What: The retailer is introducing more than 800 self-checkout tills and furthering developments to scan and pay as it looks to cut costs and make stores more efficient.

Why it is important: M&S has saved GBP 150 million in costs this year by investing in technology to increase retail efficiency.

The retailer is looking to cut costs by more than GBP 400 million over the next five years with many store initiatives including rolling out hundreds more self-service tills.

While around 70% of food sales at some stores are made through self-service checkouts or the retailer’s mobile app, M&S may face some challenges as evidence has shown that shoppers still prefer using traditional checkouts.

M&S stated that it’s monitoring customer reaction and feedback to self-checkout and stressed that traditional checkouts will still be available.

M&S to press ahead with self-service till rollout