Marks & Spencer has reported its first increase in clothing sales at Christmas for six years after slashing prices and focusing on “classy” rather than trendsetting fashion.
M&S said glamorous adverts featuring Janet McTeer as a Per Una clad “Mrs Claus” had appealed to shoppers who snapped up its cashmere jumpers, thermals and lingerie.
“Mrs Claus was fabulous,” said M&S chief executive, Steve Rowe. “The clothes she wore really resonated with customers. We have been listening to them very carefully and making sure our merchandise is appropriate.”
Rowe, who began his retail career aged 15 as a Saturday boy at M&S’s Croydon store in south London and took over as chief executive last April, is seeking to revive the declining profits of the 132-year-old retailer. His biggest job is turning around its clothing arm which under predecessor Marc Bolland relied on heavy discounting to attract shoppers.
Analysts said the strong Christmas figures, which were better than expected, were a start. Clothing and homeware sales at stores open more than one year rose 0.8% in the 13 weeks to 31 December, once adjusted for a change in the reporting calendar. By the same measure like-for-like sales at its food arm rose 0.3%, buoyed by sales of upmarket treats such as chocolate mousse pine cones and crème brulee liqueur.
Since taking over Rowe has cut the price of 2,000 clothing lines – rather than run constant promotions – and promised to pay more attention to its most loyal group of shoppers: the fiftysomething women he once described as “Mrs M&S”. It has also spent £20m hiring extra staff to improve customer service.
Disastrous Christmas sales figures from rival Next had rocked confidence in the retail sector and fuelled fears that Christmas 2016 had been a washout. But on what has been dubbed “Super Thursday”, a slew of major high-street retailers including John Lewis, Tesco and Primark reported strong sales as Britons loosened their purse strings.
“I think the Mrs Claus advertising was very good,” said Maureen Hinton, analyst at retail consultancy Verdict. “She looked very classy but was of a certain age group, with an authority about her. Overall it was glamorous and inspiring and made you recalibrate your view of M&S and think, ‘I better have another look.’ I’m still not convinced M&S has got the look of its clothing consistently right but it is on the right path.”
While the upset at Next capped a long period of financial outperformance, M&S’s progress follows five years of dire figures, with clothing sales down by nearly 6% at Christmas in 2014 and 2015. Rowe said the improvement did not mean it would reverse last year’s decision to shut 30 UK stores and convert 45 more into food-only shops – a move that will slash the amount of shopfloor space devoted to its clothing ranges in favour of its food business. “I’m not hailing the recovery,” he said. “There is much more work to do.”
