By Graham Hayday, 23 August 2002 11:49
NEWS Marks & Spencer's new chief executive is planning to install technology that will tell shoppers when their clothes clash. Roger Holmes, who takes up the post in just over a week's time, is also keen to deploy microchips that will warn people when food passes its sell-by date. In an interview with The Times, Holmes said: "I really want to grasp the technological advances. As the cost of microchips comes down, you can put them in food trays and in clothing." Embedding chips in this way would also help M&S improve its supply chain management. Adding them to the retailer's clothing lines would enable shoppers to scan a garment in the dressing room and see how it matched other clothes, he said. Furthermore, if a garment was accidentally put on the wrong washing machine cycle, the chip would inform the user. Holmes added: "All those things were felt until relatively recently a very, very long way out, but it has got to the point where we are now needing to trial and develop some of these things." He refused to comment on the likely cost of developing such services. A spokeswoman told silicon.com that the company was "actively looking" at such technologies, but wouldn't be drawn on any specifics.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below