The first phase of work will be finished in the summer of 2006, with Amazon Services Europe providing the technology behind the website, in-store and telephone ordering systems and customer services systems. M&S will remain responsible for the management of the site, as well as warehousing and distribution.
Stuart Rose, chief executive of M&S, admitted yesterday that the retailer had fallen behind competitors and not made the most of the boom in online shopping.
"Frankly, we ought to be better at it than we are. We are going to have to invest money in it for more functionality and we decided to use somebody else rather than do it on our own," he said.
At the moment, M&S sells homewares and clothing on its website, but reports say that the retailer will consider selling food online in the future.
Steven Sharp, director of marketing and e-commerce at Marks & Spencer, said: "Marks & Spencer already has a successful website with more than 24m visits every year, but our e-commerce and customer ordering capabilities have yet to reach their full potential. A partnership with Amazon will help us achieve this, while allowing us to concentrate on our core business of retailing."
Amazon has a similar deal in the UK with the booksellers Books etc and Waterstone's, and in the US with retail giants including Target and Borders.
Mark Stabingas, senior vice-president of worldwide business development and services sales at Amazon, said: "We look forward to sharing our e-commerce expertise with M&S to enable it to focus on branding and merchandising. Our goal is to provide its customers with a true multichannel experience, regardless of how they choose to shop for or order merchandise."
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