// M&S has acquired the IP of fashion personalisation website Thread after it plunged into administration
// The tech will help M&S personalise clothing to its online customers, and could help drive £100m of additional revenue a year
M&S has snapped up the intellectual property of fashion personalisation website Thread, which has collapsed into administration.
The pre-pack deal includes Thread’s source codes and algorithms that will be integrated into the M&S website.
This will allow M&S to recommend clothes based on style, size and budget.
The retailer will also hire 30 of Thread’s staff, including founders Kieran O’Neill and Ben Phillips.
M&S already uses personalisation techniques to drive additional sales. For example, it has boosted sales by £20 million by recommending items that are frequently bought together to customers.
M&S co-chief executive Katie Bickerstaffe expects personalisation to help boost sales by £100 million a year.
She said: “In the next 12 to 18 months we are targeting 50%t of digital customer interactions to be personalised [versus 20-25% this year]. The integration of Thread technology will enable us to take personalisation to the next level.
“We have been working hard to deliver better, more stylish ranges and this algorithm will also put more of our great product in front of the customer.”
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Thread co-founder O’Neill added: “We have worked for the past ten years on building the most advanced AI personalisation for online fashion, proven to increase customer conversion and repeat orders.
“We’re so excited to join forces with M&S; through their infrastructure and support, we’re able to take our market-leading technology to the next level, providing a personalised and unique shopping experience for their 30 million customers.”
Bickerstaffe is leading a turnaround of M&S’ clothing business, which had been in decline for years.
In its half-year results, unveiled earlier this month, clothing and home was the “standout performer”, with like-for-like sales surging 13.7% as its bounceback gathered pace.
Online has played a pivotal role in the turnaround as the retailer has added a raft of third-party brands to its website to attract new shoppers.
Last week, it revealed it is adding clothes from brands including Ted Baker, Superdry, Lyle and Scott and Musto to M&S.com to strengthen its menswear offering ahead of the crucial Christmas trading period.
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