Marks and Spencer 2013 Annual Report Download - page 11

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Transforming our business
To fulfil our international, multi-channel
ambitions, it is essential we have the
infrastructure and organisational
capabilities to drive this growth. Since
we launched our plan to transform M&S,
we have made considerable progress.
We now have a stronger organisational
structure and a rich pool of talent across
the business. As Alan Stewart explains
on page 34, we have significantly
enhanced our supply chain operations
with the opening of our first dedicated
e-commerce distribution centre at Castle
Donington. We have also made good
progress with our systems upgrades and
our new multi-channel platform build is
on schedule for launch next spring.
Marc Bolland
Chief Executive
Both departments performed very well
and feature the latest in multi-channel
thinking – driving customer engagement
and increased sales. In August 2012, we
opened our flagship store at Cheshire
Oaks, which brought together all the
elements of our new store format under
one roof for the first time.
Multi-channel
M&S.com sales accelerated this year and
grew ahead of the market at 16.6%.
Through a combination of better site
navigation, more style advice and greater
choice, we increased weekly visitors to
3.6 million. We further improved our
popular Shop Your Way option, with free
next day delivery to stores and provided
customers with more inspiration and
choice through the introduction of new
in-store technologies. We also launched
several brand new ways to shop with
M&S, including our first ever transactional
iPhone app.
International
International sales were up 4.5% this
year. We saw double digit growth in our
priority markets but experienced more
challenging conditions in our legacy
European markets. We expanded our
presence with a multi-channel approach,
opening 45 stores and putting M&S
online locally in a total of ten territories,
following the launch of new websites.
Enhanced visual merchandising in our
stores improved the clarity and
consistency of the M&S brand and we
made a number of improvements to our
international operations. We also
strengthened our franchise relationships
and provided additional marketing
support to our partners.
Brand
Our brand is one of our strongest assets
and our advertising campaigns reflect
how we are in touch with our customers’
changing needs. This year, we used a
selection of models representing a range
of ages and sizes; better reflecting our
customer base and showing our
customers how to wear the season’s key
looks. Towards the end of the year, our
Perfectly campaign featured an edited
collection of iconic products from our
womenswear range. We bought with
confidence into these advertised lines
and sales increased as a result.
Our recently launched Make Today
Delicious campaign encourages
customers to make every food moment
special with our innovative, quality food.
Plan A
We believe our customers are the driving
force for change and over five million
customers participated in Plan A
activities this year. We stepped up our
efforts to engage them in more
sustainable living through a range of
initiatives including Shwopping, which
has already helped divert 3.8 million
garments from landfill, and our Big
Beach Clean-Up. Our five year
anniversary in 2012 marked a major
milestone in our journey but we have
renewed our efforts to fulfil and exceed
our own commitments. We also worked
to extend our influence and share our
learning beyond M&S – to our
customers, suppliers and the wider
industry.
Our greenest ever store
Plan A ambassador Joanna Lumley
joined us for the opening of our
greenest ever store at Cheshire Oaks.
As well as establishing leading eco
credentials, it created more than
350 jobs in the area.
Marks and Spencer Group plc
Overview Financial review Governance Financial statements and other information
Annual report and financial statements 2013 09Strategic review
Strategic review
The market will remain challenging for
the foreseeable future and we expect
consumer spending to remain
cautious and carefully planned.
However, our attention to delivering
exceptional quality and market-
leading innovation means we are well
positioned to navigate through the
short term.
We remain fully committed to the
delivery of our plan; ensuring that as
we evolve we remain in touch with
our customers so that we can
anticipate and respond to their
changing needs.
Our transformation of M&S into a
leading multi-channel retailer will be
supported by the creation of stronger,
more agile infrastructure – building a
robust platform for our long-term
growth.
Please turn over the page to see
the highlights of our plan in action.
Looking ahead
Discover more online