Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer

Type	Public (LSE: MKS)
Industry	Retailer
Founded	Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (1884 (1884))
Founder(s)	Michael Marks Thomas Spencer
Headquarters	London, England
Key people	Stuart Rose[1] (Executive chairman) Marc Bolland[1] (Chief Executive)
Products	Clothing, food, homeware, hospitality, furniture, technology, beauty, financial services, energy
Revenue	£9,062.1 million (2009)[2]
Operating income	£870.7 million (2009)[2]
Net income	£506.8 million (2009)[2]
Employees	77,864 (2009)
Website	www.marksandspencer.com

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is a major British retailer, with over 895 stores in more than 40 territories around the world, over 600 domestic and 295 international.^[3][4] The company, with its head office in the Waterside House in the City of Westminster, London, England,^[5][6] is the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being an upmarket food retailer, and as of 2008, the 43rd largest retailer in the world.^[7] Most of its domestic stores sell both clothing and food, and since the turn of the century it has started expanding into other ranges such as homewares, furniture and technology.

In 1998 it became the first British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over £1 billion,^[8] though a few years later it plunged into a crisis which lasted for several years. In November 2009, it was announced that Marc Bolland, formerly of Morrisons,^[9] will take over as chief executive from Stuart Rose in early 2010; Rose will continue as chairman until mid-2011.^[10][11]

It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

The early years (1884 to 1949)

The company was founded by a partnership between Michael Marks, a Litvak Jew from Slonim, Poland (now in Belarus), and Thomas Spencer, a cashier from Yorkshire.^[12] On his arrival in England, Marks worked for a company in Leeds, called Barran, which employed refugees (see Sir John Barran, 1st Baronet).. In 1884 he met Isaac Dewhurst, the owner of a Leeds warehouse, which resulted in him opening his own stall on Kirkgate Market, in Leeds.^[12]

The next few years saw Michael Marks open market stalls in many locations around the North West of England. In 1894, Thomas Spencer invested in Marks' activities and they opened their first store, in partnership, at 20 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester.^[12][13]

The glory years (1950 to 1972)

By 1950, virtually all goods were sold under the "St Michael" label. M&S lingerie, women's clothes and girls' school uniform were branded under the "St Margaret" label until the whole range of general merchandise became St Michael. Simon Marks, son of Michael Marks, died in 1964, after fifty-six years' service. Israel Sieff took over as Chairman. A cautious international expansion began with the introduction of Asian food in 1974. M&S opened stores in continental Europe in 1975 and in Ireland four years later.^[14]

The company put its main emphasis on quality, including a 1957 stocking size measuring system.^[14] But for most of its history it also had a reputation for offering fair value for money. When this reputation began to waver, it encountered serious difficulties. Arguably, M&S has historically been an iconic retailer of 'British Quality Goods'.^[14]

The uncompromising attitude towards customer relations was summarized by the 1953 slogan: "The customer is always and completely right!".^[14]

Energy efficiency was improved by the addition of thermostatically controlled refrigerators in 1963.^[14]

M&S has sold Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings since 1958. In an effort to improve the quality of their Swiss rolls, they hired the food expert Nat Goldberg, who made a major improvement across their entire cake range, which had lost the public's favour a few years earlier. As a later measure to improve food quality food labelling was improved and "sell by dates" were phased in between 1970 and 1972.^[14]

Smoking was banned from all M&S shops in 1959 because of the fire hazards it posed.^[14] It later became a permanent rule after concerns were raised by asthmatics about their health.

