Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[johnwise] 22/2/2021 12:22

More customers for M&S

John Lewis to shutter up to eight stores

[debsdowner] 22/2/2021 11:46

TESCO has recevived a kick in the teeth this morning after its price match agaisnt ALDI because ALDI has beaten all UK supermarkets to have beeb awared cheapest Supermarket by consumers.

[debsdowner] 22/2/2021 11:18

diku,

We agree on a number of things, and the press has aluded to the same.

Marks has lost its identity over the years and management have promissewd the same old transfomation now for years.

According to the press MARKS is still the largest clothes seller which did surprise me.

With it now taking on new brands it will take a little time to ascertian how this will pan out, they need good marketing now.

Also I think their website needs attention, John Lewis have a fantastic website and MARKS need to replicate that.

Even NEXT website is not as good as John Lewis but dont know what otherst think mayne its just me.

There is a further worry about inflaion this morning with commodity prices rising and post BREXIT its proving costs are rising due to come tarrfifs and extra paperwork is pushing up costs, so that will inevitably have an effect on margins.

So its going to be an uphill struggle for MARKS trying to get more people in its stoires when they reopen and buy its goods both instore and online.

It will take a year or two before profits come through so its a waiting game.

However if sales do strart to come througb the next few months I think there could be a re-rating.

However there is another caveat and that any worse news or downgrade and MARKS will see a large slumb in its share price.

We will know better how MARKS is performing when its releases its next results and how its new brands have taken to the market.

There is no dounbt about it the new brands will see sales but the question is will the sales rise be at the expense of loss of sales from its historic own brands and also per una?

[diku] 22/2/2021 10:57

Post 8203...agree to your post...MKS has been too protective of its mature customer base say 35 years old and above so have lost out on the younger generation who are more in tune with online buying trendy clothing...weather it fits or looks good on them is a different story...wonder how much of this online buying is returned back?...hence it never moved on with the times...but as you say it has become a bit of a hotch potch of a business...mega floor space...fill a bit of everything household...






So MARKS is an odd animal at the moment and its difficult to say what it actually is.

But the minnows like ASOS have come from nowhere tiny creatures who have grown expodentialy and taken the lead now.

So whether it can find a place now in the modern market place is difficult to say.

I have never though MARKS would be like Debenhams and go bust but neitrher do I beleive it can take market lead.

I suppose it will trundle on for years to come but I cannot see those heady profits of a billion ever again or indeed fopr many a year.

[qantas] 22/2/2021 09:38

John Lewis is understood to be considering a fresh round of store closures, underscoring the toll that the pandemic is taking on Britain's deserted high streets. The 156-year-old retailer is understood to be reconsidering the scale of its national network of branches, less than eight months after it announced the closure of eight stores to cope with the impact of coronavirus. - Guardian

[johnwise] 22/2/2021 08:13

Marks & Spencer will launch new clothing labels including Joules and Phase Eight as it heads for showdown with rivals Next, Asos and Boohoo

The company will begin added new brands to its website from this Thursday

New brands will include Joules, Phase Eight, Hobbs, Seasalt, Ghost and Jaeger

The new push is seen as the biggest overhaul of M&S clothing for 20 years

[johnwise] 22/2/2021 08:13

Marks & Spencer will launch new clothing labels including Joules and Phase Eight as it heads for showdown with rivals Next, Asos and Boohoo

The company will begin added new brands to its website from this Thursday

New brands will include Joules, Phase Eight, Hobbs, Seasalt, Ghost and Jaeger

The new push is seen as the biggest overhaul of M&S clothing for 20 years

[debsdowner] 21/2/2021 15:18

JOHN LEWIS to shut 8 more department stores is another shock to the High Street and bad ndews for shop workers

[debsdowner] 21/2/2021 15:09

MARKS is to go head to head with ASOS and BooHOo with the marketing of its other brands from this Thursday



Joules will clearly also benefit throm the MARKS marketign and sale albeit their margins from third partt selling are expected to be very small.

However it is an interesting development and its one which both I and QANTAS suggested they should do by expanding their brand range.

I have to say however there are other brands out there like maybe OASIS which they could have also picked up but missed out on.

[xxxxxy] 21/2/2021 11:52

Careful not to cut too far...As said.... Another bloody website.Web sites get boring, maybe mostly for incapacitated and poor.Another bloody website, echoes of what may become just The Duration.Indeed things have changed, but people are still people.

[xxxxxy] 21/2/2021 11:48

The Cruel Sea21 Feb 2021 11:36AMI didn't realise JL was still going. LikeReplyAndrew Du21 Feb 2021 11:34AMAn online sales tax of some sort, seems inevitable... Daily Telegraph

[netcurtains] 21/2/2021 11:43

Its all good news for remaining retailers.

