Marks & Spencer is moving at an accelerated pace to reshape its clothing and home business by leaning heavily into AI, social media and personalised online experiences. With social spend surging and AI embedded across its media and merchandising operations, M&S aims to grow market share and margins while appealing to younger shoppers who discover and buy online.
M&S has rebalanced its marketing mix, investing in short form and video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube at parity with traditional TV content. Social channel investment rose by 79 percent year on year, reflecting a strategic shift to capture Gen Z attention and build long term brand relevance.
Key moves include:
• Equal budget allocation for TikTok and YouTube content alongside TV
• Increased paid search and programmatic spend across Meta, YouTube and Google
• Creative tailored to platform behaviours to boost discovery and conversion
This pivot supports M&S’s wider objective of growing clothing and home market share by 1 percent and achieving an operating margin above 10 percent by the 2028 financial year.
AI and personalisation powering faster commerce
Artificial intelligence plays a central role in M&S’s online refresh. The retailer is using generative AI to create up to 80 percent of product descriptions, accelerating time to market and ensuring consistent, SEO friendly content. In parallel, in house AI models and partner tools power personalised recommendations and customer experiences.
Personalisation features include:
- Tailored homepages based on customer behaviour
- Language, body shape, size and style quizzes to enhance styling advice
- Recommendation engines for cross sell and upsell
These enhancements aim to reduce friction, improve relevance and increase average order value while supporting organic search performance with optimized product copy.
M&S has also invested in live shopping, a channel designed to replicate the immediacy of in store discovery online. Live shows now average 17,000 visitors per episode and have generated over £14 million in participation revenue since launch. This format boosts engagement, creates urgency and feeds social content back into wider marketing campaigns.
Omnichannel signals show progress:
• Active online customers reached 9.4 million
• Two thirds of new clothing and home customers started with online visits
• The M&S app now drives 44 percent of online orders, up from 37 percent last year
These metrics indicate stronger digital loyalty and an increasingly app centric purchase journey.
Business impact and strategic implications
By combining AI led merchandising, heavy investment in social video and a growing live commerce format, M&S is targeting measurable growth in market share and profitability. The strategy reflects a broader industry trend where legacy retailers reinvent customer experiences to attract younger demographics and compete with digitally native brands.
For marketers and retail leaders, the M&S approach offers several lessons:
• Rebalance media spend to include emerging platforms that reach younger audiences
• Use generative AI to scale content production while maintaining SEO and brand voice
• Integrate live commerce into the omnichannel mix to drive engagement and revenue
Conclusion and call to action
Marks & Spencer’s accelerated digital transformation shows how combining AI, social media and personalised experiences can drive online growth and deepen customer relationships. Retailers that prioritise platform specific content, scalable AI workflows and seamless omnichannel journeys will be best placed to capture Gen Z shoppers and convert discovery into repeat sales.
Want to explore how AI and social commerce can reshape your retail strategy Contact our team to discuss use cases, implementation roadmaps and measurement approaches that deliver ROI.