All international stores are operated under franchise, with the exception of the stores in the Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong which remain in company ownership.^[15]

The first M&S store in central Asia was built in Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1960s. The store was later shut down.^[16]

The down-turn (1973 to 2000)

A Marks & Spencer store in Hong Kong

M&S expanded into Canada in 1973, and at one point had forty seven stores across Canada. Despite various efforts to improve its image, the chain was never able to move beyond its reputation there as a stodgy retailer, one that catered primarily to senior citizens and expatriate Britons. The stores in Canada were smaller than British outlets, and did not carry the same selection. In the late 1990s, further efforts were made to modernize the stores and expand the customer base, and unprofitable locations were closed. Nonetheless, the Canadian operations continued to lose money, and the last 38 stores in Canada were closed in 1999.^[17]

Expansion into France began with stores opening in Paris at Boulevard Haussmann and Lyon in 1975, followed by a second Paris store at Rosny 2 in 1977. Further expansion into other French and Belgian cities followed into the 1980s. Although the Paris stores remained popular and profitable, the whole of the Western European operation did not fare as well and eighteen stores were sold in 2001.^[18]

In 1988 the company acquired Brooks Brothers, an American clothing company^[19] and Kings Super Markets, a US food chain.^[20] They were subsequently sold off, in 2001 and 2006 respectively.

M&S's profits peaked in financial year 1997/1998.^[8] At the time it was seen as a continuing success story, but with hindsight it is considered that during Sir Richard Greenbury's tenure as head of the company, profit margins were pushed to untenable levels, and the loyalty of its customers was seriously eroded. The rising cost of using British suppliers was also a burden, as rival retailers increasingly imported their goods from low-cost countries, but M&S's belated switch to overseas suppliers undermined a core part of its appeal to the public. Another factor was the company's refusal until 2001 to accept any credit cards except its own store card.^[21]

These factors combined to plunge M&S into a sudden slump, which took the company, its shareholders, who included hundreds of thousands of small investors, and nearly all retail analysts and business journalists, by surprise. The company's share price fell by more than two thirds, and its profits fell from more than a billion pounds in 1997 and 1998 to £145 million in the year ended 31 March 2001.^[22]

Your M&S promotional logo 2004-present

The fight back (2001 and onwards)

In 2001, with changes in its business focus such as accepting credit cards, the introduction of the "per una" clothing range designed by George Davies, accompanied by a redesign of its underlying business model, profits recovered somewhat and M&S recovered some of its market share, but it was soon evident that problems remained.

Marks and Spencer on Briggate not far from their original branch in Leeds.

In 2004, M&S was in the throes of an attempted takeover by Arcadia Group & BHS boss, Philip Green.^[23] On 12 July a recovery plan was announced which would involve selling off the financial services business to HSBC Bank plc, buying control of the per una range, closing the Gateshead Lifestore and stopping the expansion of its Simply Food line of stores. Philip Green withdrew his takeover bid after failing to get sufficient backing from shareholders.^[23][24]

In February 2007, M&S announced the opening of the world's largest M&S store outside the UK at Dubai Festival City.^[25]

M&S was ranked 17 in The Times' "Top 100 Graduate Employers 2008".^[26]

On 2 October 2008, M&S opened its first mainland China store in Shanghai. Problems with the supply chain for the first few months of opening led Stuart Rose, M&S chairman, to describe failures in "basic shopkeeping".^[27]

The upmarket Zandra Rhodes collection, modelled and made by the British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, CBE/RDI was introduced in to the bigger stores by late 2009.

Store closures

In August 2010, it was confirmed that the Grantham branch of M&S would close, along with two other Lincolnshire branches in Skegness and Scunthorpe, due to low sales in these older format stores. The closures were met with protests from the local communities and petitions were signed in support of retaining the stores. Despite these protests, the store closures will go ahead.^[28]

Financial performance

M&S is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

After fostering significant growth in recent years, mid-2008 saw share prices plunge to well under half their value of twelve months before, as M&S struggled to cope with more conservative shoppers in the credit crunch.^[29]

Until 1999 M&S's financial year ended on 31 March. Since then, the company has changed to reporting for 52 or 53 week periods, ending on variable dates.

Social and environmental policy

Look Behind the Label

In 2006 the Look Behind the Label marketing campaign was introduced.^[30] The aim of this campaign was to highlight to customers the various ethical and environmentally friendly aspects of the production and sourcing methods engaged in by M&S including: Fairtrade products, sustainable fishing and environmentally friendly textile dyes. All coffee and tea sold in M&S stores is now Fairtrade.^[31] in addition the company offers clothing lines made from Fairtrade Cotton in selected departments.^[32]

At Christmas the company introduces a range of food products to support the housing charity Shelter^[33] predominantly in the food to go range including a range of seasonal Christmas sandwiches.

