Marks and Spencer 2009 Annual Report Download - page 32

Responding to customers
Knowing our customers is fundamental to the
way we develop products. We constantly
review our clothes through focus groups,
across core ages and among different
lifestyles. For example we work closely with
the Womens’ Institute. This is best shown
by the creation of ‘Portfolio’, which directly
responds to customers asking for clothes
that better suit older tastes. We have similarly
consulted with customers on the evolution
of the ‘per una’ brand. Consultation does
not stop when we have launched a range,
as we regularly return to our customers to
get feedback.
Improving availability
We want our customers to always find what
they are looking for – availability is vital to
delivering the best service. To address this
we are updating our stock planning systems
so we can replenish sizes or colours before
we run out. This is also helped by the speed
and flexibility of our buying departments,
which can now buy additional items more
quickly and efficiently.
Refreshing our ranges
We used to buy clothes twice a year for
the spring/summer and autumn/winter
seasons. This meant we spent almost
100% of our seasonal buying budget, giving
us no flexibility if trading or the weather
suddenly changed.
With the help of our suppliers we have
now increased our buying to 10 times a year
– holding back 25% of our budget to spend
‘in season’. In its simplest form, it is about
having the flexibility to buy much closer to
the season so we can react more quickly to
trends, or buy transitional products between
seasons, such as cardigans
if the summer suddenly turns,
or mac coats if it rains. It also helps us to be
faster at turning around new fashions,
encouraging customers to ‘see it, like it, buy
it’ because it will be gone within four weeks
and replaced by the next new range.
‘Limited Collection’ is designed to be first
to translate catwalk trends in line with the
High Street. We source from Turkey,
Morocco, Italy and Spain – with the latter two
key for sourcing footwear and accessories
for ‘Limited Collection’. These markets offer
much shorter lead times, so that we can get
new products into our stores every week.
Looking ahead
The womenswear team has been significantly
strengthened in 2008/09 by a number of new
appointments. With the right team in place
and with all of womenswear now under
the same management team, we are well
placed going forward. We are now in a
position to pull the clothing strategy together,
maximising the best opportunities and using
the best learnings from all parts of the
clothing business.
Our brands remain exclusive to us, which
means we can ensure they all do a different
job from each other. We can stock products
that appeal to women of different ages and
with different tastes.
We remain aware of the wider economic
downturn and will continue to pursue the
best value clothes and accessories for our
customers. At the same time we will continue
to produce a confident fashion offering; deliver
on-trend items for our younger customers;
produce new garments quickly; and deliver
the classic basics that our customers keep
coming back for.
125 YEARS OF QUALITY
Right: Dresses of the decade Our 125th
anniversary gives us a chance to reflect on fashions
of years gone by. To mark this occasion we have
created five dresses of the decades – a nod to
fashion of bygone years, brought up to date with a
modern twist.
125 YEARS OF INNOVATION
Below: Flower power When Sex and The City
stylist Patricia Field produced her capsule collection
for M&S, her clothes flew off the rails, with the
famous corsage dress selling out on the first day.
125 YEARS OF VALUE
Below: UnLimited potential We attracted an
additional 20% – 200,000 – new customers from
the under-35s into womenswear in the last quarter
of 2008/09.
28 Marks and Spencer Group plc Annual report and financial statements 2009 Directors’ report
Core UK business:
Womenswear continued