Marks and Spencer 2006 Annual Report Download - page 9

07Marks and Spencer Group plc
throughout refurbishment to minimise
inconvenience for our customers.
We continue to keep the layout of all our
451 stores under close review, improving
configuration and display of new ranges.
We also opened eight new mainline stores
in 2005/06, seven on retail parks and one
in Victoria, London. We closed six
underperforming stores during the year. In
March 2006, we concluded a £38m deal to
buy 28 former Iceland stores which will
open this summer as ‘Simply Food’ outlets,
taking our number of stand-alone food
stores to 172. We are trialling a ‘Simply
Food’ offer in nine BP Connect service
stations, one of which opened after the year
end. If this trial is successful, there will be
significant opportunity for expansion.
We have recently instigated a review of our
total property portfolio in order to better
understand our needs and opportunities.
Service
Consistently good customer service is the
third key part of our plan. Starting in June
2005, all 56,000 of our store colleagues in
the UK and the Republic of Ireland
participated in a specially tailored programme
called ‘Our Service Style’ to help us achieve
this. The programme accounted for over
one million hours of additional training and
was very well-received.
We also restructured customer assistants’
pay, introducing some of the best rates on
the high street. A host of complicated roles
were replaced with just four – Trainee,
Qualified, Coach and Section Co-ordinator –
offering assistants a clear career path.
Finally, we improved further our staffing
schedules, so that more of our customer
assistants were on hand during our busiest
times.
We need to do a lot more to improve
service. The new Coach role will make
service training part of everyday life. We will
also be adding more specialist sales staff in
areas such as bra-fitting, footwear, suits and
speciality foods.
Our aim is to make sure we always have
well-motivated, properly trained people, in
the right place at the right time to help our
customers.
Colleagues in our stores played a critical
part in improving our performance last year.
I am delighted we are able to reward
everyone in the Company with a well-
deserved bonus to recognise their efforts.
Looking ahead
In the coming year, we will begin to look at
ways to broaden the business. We will
continue to expand our franchise operation
overseas, where the M&S brand is well-
known and popular.
Our work with Amazon will, from 2007
onwards, improve our e-commerce offer.
The ‘Simply Food’ store format will continue
to take our food to new customers and help
us build market share.
However, our key priority will remain the
revitalisation of our existing core business,
building on the work already in hand based
on our principles of Quality, Value, Service,
Innovation and Trust. We face challenges,
including significant cost inflation and
relentless competition.
M&S is rediscovering its self-confidence,
with morale and motivation at high levels.
However, progress will become more
challenging as we start to come up against
year-on-year growth during 2006/07.
We are under no illusions about the work
necessary to place us firmly on a path to
long-term growth and are committed to
deliver this.
We have achieved much in the last year.
None of this would have been possible
without the hard work and dedication of
our colleagues and our superb and highly
committed supply base. They have risen
to all the challenges set and deserve
our thanks.
Last and not least, I would like to thank
Paul Myners for his unstinting support over
the last two years. Revitalising a business is
difficult at any time; doing it whilst defending
a bid and dealing with a highly competitive
retail environment was made easier with his
continuous support and belief. All
shareholders are in his debt.
Stuart Rose, Chief executive
STORE TYPE NUMBER OF STORES
Major city stores 48
Major out of town stores 24
High Street stores 198
Retail park stores 13
Outlet stores 24
Simply Food stores 101
Wholly-owned stores 408
Simply Food franchises 43
Total stores 451
Scotland
35
England
388
Wales
18
Northern
Ireland
10
UK STORES
56,000
employees underwent ‘Our
Service Style’ customer
service training in 2005/06.
35%
of our store portfolio, equating
to 5 million sq ft of space, will
be refurbished by the end
of 2006/07.