Marks & Spencer, which notably did not advertise its clothing and home business on TV this Christmas, has revealed the division鈥檚 sales lurched further away from in-store and towards online in the 13 weeks to 26 December.
In-store clothing and home sales declined by a massive 47% year on year due to many customers avoiding shops over coronavirus fears and the impact of regional restrictions introduced to reduce infections.
That decline was offset partially by strong online growth of 48% year on year but, in total, sales were down by a quarter.
M&S signalled it was putting its focus on online sales in clothing and home when it opted not to run TV activity for its traditional Christmas push, in favour of an online video campaign fronted by Holly Willoughby, as well as radio ads tailored to different regions.
The shift was underlined by M&S chief executive Steve Rowe on a media call this morning to discuss the trading update. Asked about the company鈥檚 plans to acquire further clothing brands in light of its , Rowe stressed that his strategy was focused on enhancing the M&S online clothing offer by partnering brands that are 鈥渁djacent鈥 in style and customer base.
鈥淚鈥檝e got no intention of turning us into a [physical] department store,鈥 he said. 鈥淭his is about finding [other] brands that make M&S the place to go for an online [clothing] shop.鈥
Rowe described clothing and home鈥檚 performance as 鈥渞esilient鈥 in the circumstances, but was more upbeat about the 鈥渞obust鈥 food division, which continued to grow last quarter.
Food, which did have a Christmas TV campaign behind it, turned in a like-for-like sales rise of 3%, with December up more than 4%. The campaign featured nine of the UK鈥檚 most prominent acting names voicing a series of ads in the brand鈥檚 classic 鈥淣ot just food鈥 style, alongside donations to a range of charities to the tune of 拢2m.
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