Packspec enables M&S to communicate to its retail and transit packaging suppliers best-practice designs which are efficient and help the retailer to meets its environmental objectives.

M&S has committed, via its Plan A environmental and ethical programme, to cut its general merchandise transit packaging by 25% by 2015 and to continue to reduce packaging on the products that it sells.

As part of the implementation of Packspec, Less Packaging, a packaging optimisation and supply chain consultancy, is working with M&S’ domestic and international suppliers to develop packaging standards that are suitable for each product type and that can be easily produced in each geographical region.

Managing director Greg Lawson said: "Packspec is a tool that enables M&S to communicate best packaging design to their suppliers. The supplier can then adapt this design if necessary and send it back to the retailer for approval

"M&S are putting a lot of automation into their supply chain and this is a way of approving what their suppliers are going to do - for example, how many products they are planning to put into one box.

"It is a tool that you often see in graphic design when sharing information globally but for the packaging market it’s definitely a first."

Bishops Stortford-based Less Packaging, which opened a Hong Kong office in October, said that over the past year it has reduced the number of different packaging formats for M&S bras from over 90 to just three, saving 100 tonnes of packaging and helping the retailer to cut costs through economies of scale and increased levels of compliance throughout the supply chain.