Plan A

M&S store on Birmingham High Street

On 15 January 2007, M&S launched an initiative, known as "Plan A",^[34] to dramatically increase the environmental sustainability of the business within 5 years and expected to cost £200 million.^[35]

The plan covers "100 commitments over 5 years to address the key social and environmental challenges facing M&S today and in the future" with the tag-line "Because there is no Plan B". The commitments span five themes: climate change, waste, sustainable raw materials, 'fair partnership' and health,^[34] with the aim that, by 2012, it will:^[36]

• Become carbon neutral
• Send no waste to landfill
• Extend sustainable sourcing
• Help improve the lives of people in their supply chain
• Help customers and employees live a healthier life-style

Despite an 18% fall in the share price in January 2008, following publication of their latest trading statement, the company confirmed that they would be continuing with the plan, saying that there were 'compelling commercial — as well as moral — reasons to do so'.^[37]

The now iconic brown, reusable, hessian bag was first introduced in 2007 as an early part of this plan. It is hope that this will reduce the use of plastic carrier bags over the next few years.^[14]

May 2008 saw the introduction of the 5p carrier bag scheme at M&S stores, with customers now paying 5p per standard sized vest carrier bag for food purchases. This implementation was brought about through the Plan A scheme,^[34] to try to discourage use of the traditional plastic bag.^[38] All profits from the sale of food bags go to Groundwork UK.^[39]

In becoming carbon neutral the company has committed to only use carbon offsetting as a last resort,^[40] restricted to cases "where it is required by government or where the technology for green air or road transport will not be available for the foreseeable future".^[41]

As of August 2008 M&S had three wind turbines in operation, one at Methlick and two near Strichen, generating enough power to supply three stores via the National Grid.^[42] In April 2009 the company began purchasing 2.6 TWh of renewable energy (wind and hydroelectric) from Npower, enough to power all Marks & Spencer stores and offices in England and Wales.^[43]

Company chairman Sir Stuart Rose is personally committed to further promoting green issues and the recycling of plastic bottles. He has also pledged to reduce non-glass wastage by 25% and plastic carrier bag usage by 33% in the near future.^[14]

Controversy

Support for Israel

Marks & Spencer has been criticised by pro-Palestinian and left wing groups over its past support for Zionism and for trading with the state of Israel,^[44] a cause which it had promoted since its inception. For instance, prior to Israel's creation, various senior figures in the company advocated Zionist ideas, with Israel Sieff, the group’s chairman, advocating mass deportation in 1941 by stating that in order to found a Zionist state, "large sections of the Arab population of Palestine should be transplanted to Iraq and other Middle Eastern states."^[45] This moral support continued until the 1980s. In his 1990 memoir, M&S' former chairman, Marcus Sieff (who was chairman from 1974 until 1984), described "aiding the economic development of Israel as one of its fundamental objectives."^[46] This has led to various pressure groups calling for boycotts of M&S goods, and demonstrations to be held outside of M&S shops. In one case, a Brighton based shop was vandalised with pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist graffiti.^[47]

Since that time, the company has changed, and instead states a policy that 'does not support any countries, nations, states, governments, political parties or religious bodies'.^[48]

Currently M&S' involvement with Israel is confined to trade as are several other large UK retailers, all of which is regulated by the EU

Business Involvement Group (BIG)

Whilst BIG are said to represent the employees and are to be consulted on regarding changes to employment terms and conditions, in practice they are ineffective. BIG have been directly blamed for its involvement in the erosion of individual terms and conditions of employment which were once the envy of other retail workers. BIG have been referred to as the instrument of delivering management decisions and a weak voiceless representative of the employees.^[49] For instance, M&S policy is now that if an employee has 8 shifts off over 26 weeks, regardless of the genuineness of the cause, they will receive a Written Warning. If already on warning for absence they will progress through Final Written Warning and dismissal if they have 6 shifts off within 26 weeks. An instance of this is where an employee, who was absent through a serious head injury, being placed in a Written Warning and therefore her job being at risk, missed the £350 bonus announced to staff on 8 March 2010 and will also not be eligible for the 2010 payrise until the 2011 pay review.

