M&S boss Steve Rowe: We are frustrating our customer May 25, 2016 Marks & Spencer's new chief executive Steve Rowe has admitted the company has been "frustrating" its customer with its failure to listen properly to what shoppers want – and pledged to do more to win hearts and minds. Rowe unveiled the first parts of a major strategy designed to appeal to its lost customer as the [...]
Marks & Spencer AGM: Setback for M&S as clothing sales slide off hanger July 7, 2015 Investors and retail observers allowed themselves a small sigh of relief in April when Marks & Spencer brought 14 consecutive quarters of falling general merchandise sales to a halt. After efforts to improve the quality and style of its clothing and to win back disillusioned customers, it seemed to have broken a spell. [...]
Marks and Spencer likely to join Next and Tesco in slump as like-for-like sales decline November 3, 2014 The slump in British retail is set to hit Marks and Spencer hard this week, after poor financial results from rival Next and supermarket Tesco. Weak sales figures will pile increasing pressure on chief executive Marc Bolland – like-for-like sales have already fallen for the past 13 quarters, despite the growing economic recovery. The consensus [...]
Retailers are really struggling today – apart from the one that set them off May 4, 2016 The retail sector has been having a tough old day of it today – all apart from the one company that may be at the heart of it. Next issued a gloomy update today, with an in-line decline in quarterly sales and a warning of "weaker underlying demand for clothing and a potentially wider slow-down [...]
EU referendum: Asda, HSBC, Vodafone and nearly 200 sign letter saying Brexit would threaten jobs – but Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s are not on the list February 23, 2016 The bosses of HSBC, BT, Vodafone and Asda are among those to have put their name to an open letter backing the remain camp and Prime Minister David Cameron's reforms in Europe. More than a third of the UK's biggest companies were represented in the letter, which was published in The Times this morning, saying they represented [...]
Marks & Spencer patches up sales at clothing arm March 29, 2015 Marks and Spencer is expected to report an improvement in sales at its general merchandise arm as the retailer recovers from its recent warehousing debacle and thanks to fewer clothes being left on the shelves. Citi, joint broker to M&S, expects the high street chain to report a 0.1 per cent decline in underlying sales [...]
City Moves for 29 July 2016 | Who’s switching jobs July 29, 2016 Gumtree Gumtree, the UK’s largest classifieds website, has recruited Matt Button to the newly created role of head of customer relationship management. Matt will work with the Gumtree marketing team and its agencies to devise and deliver a CRM strategy that acquires and retains customers across all its categories. The strategy will be focused on engaging customers [...]
Boots’ UK boss Simon Roberts set to quit in July June 9, 2016 Boots' UK boss Simon Roberts is set to quit the company in July to "pursue new opportunities". Roberts, who is also executive vice-president of Boots' American owner Walgreens Boots Alliance, said that the pharmacy chain now needs a "new leader to take the business forward". Roberts joined Boots from Marks & Spencer in 2003 and was promoted to president as part [...]
Mrs M&S: Steve Rowe’s first blunder? May 25, 2016 Marks & Spencer's new chief executive Steve Rowe has been on the front foot today, setting out his new strategy of ditching promotions and fashion-focused clothing in favour of cheaper prices and wardrobe staples. It's well needed, given that the retailer announced profits down by almost a fifth today, driven by sluggish clothing sales. Under Rowe's [...]
The best places to find Cyber Monday deals 2014: John Lewis, Tesco, Asos, Marks and Spencer, Game, Samsung, Halfords and Morrisons December 1, 2014 Beleaguered shoppers are still nursing their bruises and retailers are still fixing up their stores following UK's biggest-ever "Black Friday", yet the deals keep on coming. Tomorrow is "Cyber Monday", the internet's biggest shopping day of the year when online retailers offer consumers another chance to grab a bargain as the Christmas shopping season [...]