Marks and Spencer 2012 Annual Report Download - page 26

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OUR STORES
Strategic review
Focus on the UK
Marks and Spencer Group plc Annual report and financial statements 2012 24
UK stores
Total UK portfolio
731
Premier
11
Outlet
47
Major
42
Simply Food (owned)
168
High street
243
Simply Food (franchised)
220
This year we began work on delivering a more inspiring shopping experience to
the 20 million customers that visit our stores every week. As we rolled out our
new store format, we provided even higher standards of customer service, set
against more challenging targets. At the same time, we continued to extend our
UK store portfolio to ensure we had stores in the most convenient locations for
all our customers.
clothing sub-brand, so customers can
quickly identify which best suits their
style. The refreshed Food Halls support
our position as a speciality food retailer
– with revamped artisan bakeries and
fresh deli counters. Fresh produce is
now displayed in authentic wooden
crates and flowers are presented in
traditional floristry buckets.
We also completed our work to better
segment our stores according to local
demographics. This has ensured that
we have the right product mix in place
and allocate the correct amount of
space in store to individual ranges.
Service in store
In a challenging trading environment,
great service is more important than
ever. Our stores met tougher service
measures and achieved higher mystery
shopping scores: 82% compared to
78% last year.
Our ‘Customer Ready Food’ initiative
outlined on page 23 helped improve
performance and in February 2012 we
were ranked the UK’s number one food
retailer by the Institute of Customer
Service.
To deliver the best possible customer
experience it’s essential that we run an
efficient business. This year we worked
to reduce queue times, through
increased use of self check-out tills,
better tagging systems and improved
scanning procedures at the till point.
We continued to work closely with
product teams on space, range and
display planning and our new stock
management systems improved
on-shelf availability.
Actions against our plan
Grew our UK store presence, including
our Simply Food business
Began the roll-out of our new store format
Delivered a more localised product range
for our customers
We continued to expand our UK store
portfolio, adding over 400,000 sq ft of
space this year through new stores,
developments and extensions. We grew
our presence in key developments and
retail park sites and remained active in
town centres, maintaining investment in
our high street stores.
We have a pipeline of new stores and
are committed to enhancing our
position in major cities. This year’s
highlight was the opening of our
136,000 sq ft sustainable learning store
at Westfield Stratford City, adjacent to
the London Olympic Park. New store
developments at Gloucester, Sheffield
Crystal Peaks and Peterborough are
underway and we are in the process of
delivering four new stores in retail parks.
Now in its tenth year, our convenient
Simply Food offer continued to flourish
and we opened 25 stores this year.
New look stores
Following a successful pilot scheme,
our new store format (opposite) was
rolled out to 66 stores by the year end.
This is continuing at the rate of roughly
a store a day, including stores in our
ongoing modernisation programme.
As promised, the format delivers a more
inspiring experience, with clearer brand
differentiation and improved navigation.
This includes defined brand areas that
reflect the unique handwriting of each
Plan A: Sustainable stores
Opening in August, our
Cheshire Oaks store will
feature the latest sustainable
building technologies –
including retail firsts such as
the use of Hempclad panels
in the external walls and
100% FSC glulam timber in
the roof. Rainwater harvesting
will offset a significant
proportion of the store’s
mains water requirement and
70% of the store’s heat will
come from heat reclaim and
a biomass boiler.
Looking ahead
In the year ahead we will
continue the roll-out of
our new store format. We
will also launch our
‘Customer Ready’
initiative into Clothing and
Home to help deliver an
improved experience
across entire store
portfolio. As explained on
page 26, we will continue
to work closely with our
e-commerce team to
integrate our shopping
channels to provide a
great experience for our
customers however they
choose to shop.