M&S Buys Assets of Personalised Shopping Firm Thread

UK-based retailer Marks & Spencer has acquired the brand, technology and data of personalised fashion marketplace Thread, which has gone into administration. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Thread combined the expertise of stylists with artificial intelligence, to provide individually tailored outfit ideas and style advice, while offering access to a personalised shop comprising more than 1,000 brands in one place. The firm's app provides outfit ideas based on each person's appearance, body shape, style, hair colour, and likes and dislikes in terms of brands and colours.

M&S says that in recent years it has generated value through its customer data and personalising offers, and by providing repeat purchase and product recommendations. According to the company, its 'frequently bought together' recommendations are estimated to have been worth an incremental £20m of revenue over the last twelve months, and M&S anticipates that personalisation will generate more than £100m of annualised incremental revenue for the business.

Thread's founders Kieran O'Neil and Ben Phillips are joining M&S, which is also hiring 30 of the firm's former data scientists, software engineers and styling and creative team members. This team will lead the integration and form a new Personalised Discovery team within the M&S Data and Digital function.

O'Neil comments: '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'.

Web sites: www.marksandspencer.com and www.thread.com .