Cut flowers

War on Want criticised M&S, along with Tesco and Sainsbury's, in its Growing Pains report^[50] for using its influence to squeeze overseas suppliers to constantly reduce their costs while boosting their own profits.

Marketing

Change of historic logo

During the height of the company's troubles at the beginning of the 21st century, the St Michael brand used as the selling label for all M&S products was discontinued in favour of Marks & Spencer and a new logo in the Optima typeface was introduced and began to appear in place of St Michael on product packaging. The same logo was also rolled out across store fascias and carrier bags. The St Michael name was subsequently adopted as a 'quality guarantee' and appeared as the St Michael Quality Promise on the back of food products, on the side of delivery vehicles and on in-store ordering receipts. This has since been phased out, although the store-ordering receipts given to customers still feature this 'seal of approval' on the bottom.

Your M&S

When Steve Sharp joined as marketing director in 2004, after being hired by new Chief Executive Sir Stuart Rose, he introduced a new promotional brand under the Your M&S banner, with a corresponding logo.^[51] This has now become the company's main brand in its advertising, online presence and in-store merchandising. The clean fonts and modern colours of the new image are somewhat incongruous alongside the traditional M&S signage and associated fittings that still adorn many of the unmodernised 'core' stores themselves. The only thing in common with the former design is the use of M&S traditional green in the ampersand of the new logo. In 2007 the same typeface used for the new M&S logo was adopted to replace the Optima logo used on product packaging and store fascias since 2000. This new logo is also beginning to appear on new-style sewn in clothing labels and presented in its linear, non-stacked form, complete with lime-green ampersand.

High profile media campaigns

M and S has always run newspaper and/or Magazine ads since the early 1950s, but the introduction of some famous stars such as Twiggy^[52][53] and David Jason in various TV ads has helped raise the company's profile. Twiggy first appeared in 1967, returning later in 1995 and 2005. Anne Grierson^[14] first featured in adverts during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. In later years, Erin O'Connor,^[52] Myleene Klass,^[52] Tanja Nadjila, David Beckham ^[14], Antonio Banderas ^[14], Claudia Schiffer^[14], Helena Christensen^[14], Tatjana Patitz ^[14], Lisa Snowdon, Dannii Minogue and Carmen Kass have also featured in a few ads, along with many others ^[14].

John Sergeant, David Jason and Joanna Lumley have either appeared in or voiced over adverts since 2008.^[14]

The new look has been instrumental in the company's recent resurgence, particularly with the success of a new clothing campaign featuring the celebrated model, Twiggy, and younger models associated with the bohemian styles of 2005-6, and the new TV ad campaign for its food range. These adverts have the tag-line This is not just food, this is M&S food and feature slow motion, close-up footage of various food products, described in a sultry voiceover by Dervla Kirwan, to an enticing instrumental song — most notably Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" as well as Santana's "Samba Pa Ti", Groove Armada's "At the River" or Spandau Ballet's "True". These adverts have been referred to by both fans and critics as being food porn, with a number of other companies copying the idea, such as ALDI and, most recently, Waitrose.^[54]

The 2009 TV advertising campaign drew complaints, leading to national press coverage, regarding sexism.^[55]

New store format

New Town Plaza, Sha Tin, Hong Kong

A new store format designed by Urban Salon Architects^[56] has won much praise and is in the process of being rolled out across all stores, with a majority of stores being completed by the end of 2008.

