Marks and Spencer 2008 Annual Report Download - page 19

marksandspencer.com/annualreport08 MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC 17
Food
M&S has always been committed to being
the first choice for fresh, high quality and
convenient food that is ethically sourced.
In achieving this, the emphasis in 2007/08
was firmly on provenance, healthy eating
and innovation, as we reported continued
growth for the year.
In the year ahead, as well as reinforcing
these values, we want to stretch the brand
further, so we offer our customers greater
choice and convenience.
Performance
In 2007/08 we grew sales by 6.9% to
about £4.25bn, reflecting the contribution
from new space, with the launch of 98
Simply Food stores (including 64 BP stores).
Strong performance in key product areas,
realignment of prices on key product lines,
whilst rigorously maintaining and improving
quality, also played an important role.
Value market share for the year improved
to 4.3%, despite increasing high street
competition. In the next few years, we
want to increase our market share to
just over 5% of the total UK food market.
We plan to achieve this growth by opening
more Simply Food stores; expanding the
range of food we sell in all of our stores;
improving the value and quality of our lines;
maintaining our lead on innovation and
quality; and enhancing our store experience
and hospitality offers. We continue to
respond to food trends, such as cooking
from scratch; Fairtrade and organic; and
health awareness through the reduction
of saturated fats, salt, sugar, additives
and preservatives.
A convenient offer
In the last year, we’ve responded to
customer feedback by taking steps towards
becoming a more convenient food shop.
Our first step was to begin opening more
stores in out-of-town and retail park
locations. We’ve now also recently begun
to broaden our product offer so that our
customers can buy more of what they
want at M&S, whether cooking from scratch
(see page 18); buying something partly
pre-prepared; or picking up a ready meal.
As part of our commitment to delivering
convenience and service to our customers,
we will also trial up to 350 lines of branded
food and household essential items in a
number of our stores in the North East of
England from summer 2008. New lines
include Marmite and Heinz tomato ketchup,
as well as other branded ‘must haves’.
We submit hundreds of products each
year for independent taste testing.
Products are rated on a scale of
1 to 10, with our average score
being 7.8 – higher than our nearest
competitor. This year we’ve achieved
a few perfect 10s including our
raspberry and panacotta terrine
and asparagus and pecorino frittata.
3 fast facts on M&S food…
We work with specialist producers,
nurturing smaller quality
businesses at home and abroad –
our artisan chocolates by Gerard
Coleman are just one example.
According to independent research
by Allegra, our Fairtrade coffee
served in-store is the industry’s best.
Percy Pig
superstar!
Originally the star of our
best selling sweets, Percy
has become an iconic figure
featuring on everything from
money boxes to egg cups.
We’ve now sold over 1 billion
Percy Pigs, with two pigs
eaten every second. His fans
have also set up their very
own Facebook Appreciation
Society, registering more
than 25,000 members.
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The year in
numbers
Some 4,000 new and
improved products,
including the new Food to
Go sandwiches and Gourmet
to Go deli salads; more
than 100 newly trained wine
specialists; and over 300
awards for our cheese; just
a few of the numbers behind
our growing food business.
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