Marks & Spencer has acquired the intellectual property, including the source code and algorithms, of the Thread personalized fashion marketplace.
The acquisition allows the British retailer to integrate the technology into its own e-commerce platform “to accelerate personalization and create a unique customer experience,” Marks & Spencer announced on Wednesday. The personalization options for own and third-party brands are to be used in the clothing sector.
The company expects that 20 to 25 percent of digital interactions will be personalized this year. Outfit recommendations are said to have proven to be particularly valuable. Recommendations such as “products often bought together” are said to have increased sales by 20 million British pounds in the past twelve months. M&S expects personalization to add more than £100m in annual sales.
The acquisition should integrate the personalization strategy in less than a year. It would take retailers three years to build their own strategy, Marks & Spencer said. To help drive the strategy, M&S is bringing on 30 people from Thread across the data science, software technology, styling and creative teams. Among them are founders Kieran O’Neil and Ben Phillips, who launched Thread in 2012. O’Neil will assume the position of Senior Head of Product at Marks & Spencer effective December
“We’ve been working hard to offer better and more stylish ranges and this algorithm will bring customers even more of our great products while continuing to leverage the potential of our third-party branding strategy by adding product ideas to complete outfits,” said Katie Bickerstaffe, Co-CEO of Marks & Spencer.