Brighter look

The full new look makeover is a reworking of store design, including the gutting of old stores, and installation of a brighter, more spacious, modern and contemporary design, replacing carpets and laminate floors with white tile throughout (black tile in Foods) thus opening the floor instead of having pathways, having new contemporary white mannequins in new designs and poses, new displays and kit such as new design clothing rails, avant garde product stands (formerly known as "Lutons"), display and product walls, window display styles, larger fitting rooms, glass walls, till points, and general total updating of decals, signage, equipment, and lighting.

A typical example of an un-modernised 'core' M&S store, located in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Several of the old 'Luton' format stores have received what is known internally as a 'Light Touch' re-fit, which involves bringing the store up-to-date with new floors, till points, mannequins and signage (the actual work differs per store) but not to the extent of a full refurbishment, as mentioned above. This occurs in stores that are subject to re-development or re-location.

Stacked logo

Self check-outs

M&S was the first retailer in the UK to introduce self checkout tills in the food-halls of a small number of trial stores back in 2002. Self Checkout was implemented in the general merchandise sections in 3 trial stores in 2006^[57] and roll-out to flagship stores is in progress.

Product line history

Marks & Spencer were selling clothes under the St Margaret and St Michael label by the mid-1950s and launched their school uniforms in the early 1950s.^[14] The synthetic fibre Tricell was first used in 1957 and lasted until the 1970s.^[14] and another synthetic fibre called Coutelle was first launched, nationally, by Marks & Spencer during 1960 and also lasted well in to the 1970s.^[14] Machine washable wool first appeared in 1972 and Lycra hosiery first came in during 1986.^[14]

M&S launched their own brands of domestic products, such as washing powder and aluminium foil in 1972, under the brand name of 'House-care'.^[14]

M&S's relatively successful interior design 'Home' brand was launched in 2005 and featured products like vases, furniture and beds.^[14]

Boil-in-the-bag and sachet meals were first pioneered by M&S in 1972 and the award winning Gastropub food range was launched in 2004. The 'Melting middle chocolate pudding' campaign of 2005 has led to a remarkable 3,000% rise in chocolate pudding sales, something that has not recurred since, and the billionth "Percy Pig" sweet was sold by the October of 2007.^[14]

Product lines

A Gastropub ready meal

per una three hearts logo

• Womenswear
• Summer Classics
• Beachwear
• Sportsware
• The Indigo collection
• Portfolio
• Per Una
• Designer discount: their discounted product line.
• Breakthrough Breast Cancer: M&S periodicly markets charitable clothes for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
• Lingerie and hosiery
• Shoes
• Childrenswear
• Menswear
• Perfect seasonal cloaths
• Cosmetics and Perfumes
• Homeware
• Technology
• Food and drink
• Gastropub, ready meals inspired by pub cuisine for home cooking ^[14] It got a 'Golden pub-meal commendation' in 2005.
• Alcohol: M&S has an extensive wine and beer range,^[58] which was first started in 1973.^[59] In 2006 and 2007, M&S entered over a hundred of its own wines into two wine competitions, The Decanter World Wine Awards and The International Wine Challenge. Both years, almost every wine won an award, ranging from the 2005 Secano Pinot Noir, Leyda Valley, Chile (Best Pinot Noir in the world for under £10) to the Rosada Cava (Commended).^[60]
• Gift shop
• M&S Money - Marks and Spencer Financial Services
• M&S Energy.^[61] - Electricity & Gas (in partnership with Scottish & Southern) and Home Insulation

2008-9 restructuring plan

St Margaret, St Michael and Homecare were time honoured brand labels that fell out of use in the company wide re-branding campaign of the early 2000s^[14]. The stylish 1996-1997 Orient Express Tagged brand was the first of numerous new brands, most of which were in feminine and children's clothes^[14]. It was part of the inspiration behind the Portfolio brand.

As part of the 2008-9 restructuring plan, 9 sub-brands that were deemed to be unprofitable or superfluous were discontinued, merged or relaunched in 2008.

