Marks & Spencer to Close Another 20 Stores as Profits Plunge

THE GUARDIAN: M&S annual profits almost wiped out by a £440m bill for a modernisation programme

Marks & Spencer is accelerating its retreat from the high street by closing a further 20 of its full-line stores, which sell clothing and food under one roof.

The retailer said it planned to close 85 of its big high street stores, on top of the 35 it has already shut. The company is battling the transfer of clothing sales online and it had already told the City to expect about 100 closures.

The news of the extra branches being axed came as the group pointed to “green shoots” of recovery, despite annual profits being pulled down by a £440m bill for a modernisation programme. The overhaul of the struggling chain will also involve the closure of 25 of its Simply Food convenience stores. » | Zoe Wood | Wednesday, May 22, 2019

M&S Plans Big Store Shift Towards Weekly Food Shop

BBC: Marks and Spencer is planning a big shift towards food at its stores, the retailer has said.

It said it wanted to target the weekly family shop by having more stores that offer its full range of food.

At the moment, only around 12 of its stores offer all 6,500 of its food products.

The plan is to convert more space in existing stores to food, with new stores better designed and located for customers who want to do food shopping.

In a letter to suppliers, M&S said it was not getting its line of food products "in front of enough customers" - leaving shoppers assuming that they do not have a full range.

"This must change, and it will. The full range will go online with Ocado and we are starting a store renewal programme that will get more products in front of more customers with bigger, better M&S Food Halls in new and existing sites," the letter said. » | BBC | Sunday, March 17, 2019

M&S Set to Launch Bank to Take On High Street Lenders
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Marks & Spencer is to open its first bank branch, making current accounts available alongside sandwiches, socks and cashmere sweaters.

The retailer has announced plans to open an in-branch banking service in its Marble Arch flagship store in London, with plans to expand the service to 50 larger outlets across the country in the next two years.

Mortgages will not be offered initially, however the retailer expects to extend the range of services it provides, which will start with current accounts, to include home loans.

M&S added that the branches "will be open twice as long as traditional high street banks; mirroring M&S store opening hours and enabling customers to bank while they shop, seven days a week".

Marc Bolland, chief executive, said: “M&S is one of the most trusted brands on the UK high street and we’ve achieved this by continually listening and responding to the needs of our 21m customers. This bank will be built on M&S values; putting the customer at the heart of the proposition and delivering the exceptional service that sets us apart from the competition.”

The launch of M&S Bank will create 500 UK jobs by the end of 2013. Read on and comment » | Harry Wilson, and Harry Wallop | Friday, June 08, 2012

M&S Brings Comfy Knickers and Curry Back to Paris
REUTERS: The French may scoff at British cooking and fashion, but retailer Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) reckons France is yearning for its ready-made chicken tikka masala, gourmet chutney and sensible knickers.

The veteran British store opened a flagship store on Paris's Champs-Elysees on Thursday after a decade's absence from French soil, bringing the taste and feel of the British Isles to a city that sees itself as a world capital of food and fashion.

Britain's biggest clothing retailer, known too for its home goods and upmarket food, sparked howls of protest in 2001 when it shut up shop in France to stem losses in mainland Western Europe and focus on its home turf, leaving British expatriates and anglophile Parisians bereft.

The return to France is part of a new international strategy to open stores and websites in a handful of countries, rather than the scattergun approach of the past. Goods at the Paris store will be priced around 10 percent higher than in Britain, but M&S said they would be competitive for the French market.

"I am impatiently waiting for the reopening," said Karine, a French TV producer and blogger who preferred not to give her last name. "For me, it's a little like Proust and his madeleine."

While underwear is at the top of the list for many a female M&S shopper -- "They're the only ones to do super comfy underwear," said Karine -- food is also a major draw.

Karine's list of remembered favorite foods from the 127-year-old retailer included "crumpets, scones, pies, chutney, Indian food" -- foodstuffs rarely seen elsewhere in France. » | Alexandria Sage and Vicky Buffery | PARIS | Thursday, November 24, 2011

M&S Paris »

THE GUARDIAN: Marks & Spencer opens Paris store 10 years after 'tragic' exit: But expat brigade expecting Earl Grey tea and streaky bacon disappointed as chief executive Marc Bolland concentrates on selling lingerie and cashmere sweaters » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Thursday, November 24, 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Marks & Spencer celebrates their return to France: Marks & Spencer has opened their first store in France for a decade. Henry Samuel went to the shop on the Champs-Elysées to find out more. ¶ The queue that snaked 150 yards up the Champs-Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe was curiously orderly by French standards. ¶ But then at least half of its 500-odd occupants were British, mostly women, stoically waiting to get a foot into the door of the first Marks and Spencer outlet on French soil since the group shut up shop 10 years ago. ¶ No sooner were the doors of M&S's three-floor Gallic flagship flung open, however, calm gave way to an unseemly stampede for scotch eggs as expats and French anglophiles succumbed to their pent-up cravings for a string of British "delicacies". » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, November 24, 2011

M&S to Close Stores and Cut Jobs
BBC: Marks and Spencer plans to close 25 of its small Simply Food stores and another two of its normal stores.

