25th March 2026

M&S gives every Store Manager and every Store Support Centre colleague latest AI tools with 11,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses

  • 11,000 colleagues, including every store manager, will be given generative AI and Agentic AI tools to help with day-to-day tasks
  • M&S has purchased 11,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses and will roll out an AI training programme for all users
  • Colleagues can use AI to complete time-consuming tasks like compiling data and sales insights, summarising meeting notes and creating shift rotas and handovers
  • Store Manager time will be freed up to focus on serving customers, improving availability and supporting their teams
  • Modernising retail through technology and digital transformation is a strategic priority as M&S reshapes for growth

 

M&S is giving every Store Manager and support centre colleague AI and AgenticAI tools to make tasks like accessing data and analysis quicker and simpler, freeing up time to focus on customers and colleagues.

M&S is purchasing 11,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licences, supported by a training and development programme to help colleagues adopt and make full use of the AI support available to them. A deeper partnership with Microsoft is supporting the use of AI at scale across the organisation.

Now M&S Store Managers will have AI at their fingertips, helping them to turn data into clear highlights and trends in seconds. With their own AI assistant producing meeting notes, sales insights, rotas and shift handovers, colleagues will have more time to serve customers and support their teams.

In the Stores Support Centre, Microsoft 365 Copilot will draft meeting updates and trading summaries fast, as well as turning complex reporting into recommendations and actions that will help M&S colleagues get closer to customers.

M&S CEO Stuart Machin said:  

“We’re already embedding AI across M&S – supporting stock forecasting and ordering, generating marketing materials, and powering a colleague help hub with AI agents. Now 11,000 colleagues will have AI support at their fingertips, pulling together summaries from multiple sources and giving them the data, analytics and insights they need in seconds.

“As we reshape M&S for growth, scaling the use of AI is central to our technology transformation and today’s announcement is just one of the steps forward on that journey.”

Nicole Ritchie, Clapham Common Store Manager, who has been using Microsoft Copilot said:

“I already love using AI in my daily tasks. Every morning I ask Copilot to pull together my morning huddle and shift handover notes. I can’t wait to see how Microsoft 365 Copilot will take this to the next level, using data and information from different sources to focus on clear actions and talking points, all ready for me to share with my team. This will free up more time to spend with my team serving our customers.”

 Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK & Ireland, said:

“It’s great to see M&S driving AI-powered transformation of the retail sector. By putting Copilot into the hands of the people closest to its customers, M&S is turning store data into clear actions and insights, enabling teams to spend more time delivering exceptional service to customers on the shop floor.”