• Floor 1 discount brands—women's discount fashion clothes (replaced by the 'Designer discount' line).
• Romper-suit republic—baby clothes (was only available online).
• The Shirt-sleeve empire—boys' shirts (was only available online).
• Essential—up market skirts and t-shirts (merged in to Portfolio, along with Perfect).
• Perfect—upmarket trousers, skirts and blouses (merged in to Portfolio, along with Essential)
• Plus range maternity (large stores only. Merged with Limited Collection Maternity as 'M&S Maternity'.)
• Limited Collection Maternity (merged with Plus Range Maternity as 'M&S Maternity'.)
• Themed (merged in to Character shop)
• The Zandra Rhodes collection, an upmarket woollen clothes modelled and made by the British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes (It was gradually let rundown in the festive season during December 2009 and January 2010. It was finally scrapped due to poor sales performance in February 2010.)

'Plus range maternity'—larger sizes of maternity clothes—were absorbed in to the already existing 'Limited Collection Maternity', under the name of 'M&S Maternity'^[62] in 2008 to simplify administration.^[63]

The children's 'Themed' clothing line was likewise merged with Character shop in 2008.

Conde Nast (M&S clothes, not Condé Nast Publications) designer clothes were a planned sub-brand that was not launched because of the credit crunch and became part of the 'Indigo Collection' and 'Portfolio' lines.

Twenty-two unprofitable and minor food stores, such as the ones at Ripon and Balham, were closed in early 2009 as part of a cost cutting measure.^[14]

The Zandra Rhodes collection, an upmarket woollen clothes modelled and made by the British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes^[64][65] was wound up in February 2010.

Kid’s furniture, bedding and electronic toys were re-grouped and exspanded as the ‘kids at home’ brand in January 2010. ^[66][67][68]

Head Office locations

London

The headquarters of M&S was for 100 years at Michael House, 55 Baker Street, London; during World War II these offices were used by the Special Operations Executive for secret missions in Occupied Europe. In 2004 the company moved to a new headquarters at Waterside House in the new Paddington Basin, London.^[69]

Across the UK

As well as the main offices in London, there are a number of other head office sites across the UK; Stockley Park (IT Services), Salford Quays and Spinningfields 3 Hardman St (Marks & Spencer Shared Services Ltd. which provides human resources, and finance administration),^[70][71] Chester (HSBC's M&S Money^[72] and Retail Customer Services), and Draycott (per una).

Overseas

The company has overseas sourcing offices in, Hong Kong, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Shanghai, Italy and Sri Lanka.^[73]

Stores

UK and Ireland stores

A picture of Banbury's Marks & Spencers shop in 2010.

M&S have over 600 stores throughout the United Kingdom, with nearly 1.2 million square metres (12.5 million square feet) of selling space.^[3] This includes the flagship, and largest, store, Marble Arch, London, on Oxford Street, which has around 16,000 square metres (170,000 sq ft) of shop floor.

The second largest store is in Warrington, although the forthcoming M&S Megastore in Leeds will take over as the largest outside London.^[74] The third largest store is at the Sprucefield Centre in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. In 1999 M&S opened its store in Manchester's Exchange Square, which was rebuilt following the 1996 Manchester bombing when the store was destroyed. When it re-opened it was the largest M&S store with 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m²) of retail space, but half was subsequently sold to the more-upmarket department store Selfridges, the company's second site in Manchester.

Before Christmas 2006, twenty-two M&S stores were open for 24-hour trading including the recently-opened new retail park stores at Bolton Middlebrook and at the Abbey Centre, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.^[75][76]

M&S have over 20 stores including three Simply Food stores throughout Ireland, M&S opened its first store in the Republic on Mary Street, Dublin in 1979 (now part of the Jervis Shopping Centre), then Grafton Street, followed in 1988, Cork in 1989, then in 1996 the Grafton Street location to its present location in the former Brown Thomas store and finally the first out-of-town store in Liffey Valley in October 1998. . The new Grafton Street store now boasts M&S's only 'The Restaurant' offering outside of the UK.

