Food
Protecting the magic and modernising the rest
What we said last year
In 2018 we acknowledged that our Food business had become too premium and lost some of its broader appeal. While customers still recognised us for quality, the competition had worked hard to match our success by copying our innovation and fresh product ranges and we hadn’t kept up. The challenges were compounded by our outdated supply chain, with excessive waste, poor availability and high operating costs eroding our profits.
We were clear that we needed to protect the things that make M&S Food special: industry-leading quality, exceptional sourcing and famous innovation. But against the relentless rise of the discounters at one end, and supermarket price competition at the other, M&S had to become more relevant, more often – with great value, everyday prices and products that appeal to a family customer.
Under the direction of our Food Managing Director, Stuart Machin, our new leadership team is injecting much needed pace and energy into our transformation. The team was strengthened by the arrival of our new Commercial Director, George Wright, who joined us from Tesco in April 2019, and the return of April Preston in November 2018 as Product Development Director, as well as other important leadership appointments.
What's happening
We’re working hard to rebuild trust in our value credentials. Over the last 12 months we have reduced our dependency on short-term promotions and reduced promotional participation by over 10%. This has enabled us to maintain our quality and invest in better everyday value and reduce prices on over 400 of our most popular lines. For example, we invested in prices of staple products like our beef mince and saw a positive customer response with sales up 29% as a result.
We have also started to tackle value perception through our marketing and, for the first time, our campaigns consistently called out prices alongside product quality. We also began showcasing the best of M&S Food into millions of homes each week through our sponsorship of the 2019 series of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.
What's still to do
The UK food market is in the midst of seismic change and hard work lies ahead. But our strength in innovation, quality and time-saving fresh food, coupled with the evolution of customer shopping habits towards convenience and health, presents a real opportunity to significantly improve our market share in the medium term. Underpinned by our far-reaching plans, we are building a platform for like-for-like growth.
