Marks & Spencer has unveiled a host of in-store innovations as it opened its second biggest shop at Cheshire Oaks.

Described as “the future of retail” by M&S director of retail Steve Rowe, the 151,000 sq ft store has been almost two years in the making and showcases all of the initiatives, particularly digital ones, on which the retailer is pinning its hopes for the future.

The two-floor shop, the second largest in the estate after the flagship Marble Arch store in London, features a cathedral-like curving wooden roof.

Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland said: “It is not about building a huge store, it’s about building a shopping experience.”

A raft of new elements includes free wi-fi and 12 ‘Browse & Order’ points, where shoppers can select from items not stocked in the store. These are intended to be discrete from the click-and-collect area, which has its own counter and is, said Bolland, a “less emotional” part of the shopping journey.

There is also a team of iPad-equipped assistants, ready to help shoppers with the selection process, while in the new-look beauty department on the ground floor, customers can benefit from a “virtual makeover” using a large touch-screen.

Other features include the retailer’s largest Home department. Measuring 18,000 sq ft it has freestanding walls used to display room-sets and a pillow and duvet selection wall.

The food department, also one of M&S’s largest, builds on the look and feel of its latest stores in Stratford and Kensington High Street and adds a pasta bar to the mix.

The store also has a new beauty offer spread across 2,700 sq ft, featuring exclusive product.

Laura Wade-Gery, M&S executive director multichannel and ecommerce, said many of the store’s digital elements would work well in smaller stores where it would not be possible to present an offer on the scale of Cheshire Oaks.

Bolland said: “Customers told us [two years ago] that M&S needs to improve. This store answers the questions that have been asked better than anything else.”

Rowe said: “In line with our strategy to develop an exciting, easy to shop retail experience for our customers, our Cheshire Oaks store will encapsulate the latest & very best of M&S design and cutting-edge retail technology.

“Here at our brand new flagship store, our customers will find a fresh approach to shopping and customers service, enhanced by interactive technology that creates a truly unique consumer environment.

“This store represents the future of retail – a dynamic, interactive space that will redefine what it is like to shop at M&S.”

The Cheshire Oaks store is “the greenest store M&S has ever built”, the retailer said.

The store uses carbon-absorbing hemp wall panels and ‘strong-as-steel’ FSC-certified engineered softwood timber in the whole of the roof and first floor.

In pictures: Marks & Spencer opens landmark Cheshire Oaks store