Royal Wedding plumps up M&S sales

The Royal Wedding helped Marks & Spencer boost its profits, with the retailer posting a 2.7% increase in total UK sales in the past 12 weeks.

Royal Wedding: helped boost Marks & Spencer profits
Royal Wedding: helped boost Marks & Spencer profits

While the retailer said it still remained cautious with continued "challenging" times, its food division had continued to outperform the rest of the market on a like-for-like basis, notching up a 3.3% rise in the UK.

The Royal Wedding and the Easter weekend helped increase sales, with the retailer also launching more than 500 new products. The 'Dine In' promotion also proved to be a hit with customers.

Its clothing market share also rose, from 11.5% to 11.7%, in what the company said was the 17th straight month of gains.

Total like-for-like sales (excluding VAT) were up by 1.7% in the quarter, while sales at M&S Direct were up 13%, with customers responding well to its Shop Your Way multi-channel service. International sales were up 7.8%.

Marc Bolland, M&S chief executive, said: "Marks & Spencer continued to grow market share in both clothing and food, by offering our customers more choice, great value for money and leading innovation.

"Against the uncertain economic backdrop, we are focused on trading through the short term, while building for the long-term growth of the business."

Topics

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Advertising Intelligence Market Reports.

Find out more

Enjoying ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s content?

 Get unlimited access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s premium content for your whole company with a corporate licence.

Upgrade access

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an alert now

Partner content