Business Rates and Rents will have to come down loads.

Any fall in John Lewis has to be good for
two remaining competitors: M&S and Frasers.

[xxxxxy] 21/2/2021 11:29

The John Lewis Partnership is poised to close almost a fifth of its remaining department stores as the Covid pandemic forces shoppers online.Chairwoman Dame Sharon White is said to be considering the closure of up to eight of its remaining 42 stores in the latest sign of the trading pain hitting high street chains.The final number of closures, which will put hundreds more jobs at risk, is subject to negotiations with landlords, the Sunday Times reported. Larger, older stores are thought to be in the most danger, although some could be relocated to new sites.... Russell Lynch.... Daily Telegraph

[johnwise] 21/2/2021 08:39

VIDEO

The Great Reset: Bill Gates & Farming - WHAT'S GOING ON?

[jimbob] 21/2/2021 08:29

Article in the Mail today





M&S revamps clothes with raft of new labels: Finery London is first to launch in major shake-up to take on Next
Touker Suleyman to launch his Finery London label on M&S website on Thursday
Others expected to launch in instalments for the spring offensive include Joules, Phase Eight, Hobbs, Seasalt and Ghost
M&S executives say plan will ‘turbo charge’ their online clothing business
By NEIL CRAVEN FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 22:16, 20 February 2021 | UPDATED: 22:16, 20 February 2021

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High street giant Marks & Spencer is set to kickstart a once-in-a-generation overhaul of its clothing strategy by offering a string of top fashion brands alongside its own ranges.

The first in a raft of third-party brands will launch on its website this week, with more new labels from outside the business being added over the coming months.

The high street stalwart has signed up Touker Suleyman, the fashion veteran and one of the stars of BBC’s Dragons’ Den, to launch his Finery London label on its website on Thursday.

Tie-up: Touker Suleyman’s Finery London label will launch on the M&S website

Others expected to launch in instalments for the spring offensive include Joules, Phase Eight, Hobbs, Seasalt and Ghost.

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This major programme to launch new labels will be among the most high-profile changes in a plan that M&S executives say will ‘turbo charge’ their online clothing business and ‘reset’ clothing and home departments in stores as they reopen after lockdown.

Creating a brand ‘marketplace’ online means M&S can compete more directly with Next and John Lewis. It follows a trend set by Asos and Boohoo which have been building up brand stables.


M&S hopes the new strategy will drive customers to its website and tempt shoppers who only spend in its food halls to buy clothes as well. M&S is also making a number of improvements to its own clothing ranges.

The overhaul at M&S is regarded in the City as the biggest shift in its clothing strategy for 20 years since the retailer drafted in Next founder George Davies in 2001 to help rescue the business, while adding a host of new designers for its Autograph range.

In November, The Mail on Sunday revealed details of talks to buy Jaeger – and these were confirmed only last month.

The overhaul at M&S is regarded as the biggest shift in its clothing strategy for 20 years +6


M&S has drafted in former George at Asda executive Fiona Lambert to run the label and Anna Braithwaite, former brand director for Tesco’s F&F Clothing, as clothing and home marketing director.

Marks & Spencer has pruned the number of products across its clothing ranges by a fifth to give the fastest selling ranges more visibility in stores and shoppers more space to browse. It has also been rewiring its supply operation to accelerate the pace of reordering and reduce the risk of running out of popular products.

Suleyman, who also operates the Ghost fashion label, told The Mail on Sunday he is relaunching the Finery London label with its own website today.

He has curated an exclusive collection for Marks & Spencer and is also preparing to launch a separate M&S X Ghost collection.

He said: ‘After 45 years in the fashion industry I’m going back into a very hands-on, product-led approach and it’s given me a lot of energy. I’m looking at every product individually, signing it off. I’m obsessed. This is my baby.

‘There’s a gap in the market to be exploited and I’m drawing on all my experience and my knowledge to make this work. I think this summer people will go and buy and people will look in their wardrobe and say, “I want something new”. But customers are much more savvy in the way they buy and you’ve got to have products to excite them. We’re taking worldwide fashion – influences from all around the globe – and putting it into one brand.’



Suleyman launched a limited M&S X Ghost collection in November, which he said ‘sold out in 24 hours’. He said the M&S X Ghost range being prepared for spring will be ‘ten times as big’.

He added: ‘The market is swamped with cheap products that nobody really wants at the moment and I think the consumer will pay a little bit more if she thinks she’s getting great style, great quality and great value. That’s the aim with Finery and where we want to disrupt the status quo.’

