British clothing retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Decoded has established a new retail data academy, M&S Data Academy.

The new initiative will upskill its employees and strengthen its ongoing digital transformation efforts across the business.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

Under its Data Leadership programme, the company will provide training for its leadership team to help familiarise them with technology such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Employees from various domains, including store managers, visual merchandisers, finance and buying executives will undergo training.

The Data Fellowship in-work data science skills programme will also provide an opportunity to learn data analytics tools such as R and Python, as well as adopt technologies such as machine learning.

“The creation of the M&S Data Academy will upskill colleagues and provide them with an in-depth level of digital literacy.”

After completion of the programme, participants will receive a data analytics qualification accredited by the British Computing Society.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

M&S chief executive Steve Rowe said: “This is our biggest digital investment in our people to date and the creation of the M&S Data Academy will upskill colleagues and provide them with an in-depth level of digital literacy, as well as a data analytics qualification.

“Transformation of our business is key to survival and a huge part of this lies with our colleagues. We need to change their digital behaviours, mindsets and our culture to make the business fit for the digital age and our partnership with Decoded will enable us to do this.”

The Data Fellowship is funded by Apprenticeship Levy, a government organisation established to help the UK workforce to increase their skills.