The newest store opened in Clonmel on 25 June 2009 as an anchor for the Showgrounds shopping centre. The Clonmel store contains a vast amount of floor space for the M&S clothing range, a reasonably sized M&S Café and a food hall with all the current decor and fittings throughout the store. The Irish stores use a similar format and product line to the UK stores, including use of the M&S logo (which at Liffey Valley is the only logo used on exterior signs since a June 2007 refit and since opening in Killarney).

The company is committed to the expansion of its Irish operations with a number of new stores opened in 2009 including Sligo, Clonmel (opened 25 June 2009), Navan, and Limerick which is one of the largest stores in Ireland at 110,000 square feet (10,000 m²) but will be overtaken shortly after by a new store in Swords, County Dublin at 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²).

The largest M&S stores in Ireland are at the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre located in Lucan, County Dublin/Clondalkin in South Dublin, at Mary Street in Dublin City Centre and at Dundrum Town Centre in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown.

The company's website in Ireland has received criticism for having its prices in Pound sterling and not in euros, and for providing a search for its Irish stores through a "UK Store Finder".^[77][78]-

The Irish Times pointed out that M&S failed to explain why the store is in a position to deliver goods ordered from its website to Brazil, Argentina, Iraq and Afghanistan but not to the Republic, the company was unprepared to elaborate further.^[79]

Stores outside the UK and Ireland

M&S store at Wenceslas square in Prague, Czech Republic

There are currently stores located in the following countries: Bahrain, Bermuda, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Montenegro, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and The United Arab Emirates.^[80]

Store formats

Core stores

M&S core stores typically feature a selection of the company's clothing ranges and a M&S Food hall. The range of clothing sold and the space given to it depends on the store's location and customer demographic (an example would be that some London stores do not stock the Classic Collection, but stock Limited Collection and a full Autograph range).

Most core stores feature a Food hall. In 2000, all the St Michael Food hall supermarkets were renamed M&S Food hall, when Marks & Spencer dropped the St Michael brand in 2000. Each M&S Food hall sells groceries, which are all under the Marks & Spencer brand. However, in 2009 the company began selling a limited range of other brands, such as Coca-Cola and Stella Artois, without reducing the number of M&S goods they sold. This returns to the previous Marks & Spencer practice of selling branded food, before the company become solely-own-brand.^[81]

Hospitality

Most M&S stores feature some sort of hospitality offering, usually in the form of an M&S Café. These cafés were formerly known as Café Revive and many old format stores still brand them as such. The café offering typically includes coffees and teas (all fairtrade), pastries, toasted sandwiches, soups and cakes. The company also trialled the opening of an Espresso Bar in some stores, which specialised in drinks only, however these have subsequently been rebranded as M&S Cafés.

Many large stores, such as Westfield, White City, Cribbs Causeway and Newcastle, also offer other hospitality outlets, such as a modern Deli Bar (champagne, canapés, seafood), Restaurant (table service—the first of which was opened in Newcastle) M&S Kitchen (traditional home cooking & lunches) or Hot Food To Go (burgers, chips, soups). Many of these outlets are run in conjunction with Compass and even in smaller stores they also partner up to offer ready made baguettes as part of the standard Food To Go offering.

Home Stores

In 2007, M&S announced that new, dedicated stores for home furnishings were to be launched. Stores have now been opened in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, Lisburn in Northern Ireland^[82] and in the Barton Square section of The Trafford Centre, Manchester.^[83] On 19 November 2009 Aberdeen became the first dedicated homeware store in Scotland and the biggest of all the M&S homestores in the UK.

Outlet Stores

As of 2010, M&S have 50 outlet stores and growth expansion plans for future.^[84] The Outlet division offers M&S products with the majority of them discounting at least 30% from the original selling price.^[85] The first of these stores opened at Ashford in Kent in 2000. Many of the Outlet stores are in locations such as retail parks and outlet centres, though some, including the stores in Woolwich, South London^[86] and Newton Abbot, Devon were previously main M&S stores which converted to the Outlet format. Meadow Bank Outlet Store in Edinburgh became the model store for all the Marks and Spencer Outlet Store in the early months of 2010.

