow it’ll be the way we talk to people”.

That is according to chair Archie Norman, who was speaking at the Retail Technology Show and maintained: “We don’t want to be left behind.”

The Sparks programme has been under fire virtually since its 2015 launch, with former Tesco Clubcard chief Grant Harrison accusing the retailer of going down a dead end, insisting that it was “just paint by numbers loyalty”.

Others have claimed the programme is confusing for shoppers and is far too reliant on discounting, with promotions rarely based on customers’ shopping habits.

Even so, M&S claims that there are over 18 million members of the scheme.

The new revamp – the latest in a long line – was first flagged up last year when CEO Stuart Machin confirmed that the retailer was working on a plan to “rethink” the current offer, which he wants to be “highly personalised”.

Norman went further by insisting: “We want to be the most personalised retailer in Britain. We’re trying to make Sparks as a way to talk to people as individuals so we understand what you shop for and what you like.

“We don’t want to talk to you about things that are not relevant to you.”

He believes other retailers are likely to spend similar money on improving their IT systems, but understands it is one of the most challenging times in retail.

“There is an explosion in spending on technology …driven by in cloud data storage demands in part, which is ballooning. That is a key reason why IT costs are going up across the board.

“Headwinds now on costs are the greatest they’ve ever been,” he added. “It’s the nature of the business to be on the front line and constantly driving forward.”