Do the family shop with us, says bigger and bolder M&S

Marks & Spencer wants to become a “go-to” destination for the full family shop as part of its plan to grow the food side of the business by a third. It’s an ambition that will see the retailer open more large food halls and focus on its core own-brand ranges, as well as invest millions in the supply chain and its popular Sparks loyalty scheme.
Spearheading the drive for M&S to become more of a “shopping list retailer” is Stuart Machin, chief executive for the past two and a half years amid a long turnaround that is bearing fruit. Last week the company said food sales were up 8 per cent for the half-year to September 28, with operating profit of £213 million in the division. Group pre-tax profit rose 20 per cent.
Machin, who declared himself “positively dissatisfied” with the result, does not intend to stop there. “We’re here to grow the business,” he said. Food market share is just over 4 per cent, including the joint venture with Ocado, and he wants to grow this by another 1 per cent by 2028.
Yet he is not taking the retailer’s recent success for granted. “The food business has been growing for the last four, four and a half years, and outperforming the market,” he said. “It’s very rare for the food and the clothing home business to perform at the same time, as they have been. So I think what we should be healthily paranoid about is, how do we keep our food business and our trade momentum?”
The ongoing store rotation programme is “critical” to attracting more customers as well as full-trolley shops, he said. “We’ve got a big space programme and are also rotating some of that space as well. By April, only 25 per cent of our store estate will be new or renewed. So the chances are 70-odd per cent of our customers will be shopping in an old M&S. We’ve got to accelerate our store rotation.”
By the 2028 financial year he wants the retailer to be proud of every store, “even if it’s an old store we have tidied up”.
The number of food halls is due to grow from 324 to 420 in the next four years, either via new openings or refreshed stores. The newest food stores average 14,000 sq ft versus the current average of 8,000 sq ft and it is these bigger spaces that are attracting family shoppers. “That’s where we see big volume growth, more than we probably anticipated to be honest.”
There is more emphasis on fresh food and own brands that offer both quality and value, a departure from the past when “we were always known for sandwiches and prepared meals — we’ve always been known for Christmas”. He wants M&S food to be “more relevant to more people, more of the time”. Last Christmas the retailer sold more milk than prosecco and more tinned soup than cranberry sauce.
Initially the focus on the core range triggered some strong reactions internally, with comments such as “we don’t do mince or we don’t do frozen food”, but the strategy is paying off. In the past 12 weeks, M&S has seen the strongest family shopper growth of all retailers, according to Kantar.
With sales of the Remarksable value range up 13 per cent, colleagues now happily quote the phrase “core is more”. Machin said: “The team is doing a great job. We came up with ideas, we started to change the range, we invested in value. We would argue that the products are better quality but the same price as your supermarket.” Innovation underpins this: there are 450 new Christmas lines and the festive range is selling ahead of last year.
Customer loyalty is also key to the growth strategy, given the Sparks card has 19.7 million members. “We think that, to be the most trusted retailer, our loyalty programme has to be different than just giving a discount. When we talk to our customers, they don’t like that.”
Instead, he plans to go for more personalised or early-bird offers. There will be some clubs: the new baby club, which offers mothers discounts, ideas and a network, attracted 100,000 sign-ups in just two weeks.
Many of the retailer’s clothing and home customers do not yet buy its food, meaning there is more opportunity for “cross-shopping”.
“Although M&S is one organisation, the fact is that food is very different to clothing,” Machin said. “Between the two, you still have an overlap of customers, but only 40 to 45 per cent. And one of the big opportunities at a broader group level is, how do we get the 32.4 million people who shop with M&S cross-shopping?”
With the retailer now in good financial health, investors will be keen to hear more at the capital markets day next week. He adds: “The question we get all the time is: what are you going to spend it on?”
Hundreds of millions of pounds are set to be invested into the supply chain in coming years, mostly in the UK. After a hiatus, more money will go into digital and technology, with a revamp of distribution on the cards.
Machin seems very hands-on in his role. “I will be in a store tonight at eight o’clock. I’ll be in a store tomorrow and I can guarantee you, I’ll be sending pictures to the food team about gaps and opportunities.”
He’s also a keen M&S customer and has already started shopping for Christmas with the retailer’s “best ever slow cooked turkey” at the top of his list. “I’m really obsessed with this product because the team has developed this whole turkey which is already slow cooked so it just goes straight in the oven. It is stunning.”
He also recommends the whole side of smoked salmon with a slicing knife, although it is almost sold out. A cauliflower cheese made with Cornish cruncher is also high on his wish list.
Grocery may be a fiercely competitive market but the passionate and focused executive clearly believes a resurgent M&S can win more market share and hopefully hold prices as its volume grows. An unpredictable year lies ahead, however. “Everyone was slightly spooked ahead of the budget with all the noise about what was going to happen. Now people are working out what it means for them.”
“I am hoping for some good news,” he added. “We want to invest in this business for growth.”