M&S Simply Food

M&S Simply Food in Wetherby, West Yorkshire

M&S Simply Food in Northallerton, North Yorkshire

M&S is in the middle of a programme to open four hundred Simply Food stores selling predominantly food but with most also carrying a small selection of general merchandise. The first of the 'Simply Food' stores were in Twickenham and Surbiton.^[87]

A number of these stores are run under franchise agreements:

• Select Service Partner (SSP) runs the stores at mainline railway stations and airports^[88]
• Moto has stores at several of its motorway service stations^[89]
• BP has 116 forecourts with a Simply Food offering^[90]

Senior management

The following have served as the Chairman of the company since it was founded:

• 1884-1907: Michael Marks (set up first stall in Leeds in 1884)
• 1907-1916: William Chapman.^[91]
• 1916-1964: Simon Marks (Lord Marks)
• 1964-1967: Israel Sieff (Lord Sieff)
• 1967-1972: Edward Sieff
• 1972-1984: Marcus Sieff (Lord Sieff)
• 1984-1991: Lord Derek Rayner
• 1991-1999: Sir Richard Greenbury
• 2000-2004: Luc Vandevelde
• 2004-2006: Paul Myners
• 2006-2009: Lord Burns
• 2009 - onwards: Sir Stuart Rose

See also

• List of Marks & Spencer brands
• Supermarket

References

External links

• Official website
• Marks & Spencer Corporate
• M&S Money
• M&S Business Strategy
• Marks and Spencer TV YouTube channel
• "Marks in Time" M&S official archive website

Supermarkets in the United Kingdom Big five Tesco · Asda · Sainsbury's · Morrisons · The Co-operative Food (including Somerfield) Up-market chains Holland and Barrett · Marks & Spencer · Waitrose Discount chains Lidl · Aldi · Netto · B & M · Home Bargains · Quality Save Frozen Specialists Farmfoods · Iceland · Jack Fulton · Heron Foods Regional Booths · Dunnes Stores · Filco · Haldanes · Shoprite Online Ocado Other Best-One · Budgens · Costcutter · Happy Shopper · Jones Convenience Stores · Londis · Mace · McColl's · Nisa-Today's · Premier Stores · SPAR · ...instore (and Poundstretcher) · Poundland · 99p Stores See also List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom

FTSE 100 companies of the United Kingdom As of 24 September 2010. 3i · Admiral Group · African Barrick Gold · Aggreko · Alliance Trust · AMEC · Anglo American · Antofagasta · ARM Holdings · Associated British Foods · AstraZeneca · Autonomy Corporation · Aviva · BAE Systems · BG Group · BHP Billiton · BP · BT Group · Barclays · British Airways · British American Tobacco · British Land Company · British Sky Broadcasting · Bunzl · Burberry Group · Cairn Energy · Capita Group · Capital Shopping Centres Group · Carnival · Centrica · Cobham · Compass Group · Diageo · Essar Energy · Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation · Experian · Fresnillo · G4S · GKN · GlaxoSmithKline · HSBC · Hammerson · ICAP · Imperial Tobacco · Inmarsat · InterContinental Hotels Group · International Power · Intertek Group · Invensys · Investec · Johnson Matthey · Kazakhmys · Kingfisher · Land Securities Group · Legal & General · Lloyds Banking Group · Lonmin · Man Group · Marks & Spencer · Wm Morrison Supermarkets · National Grid · Next · Old Mutual · Pearson · Petrofac · Prudential · RSA Insurance Group · Randgold Resources · Reckitt Benckiser · Reed Elsevier · Resolution · Rexam · Rio Tinto Group · Rolls-Royce Group · Royal Bank of Scotland Group · Royal Dutch Shell · SABMiller · Sage Group · J Sainsbury · Schroders · Scottish and Southern Energy · Serco Group · Severn Trent · Shire · Smith & Nephew · Smiths Group · Standard Chartered Bank · Standard Life · Tesco · TUI Travel · Tullow Oil · Unilever · United Utilities · Vedanta Resources · Vodafone · WPP Group · Weir Group · Whitbread · Wolseley · Xstrata