The closures will mean the loss of 780 jobs. The retailer is also planning to cut 450 head office jobs.

The announcement came with its Christmas trading statement. In the 13 weeks to 27 December, its UK like-for-like sales fell by 7.1%.

M&S warned that its margins would be lower this year as a result of discounting, especially in food.

In the run-up to Christmas, the retailer held two sale days where it cut prices by 20%.

M&S said that it had 15% less stock when it began its sale on 27 December than it had the previous year. >>> | Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Watch BBC video: Stuart Rose: "We're a strong business" >>>

BBC PDF: The list of stores to be closed >>>

THE TELEGRAPH:
M&S to Cut Jobs, Close Stores as Christmas Sales Fall: Marks & Spencer plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs, close more than 25 stores and scale back investment as shoppers abandoned one of Britain's biggest high street names over Christmas. >>> By Amy Wilson | Wednesday, January 7, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Le retour des deux “nations” britanniques: la riche et la pauvre
LE MONDE: Dans son roman Sybil, Benjamin Disraeli, premier ministre de la reine Victoria, avait condamné la coupure du royaume en "deux nations entre lesquelles il n'y a ni relation ni sympathie... les riches et les pauvres". Ce thème, récurrent sous le gouvernement Thatcher (1979-1990), est redevenu d'actualité.

"En trente-cinq années de métier dans la distribution, je n'ai jamais vu de disparités aussi grandes : à Londres et dans le Sud, les nantis s'enrichissent, dans le reste du pays, les gens s'appauvrissent. Je ne reconnais plus le Royaume-Uni" : directeur général des grands magasins Marks & Spencer, Stuart Rose a repris à son compte la remarque de Disraeli. Malgré la baisse du nombre de touristes américains et japonais ou le ralentissement économique, lors des fêtes de fin d'année, les ventes de M & S ont explosé à Londres et dans les comtés voisins. En revanche, le chiffre d'affaires de l'enseigne dans le nord de l'Angleterre et en Ecosse a fortement diminué.

Lacunes du système éducatif

Dans la foulée, un rapport de l'institut des études fiscales, Institute for Fiscal Studies, confirme le fossé grandissant entre les riches et le reste de la population depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir du Labour, en 1997. Les 47 000 contribuables gagnant plus de 350 000 livres brut par an vivent dans leur quasi-totalité à Londres.

A l'évidence, cet écart régional est fécondé par le formidable essor des services, en particulier financiers, dans la capitale britannique. A l'exception des multinationales, pharmacie, défense, aéronautique etc., l'industrie britannique installée dans le vieux Pays noir, a souffert des délocalisations et de la concurrence étrangère, sans parler de la fermeté jusqu'il y a peu de la livre sterling.

Le Nord est pénalisé par une infrastructure de transports inférieure et les lacunes du système éducatif d'Etat. Tandis que les rémunérations s'envolent dans le tertiaire, les ouvriers et employés voient leurs revenus amputés par la hausse de la fiscalité indirecte et l'inflation. Cette situation contrastée est aussi patente dans les régions rurales du Sud-Ouest. Le retour des deux "nations" britanniques : la riche et la pauvre >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

M&S Shares Plunge on First Sales Drop in Two Years
TIMESONLINE: Sir Stuart Rose's seemingly unstoppable progress towards £1 billion profits at Marks and Spencer has received a major setback after the UK's largest clothing retailer revealed the first fall in like-for-like sales for more than two years.

Sir Stuart, a retailer with 35 years in the business, said that his poorest customers were facing a squeeze and he called for a cut in interest rates to help ease the cost of borrowing for cash-strapped consumers.

“The consumer is facing a squeeze and we have been making sure that our customers continue to get a good deal, but everybody is under pressure, not just us,” he said.

Shares in M&S plunged almost 20 per cent in early trading 94p to 409p as the company reported poor Christmas trading figures. Marks & Spencer shares plunge on first sales drop in two years: Shares of Britain's largest clothing retailer plunge 18% on its first fall in sales for more than two years >>> By Angela Jameson

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)