In its previous trade announcement last November the retail giant said they will be slowing their planned expansion of ‘Simply Food’, opening 80 new stores next year, as opposed to the planned 90. This scaling back has been heightened with the announcement of the latest trade report revealing plans to open 15 fewer ‘Simply Food’ outlets this year.
The changes to the business follow the development of global competition, growth of home delivery in food, and continued rise of the discounters. “These, together with a challenging UK consumer market, mean we have to modernise our business to ensure we are competiive and reignite our culture,” stated the retailer. “Accelerated change is the only option.”
M&S said its food and non-food supply chains needed “significant upgrades” to speed up service, tackle availability and waste in food. It added that its online capability was behind “the best of our competitors and out website is too slow.”
M&S has recenlty separated its Food and Clothing & Home teams, and said it has lost its share of younder family-ages customers and larger households, and was looking to recoer this with food products offering innovation, better value for money, and focussed on more popular family foods.