Here's why M&S is a technology and data company as retail giant quietly rebuilds the plumbing
There’s something quietly remarkable about a 140-year-old retailer such as Marks and Spencer behaving like a data company and adopting AI in a strategic way. So says retail technology veteran, Claudio B. Landsberg.
In its latest annual results, M&S reported sales above £17.4 billion, and included within its report was £140 million going into AI, e-commerce and supply chain automation, and a line about using AI “selectively, where it reduces cost or improves decisions” - pricing, waste, personalisation. Earlier this year it put AI tools in the hands of 11,000 colleagues, including every store manager.
Landsberg commented: "What strikes me isn’t that M&S is adopting AI. Everyone says they are. It’s how deliberately it’s doing it. A company selling clothes and food since 1884 has every excuse to treat technology as someone else’s game. Instead it’s quietly rebuilding the plumbing - supply chain, planning, pricing, the data underneath the decisions - rather than chasing the shiniest front-end trend. One of its own tech leads put it well recently: the experimentation phase is over; what matters now is what actually works."
He added: "That’s the part the AI conversation in retail tends to skip. The headline grabbing stuff is the customer facing magic. The durable advantage is far less glamorous - it’s whether the data running underneath the business is clean, connected and trusted enough to make a decision on. M&S seems to understand that the moat isn’t the feature you can see. It’s the infrastructure you can’t."
"A 140-year-old brand may turn out to be more “tech company” than half the brands that call themselves one - not because it moves fastest, but because it invests where it compounds."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
