Marks and Spencer 2013 Annual Report Download - page 26

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Strategic review
Focus on the UK
Marks and Spencer Group plc Annual report and financial statements 2013 24
UK stores
The format also brings elements of
theatre to our Food Halls, such as artisan
bakeries and delis, to reinforce our
‘speciality’ positioning and showcase our
fresh food to its best advantage. This
first phase has been rolled out to 337
UK stores.
In the first half of the year we launched
the second phase of this programme,
including new look Beauty and Home
departments. The new format is helping
customers reappraise the M&S offer and
these stores are performing ahead of the
rest of the chain.
Service in store
Great service is an essential part of
delivering an inspirational shopping
experience and this year we continued to
invest, with the launch of our new ‘In
Touch’ programme (see page 30).
Designed to provide employees with the
knowledge and resources required to
respond to our customers’ changing
needs, the in-store training module has
now been rolled out to all stores
including Franchise and Outlets.
Our Mystery Shop programme has
helped ensure we continue to deliver the
very highest standards of service and
this year’s scores remained high at 81%.
However, as part of our aim to be more
in touch with our customers, we decided
to replace our monthly Mystery Shop
programme with a more regular, in-depth
customer satisfaction survey. Under this
new format, one in every ten store
customers is invited to take part in an
online survey through their till receipt and
incentivised by a prize draw. We are
currently receiving over 12,000
responses every week.
Technology in stores
This year our business unit, store design
and e-commerce teams collaborated to
make our stores work harder and bring
the M&S multi-channel experience to life
in our stores.
Using the latest technology, we are
offering improved convenience, more
inspiration and greater choice. We now
have a total of over 250 Browse and
Order points across 82 stores – enabling
customers to shop more of the M&S
product catalogue. Stores are now
equipped with around 1,500 iPads,
enabling employees to offer a more
personalised service and order products
for customers on the spot – either for
home or free-to-store delivery.
Our stores remain the most popular
way to shop with M&S, serving over
20 million customers every week.
Over two-thirds of our UK stores have
now been transformed with our new
store format, which provides a more
inspiring and interactive shopping
experience. Throughout the year we
continued to carefully evaluate the
geography of our UK store portfolio,
ensuring that we are positioned in the
best and most convenient locations
across high streets, retail parks and
out-of-town developments.
UK store portfolio
This year our new store openings and
extensions added 410,400 sq ft of new
space. We opened a number of larger
stores in retail parks, including Crystal
Peaks, Peterborough, Milton Keynes,
Ashton Moss and Newport. We also
continued our modernisation
programme, undertaking major updates
in 19 stores this year including
Camberley and our flagship Marble
Arch store.
In August we opened Cheshire Oaks, our
new 151,000 sq ft flagship store for the
North West, second in size only to our
Marble Arch store in London. Serving a
catchment area of over 1.3 million
people, it showcases the very best of
M&S store design, multi-channel
innovation, service and environmental
standards under one roof.
With outstanding green credentials,
Cheshire Oaks is also a true community
store. We engaged with local groups
right from the start; with educational site
visits and a focus on local investment,
we ensured key stakeholders remained
informed of plans and progress
throughout the build. The store created
over 350 new jobs in the region and
attracted over 21,000 visitors on opening
day. The store has received excellent
customer feedback.
New look stores
Last year we began the roll-out of our
new store format, designed to make our
stores easier to shop by improving
navigation and making better use of
space. Our new format features clearly
defined areas to reflect the distinctive
personalities of our clothing sub-brands
and improved product presentation.
Total UK portfolio
766
Premier
12
Major
59
High street
228
CUSTOMER INSIGHT
“ Great service
means friendly,
helpful and
knowledgeable
employees – who
are available and
able to answer
my questions.”
Outlet
48
Simply Food (owned)
176
Simply Food (franchised)
243
Trend zones
Customers told us they were
looking for more inspiration
and reasons to spend in
store. Responding to this, our
visual merchandising teams
created trend zones, bringing
products to life to show how
outfits can be put together
and enabling customers to
quickly and easily recognise
items from our advertising
campaigns.
UK STORES HIGHLIGHTS