Marks and Spencer 2009 Annual Report Download - page 30

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26 Marks and Spencer Group plc Annual report and financial statements 2009 Directors’ report
1
How are we investing in
and growing our core UK
retail business?
Womenswear: It has been a challenging year in womenswear,
but we remain the number one brand on the High Street.
We continued to develop our brands, with particular focus on
improving our value, while injecting newness and style across
our ranges. However, our core female shopper approached the
economic downturn with caution, cutting back on her spending.
This impacted on our womenswear figures with volume market
share down to 9.2% from 10.0% last year, and value market share
down to 10.5% from 11.1%.
Womenswear value market share
10.5%
-0.6% pts
Womenswear volume market share
9.2%
-0.8% pts
Kate Bostock Executive Director of Clothing
A year in review
In a year of tough trading conditions M&S
has continued to produce clothes for
‘Every Woman, Every Time’. We remain
flexible to respond to catwalk trends and
create fast-fashion ranges for the under-35
woman, shown by our collaboration with
Patricia Field – one of the most high profile
launches of the year.
We also continue to produce classic
tailoring for our older customers. This year
we launched our ‘Portfolio’ range in 190
stores, aimed at 40+ women and bridging
the gap between our ‘per una’ and ‘Classic’
sub-brands.
With the retirement of George Davies the
womenswear team will now evolve the ‘per
una’ brand, launching the new collection
in-store for autumn. With all parts of our
clothing business now under one
management team, we are better able to
share best practice across our business
units, adopt a consistent approach to pricing,
and leverage our scale in the buying process
to ensure the best possible value. It also
means we can eliminate duplication across
our ranges and create clothes to hit all price
points. This positions us well to tackle the
challenges ahead.
Our brand strategy
We began a strategic review of our
womenswear brands two years ago.
The aim was threefold: to clearly segment
all our brands in line with our clear customer
profiles; to keep our brands fresh; and to
offer great quality and value at all price points.
We have made progress on each of these
aims. We have defined our brands and also
signposted our ‘shops’ (see below). These
mini departments provide all of the other
essentials such as footwear and accessories
– needed to provide a full lifestyle choice for
our customers, as well as covering seasonal
or special occasion pieces such as Holiday
and Cashmere.
We are continuing to focus all of our
ranges so that each brand stands for
something unique and addresses different
age and style needs. We know that there
are still some areas that need to be simplified;
being clear about each brand will enable
us to do this.
OUR ‘SHOPS’: WOMENSWEAR
ACCESSORIES KNITWEAR
CAREERWEAR LINEN
CASHMERE MATERNITY
COATS PETITE
FOOTWEAR PLUS
HOLIDAY