Selfridges is the first retailer in Europe to pilot new software to automate its ordering of stock.

Last week the department store hosted a forum with its top 50 suppliers to explain the benefits of the technology.

At present, the reordering and delivery process is controlled by a heavily manual data entry process, which is time consuming and can be prone to human error.

The company is now working with suppliers Calvin Klein and G.Costa on the first phase of a project to automate the process and improve accuracy and efficiency says David Riddiford, buying and merchandising director.

Selfridges is the first European user of an electronic catalogue from US-based supplier QRS, which holds suppliers' details. It interfaces with Selfridges' merchandising system, Retek, where information can be downloaded, reducing the time taken by 60 per cent.

Other suppliers including DKNY, Estee Lauder, Samsonite and lingerie brand Wacol will be added to the system in the coming months.

'We raise about 100,000 purchase orders a year and have a very complex business. People in the buying and merchandising department spend a lot of time just setting these up on the system.

'We went to visit the owner of Bloomingdales in the US and 98 per cent of its stock is bought on this basis. When I told the chairwoman how we did it she said we must have been living in the Stone Age. It's a no-brainer to me that we should automate where we can to allow people to move from a wholly clerical function to work that's more exciting and engaging for them,' said Riddiford.

Selfridges hopes to have 50 suppliers connected by March next year, and a further 200 by the end of 2003.

After that it hopes to extend the project to work on automatic invoicing and other capabilities.