IBM and Acuver Consulting create seamless online and in-store experiences for customers of Marks & Spencer Reliance India

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it is helping the world renowned U.K retailer Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd (M&S India) modernize its supply chain to drive seamless integration between online and in-store business to improve the customer experience. M&S is scaling its omnichannel capabilities in India with IBM Sterling Supply Chain Solutions. The company is driving faster delivery of products to customers by streamlining the order fulfilment process using IBM Sterling’s Order Management with real-time Inventory Visibility, a microservices-based solution running on IBM Cloud, along with call center capabilities to expand its digital presence and accelerate business growth.

This transformation project is a result of IBM’s collaboration with IBM Business Partner Acuver Consulting Pvt. Ltd. (Acuver) to help M&S India deploy an omnichannel order management system for faster go-to-market, enhanced order fulfilment capabilities and improved customer experience. The robust, scalable and customized unified order management and fulfilment system for M&S India provides order orchestration capabilities with seamless integration across e-commerce marketplaces, digital and physical store environments. The solution is integrated with Salesforce Commerce Cloud along with existing enterprise applications to create a seamless omnichannel shopping experience for M&S customers in India. The ability to see all available inventory and offer a precise promising date across fulfilment channels will help M&S India better meet evolving customer demand, while also helping to improve inventory productivity and cost efficiencies.

Organizations across the world are focussed on rebuilding their supply chains by modernising them for control, integrity, and increased agility to better meet the customer requirements. According to the recent IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), in association with the National Retail Federation (NRF), more than half of retail (58%) and consumer products (55%) executives are focused on building agility to adapt faster to changes in demand. Aligned to this market trend, the solution offers common inventory publish mechanism to distribute stock across M&S’s own website and marketplaces, and offers easy identification and tracking of operational issues for speedy resolution. With this comprehensive and easy to use solution, M&S customer associates will attain a holistic view on the store fulfilment capabilities to make more informed decisions on order sourcing and delivery status to help meet customer expectations.

Vishal Kapil, Chief Technology Officer, Marks & Spencer India said, “M&S is one of the most accessible international fashion brands in India. Addressing the shift in consumer dynamics we have expanded our digital capabilities and modernized our technology stack using IBM Sterling Supply Chain solutions to bring our online and store technologies closer to deliver seamless omnichannel experience to our customers. Acuver’s technical excellence, understanding of the supply chain & approach to solve problem enabled seamless implementation and timely delivery.”

Viswanath Ramaswamy Vice President, Technology, IBM Technology Sales, IBM India / South Asia said, “To succeed in a competitive consumer market like India, retailers are pivoting towards establishing dynamic and responsive supply chain which is interconnected to their ecosystem and processes. To address this shift, IBM is collaborating with ecosystem partner Acuver Consulting to help M&S India leverage IBM Sterling Supply Chain solutions for end-to-end visibility, real-time insights and recommended actions to turn disruptions into opportunities for customer engagement, growth and profit.”

Sunny Nandwani, Founder & MD, Acuver Consulting Pvt. Ltd. said, “M&S Omnichannel transformation program required a consulting and implementation partner experienced in ‘Unified Order Management’ space. With a decade of expertise in making supply chain seamless and proven track record, Acuver was selected for its combined expertise in technology & retail business understanding. In close collaboration with M&S, Acuver ensured robust governance and strong project management, while still allowing flexibility and change management, to deliver on time & efficient implementation.”

Acuver Consulting is part of IBM’s partner ecosystem, which enables partners of all types – whether they build on, service or resell IBM hybrid cloud and AI technologies and platforms – to help clients manage and modernize workloads.