The move sees Marks & Spencer outfox rival John Lewis, which said it would start charging customers £2 to collect online orders in store, citing “unsustainable” and “bonkers” web-based business models. The group said it wanted to “encourage the company not to “blow” their chance to support life-changing decisions”.
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Bolland had failed to overhaul the group’s clothing division and boost sales volumes aside from a “slight uptick” during the first quarter of 2015 since he joined the retailer in 2010, Palmer claimed.
On top of this Sainsbury’s posted its sixth straight quarter of sliding sales last month as it suffers amid a fierce supermarket price war, and said it expects prices to continue falling into next year.
Food sales up 3.2%. We remain on track to deliver the improvement in gross margin previously guided.
Some have questioned whether M&S can ever get its clothes sales back on track.
“Increasing gross margins alone is not a source of long-term growth”, said Credit Suisse analysts, who have an “underperform” rating on M&S shares and note a firmer US dollar could hurt clothing retailers’ margins in the coming quarters.
Sales of “general merchandise” fell 0.4% on a like-for-like basis in the 13 weeks to June 27, which the company described as a “challenging and promotional quarter”.
The move comes a day before M&S publishes a first quarter trading update and holds its annual meeting.
Bolland said an unseasonally cool May hit the whole industry, leading to widespread promotions in June.
Bolland said the general merchandise business was, however, benefiting from a focus on improving quality and style.
According to the Financial Times, M&S currently offers click & collect at 200 of its wholly owned Simply Food outlets, but this will now be broadened to 100 food stores operated by third parties, many of which are located in railway, service stations and airports.
Marks and Spencer Group has reported a 38.7% increase in sales through its M&S.com website.
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