Marks and Spencer 2006 Annual Report Download - page 18

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Our Stores
We are carrying out our biggest store
refurbishment programme ever and
continuing to open new stores
in key locations.
SIMPLY FOOD
TO THE FORE
We joined forces with BP
Connect in 2005 to trial our
Simply Food offer in BP
forecourts. The trial provided
a new, convenient option for
existing customers and also
introduced new customers to
our Food offer.
16 www.marksandspencer.com/stores2006 Marks and Spencer Group plc
Our biggest tangible asset is our store
portfolio. It is also the way that our
customers experience our brand. Our stores
are in great locations, but they have been
subject to underinvestment in past years.
We have embarked on a major
refurbishment programme to rectify this and
bring our stores up to the standards our
customers expect. At the same time, we will
open in new locations where opportunities
exist to further grow our business.
Improving our stores
Following a four store trial in 2004/05, we
refurbished 17 more stores by Christmas
2005. By this December, we will have
converted around 35% of our store portfolio,
equating to five million sq ft.
The format has a lighter, brighter feel, new
equipment and an improved layout. We
continue to make improvements, including
to Womenswear, where we trialled a more
femine, clearer layout in March 2006, which
is now being rolled out as part of the
refurbishment programme.
We are also improving the consistency of
standards across all stores, so that they
look, feel and are maintained in the same
way. In early 2006, we issued detailed visual
packs called ‘The Look’, showing how each
department should be laid out, to ensure a
consistent spring product launch. Store
standards remain a focus for us in 2006/07.
Meeting needs in new locations
We continue to look at locations where we
are under-represented and opened eight
main chain stores in 2005/06. We also took
decisive action where stores were under-
performing and closed seven. Following a
net increase in store numbers of 29, we
now have a total of 451 across the UK,
including 43 ‘Simply Food’ franchise stores.
‘Simply Food’ stores are an important way
to meet customer demand in convenient
locations. During the year, we acquired 28
stores in select locations from Iceland for
£38m. These will open this summer, taking
the number of ‘Simply Food’ outlets to 172.
Currently, we are opening around one store
a week, either alone or in partnership with
SSP at railway stations or Moto at
motorway services.
Our Outlet stores allow us to sell excess
product year-round, without taking space
away from new ranges in our main stores.
During 2005/06, we opened four new
Outlets, taking the total number to 24, and
expect to open more in the year ahead.
We are pleased with the
customer response to the
stores we refurbished in our trial
and now plan to roll the new
design out across the chain,
with more than 60 additional
stores in the plan for this year.
By the end of 2006, every
customer in the UK will be
within easy driving distance
of a newly refurbished
M&S store.