Yahoo Finance M&S to roll out hundreds of self-service tills in cost-cutting drive
Marks & Spencer has vowed to push on with adding more self-checkouts across its stores after hundreds were installed in a bid to cut costs.
The retailer revealed it had added 800 self-checkout tills to stores over the past year in an effort to make its shops more efficient. The roll-out is part of plans to save £150m this year.
At some stores, around 70pc of food sales are now made through either self-service checkouts or the retailer’s Scan and Shop mobile phone app.
M&S has recently been speeding up the introduction of unmanned tills into its clothing and homeware stores, adding 300 in the past year.
Chief executive Stuart Machin said there were no plans to pause a roll-out despite criticism from some charities and customers.
Campaigners have raised concerns that self-checkout tills can be difficult to use for elderly or disabled customers.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Many older people also really enjoy the human interaction they get from speaking to a member of staff at the till.”
Silver Voices, a charity, added that the tills could be “uncomfortable and inconvenient” for some older customers, while disabled shoppers would also find it impossible “juggling heavy items in front of self service tills to find the barcode”.
Earlier this year, M&S faced a backlash on Twitter after one wheelchair user said the checkouts were too high for her to use, while others were too close together.
M&S said at the time that its checkouts met accessibility standards but that it took customer feedback seriously.
Mr Machin said the retailer was being very sensitive to feedback and watching customer reaction “very carefully”. M&S has stressed customers will always have the choice to go to manned tills.
Expansion of self-service tills is part of wider efforts to cut costs by more than £400m over the next five years. M&S was hit by inflation in its latest financial year, revealing an 8pc fall in profits before tax and adjusting items to £482m.
Mr Machin said the retailer had faced “significant headwinds”, including inflationary pressures.
M&S is grappling to offset an additional £50m in energy costs and a £100m increase in staff pay this year.
In its latest financial year, it said store staffing costs were down overall, despite pay rises.
The fall in staffing costs combined with pay rises suggests M&S has reduced the overall number of people it employs.
Sales were up across the business in the year to April 1 despite falling profits, with clothing & home revenues up by more than 11pc.
The retailer said this was helped by strong sales of denim and men’s office wear, where it has focused on separates rather than full suits. Sales of chinos grew by 25pc compared with a year earlier.
Food sales jumped by 8.7pc in the year, as M&S chose not to pass all its cost increases through to customers. More shoppers turned to its “Dine In” food deals during the year, as households swapped going out to restaurants for meals at home.
The company said it expected market conditions to become more challenging over the next 12 months.
M&S hopes to reintroduce shareholder payouts in the coming year, despite the economic pressures. It last paid a dividend in the year to March 2020, before the effects of the pandemic were fully felt.
Shares in M&S jumped as much as 15pc on Wednesday as investors cheered signs that the retailer’s turnaround strategy was bearing fruit.
The retailer is currently in the middle of a store overhaul, which will leave it with 180 larger stores that stock clothing and homeware, down from 247 currently. It is also aiming to have 400 food stores.
