These are no ordinary availability issues ...

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is targeting availability improvements with a tranche of measures, according to Steve Mulvey, logistics manager, foods.

Mulvey said any store availability issues were not down to one cause. "It could be that we haven't bought enough product, that it's not available or that there are systems accuracy problems or picking errors.

"There are a number of solutions. We're focusing on core lines, availability and making sure that the range is deep enough and the supply is there. We're using technology to minimise mispicks."

He said M&S was trialling voice picking in depots serving its BP-franchised Simply Food stores and one of its regional distribution centres. However, it still had one eye on moving to radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging technology. "Our main depot ops are moving to mechanical sorters with RFID. The end results will be better accountability and availability."