Comment: Marks & Spencer's latest profit disaster shows fashion revamp is far from secure
Trade was brisk at Marble Arch M&S on Sunday when a dad and his teenage son made a rare excursion for an emergency back-to-school coat.
A traffic jam of mobility scooters at the lifts meant joining the able-bodied OAPs on the escalators as they slooowly glided to the top floor (kids and teens) then to the basement (men) until finding the right size. Five minutes wasted in which they could have bought the thing online.
They’d been lured by an ad campaign for winter coats, and, to be fair, despite M&S’s problems with availability, the ranges were there in all colours and sizes. But, sub-£100, there was only one very basic version. The lad’s verdict: Boring. No hood. Why is everyone here so old?
M&S boss-for-now Steve Rowe admits his revamp of clothing is 18 months behind. He says he’s making up for lost time with new styling and fit that customers are loving. As he impenetrably puts it, he’s “realigning the shape of buy to the family customer”.
It’s all about better marketing and styles, fewer ranges and less discounting. Good for margins, perhaps, but when High Street rivals have cheaper, more stylish options and choice online is endless, cutting product lines is risky.
It’s far too soon in the autumn-winter season for Rowe to be so boldly optimistic.
Meanwhile, the eternal question: how does M&S become relevant to the next generation of shoppers?
All I know is, the lad there with his dad had barely even heard of M&S. He got a cooler coat, with a hood, from the hipsters on the tills at Topman up the road instead.