Suleyman was previously a passive investor in Finery, but recently took full control of the brand.


He has sold the previous stock and is now supplying from his own factories in Turkey and Jordan.

One fashion supplier said: ‘They say you should never waste a crisis and Archie [Norman, the M&S chairman] and his team reacted quickly to make the most of lockdown.

‘Their clothing business had been treading water for the past decade, but they appear to be giving it their best shot this time.’

[johnwise] 21/2/2021 05:47

In 2020 the UK sent 71 million in foreign aid to China..

NIGEL FARAGE: A Communist takeover of our schools that Britain must end at once
Not content with financing some British universities, we now learn that Chinese companies directly linked to the highest ranks of the Communist Party have serious financial interests in our schools.

[xxxxxy] 20/2/2021 13:14

And maybe, maybe Amazon is ticking away in the background too.

[xxxxxy] 20/2/2021 13:12

Ticking away in the background......Our ViewOcado's Retail business, now 50% owned by M&S, is leading the online grocery revolution. Sales are booming thanks to lockdown demand, and the long-term shift to online shopping's here to stay. With online groceries accounting for just 14% of the total, the growth potential is significant.But the business case for Ocado PLC hinges on a very different story to the delivery vans you'll see on roads nationwide.Ocado Solutions charges third party retailers to use Ocado's robotic systems. Hundreds of thousands of orders are processed each week, with the help of automated 'bots' scurrying around the trademarked grid systems.The pandemic has turbo charged the shift to online shopping, increasing demand for the kind of technology Ocado specialises in. That should make it easier for Ocado to unearth potential partners, and strike more deals. But it's not a home-run just yet.Expansion comes at a cost, with Ocado stumping up hundreds of millions to fund Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs) - a far cry from the capital-light tech business investors had once expected. The group's massively upped its planned capital expenditure, in order to strike while the iron's hot and develop as many CFCs in international markets as possible. Ocado thinks its portion of the addressable market is a whopping £2.8tn.But the rate of investment, and profitability, is a disappointment. Solutions burns through cash at a heady rate. And the centres are long term investments, so it takes years to know if they pay off. Recently added to the shopping list is two robotics companies. These should boost Ocado's already impressive automated systems, but a bit like the CFCs themselves, we don't know yet if the expensive additions will be worth the price tag.Several hundred million in cash means we don't have any near-term funding concerns. But it's important the expected wave of new deals comes to fruition. If things don't go to plan, we can't rule out Ocado asking investors to open their wallets again.We should be clear we think Ocado has a pretty amazing product. It's the only global provider of an end-to-end, online grocery platform. That's an enviable position in today's climate. As the group builds scale and partnerships mature, profits and free cash should flow.But if new Solutions deals don't come fast enough, that plan gets thrown. Thin profits make Ocado hard to value, but on a share price to sales basis, the market's excited. This is a mark of confidence, but could limit upside potential - and means there's a lot resting on everything going smoothly from here..... Hl. Co. Uk

[johnwise] 20/2/2021 11:43

This is what punishing China for unleashing a virus upon the world look’s like in Biden’s America.

The National Institute of Health under Joe Biden has authorized the Wuhan Virology Institute in China to receive U.S. taxpayer funding.

[debsdowner] 19/2/2021 21:35

diku,

The only thing I can think of is MARKS could be one of the last men standing so far as a department store is concerned.

MARKS isn't actully a department store like BHS was or the old Lewis or even John Lewis or indeed C&A but it has taken on board some other brands.

But household and white goods not ita aremna it limited in that choice.

To be honest its difficult to say what MARKS actually is we know its food but not one of the big four and we know it has fashion, but limited on household.

You can buy a few beds but only its own ranges when John Lewis atocks number of ranges.

Bu the problem with department stores is shopping has changed over the years we have specilist in different sectors now with Currys & PC world, then specialists in carpets and specialist in homewherer like Ponden Mill and then specailist stores for beds and other home.

So MARKS is an odd animal at the moment and its difficult to say what it actually is.

But the minnows like ASOS have come from nowhere tiny creatures who have grown expodentialy and taken the lead now.

So whether it can find a place now in the modern market place is difficult to say.

I have never though MARKS would be like Debenhams and go bust but neitrher do I beleive it can take market lead.

I suppose it will trundle on for years to come but I cannot see those heady profits of a billion ever again or indeed fopr many a year.

[diku] 19/2/2021 15:40

Retail sales slump...so shares should be up then...

[netcurtains] 19/2/2021 13:54

Gut feeling is darkest hour for retail is just before the dawn.

[xxxxxy] 19/2/2021 12:43

Made in UK...hTtps://www.madeinukproducts.com/