Marks and Spencer 2007 Annual Report Download - page 11

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Exploring new opportunities
2007/08 will be critical as we seek to put the business on
the path to solid and sustainable growth, consolidating on
our progress to date, whilst also building the foundations for
future growth.
Our plan to focus on product, service and environment will
remain front of mind – we can’t afford to take our foot off
the accelerator.
Our other challenge in the months ahead is also to pursue new
product opportunities in our stores and online to encourage our
existing customers to spend more with us.
We will do more of what we do already, but at greater pace. For
instance, this year we will open more Simply Food stores than
ever before, working towards our aim to have more than 400,
in addition to selling our food in BP Connect service stations
under the Simply Food banner in up to 200 locations within
five years.
Our property review, outlined in November, means that over the
next five years we will expand our overall space by 15-20%,
with new or extended stores out of town, on Retail Parks and in
city centres. The objective is to be in the right place with the
right space for tomorrow’s customers. We are reviewing our
high street stores to make sure we are properly represented in
well-located sites where customers most want to shop.
Our new website, developed in partnership with Amazon and
launched in March 2007, makes us a truly multi-channel
operation, allowing us to offer customers greater choice and
convenience. With the right technology in place attached to a
much better service offer, we believe we can increase our sales
through this channel five-fold in the next five years.
We have tested new product and service offers too, such as
home technology, new formats for men’s shoes, and new eating
offers, such as our ‘eat over delicatessens’, all of which we are
now trialling more widely. This year, we will also trial a new
layout for women’s shoes and for childrenswear.
We will develop our overseas business at a faster pace. We
have teams exploring opportunities both in markets where we
already perform well and in new locations, as I describe in more
detail on page 24.
The continued tight control of our costs and stock levels
remains an important priority. But we are prepared to invest
heavily, as we have with the modernisation of our stores, in
areas where we see real opportunities for long-term growth
and investment returns.
www.marksandspencer.com/annualreport2007 MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC 9
OUR BRAND
The public has an affinity with M&S which, arguably, it has
with few others. They have grown up with M&S and feel
they ‘own’ it. The award-winning ‘Your M&S’ tag continues
to recognise this and unify the brand.
During the year, we continued to focus
on fewer, bigger impact campaigns and
to use mass-appeal, traditional
communication channels, like television,
to bring clarity and authority to our
messages.
We freshened our womenswear and
lingerie formula, introducing Lizzie
Jagger to appeal to younger audiences.
In March 2007, Myleene Klass joined
the girls outside for a fashion picnic in
the park.
In menswear, rock-star turned
photographer Bryan Adams captured
our ‘Autograph’ offer; while our first
childrenswear television ad drove up
sales faster than any previous
campaign. In our home department we
developed our catalogues, in-store
décor and website offer further.
‘Not just food…’ advertising continued
to give a strong visual taste of our high
quality products, such as our organic
nut-free Easter eggs.
For the important festive season, we ran
a feature-length ad, with Shirley Bassey,
capturing the special quality we bring to
Christmas.
‘Look behind the label’ and Plan A
responded to customers’ desire to
better understand our approach to
environmental and ethical issues.
But it’s not just about advertising. Better
product, better looking stores, investment
in customer service and a new website
have been critical in encouraging
people to reassess our brand.
The positive net effect of our marketing
mix continues to build: footfall is
growing ahead of the market and brand
momentum is the highest it has ever
been and the M&S brand grew by 192%
during the year to a value of £4.75bn,
making it the fastest growing top 100
global brand (Millward Brown). Our
challenge is to maintain this by keeping
our brand fresh.
Executive Team Your Board Financial
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