- Major marketing campaign to highlight exceptional trusted value in M&S’s home division
- Part of wider changes within M&S Home – a growth opportunity as M&S continues to shape its future
- Campaign follows the success of “Remarksable” within M&S Food where value perception is its highest in four years
Next month M&S is extending its “Remarksable” Food marketing campaign into its Home division. The marketing activity will put a spotlight on the exceptional value of M&S’s entry price point Home product – with trusted value items from tea towels to tea mugs available from just £1.
In May 2021, M&S announced the progression of its far-reaching transformation plan – the retailer is now shaping future growth and as part of this the Home business is a key opportunity. M&S has an incredibly broad customer base – including 22m customers who have never purchased with M&S Home – as set out at a recent investor morning, taking just 10% of these customers spend with key competitors would be worth £150m to the brand.
This opportunity also comes as how customers feel about ‘home’ is evolving, particularly those who continue to work flexibly, customers want trusted value products that offer quick refreshes – with areas such as cushions and candles growing.
M&S Home – Changing at Pace
Over the past two years M&S Home has begun to reshape led by a strengthened leadership team headed up by Director of Home Heidi Woodhouse. Building better products has been a key focus, the team has made the big, bigger, growing in areas such as home fragrance with in-house brand Apothecary which is now worth £20m annually and has introduced or relaunched relevant categories such as lighting (22,000 units were sold by M&S in the first half of the year).
The team has also focused on style credentials with the introduction of shop by trend on M&S.com, revamped the shopping experience with new ways to shop including virtual appointments with a Home expert and created more reasons to visit M&S.com to shop Home with the introduction of third-party brands including Joseph Joseph and Oxo. The result of all of these changes has been positive market share growth across a number of areas including bath, bedding, and kitchenware.
M&S Home – Trusted Quality
Core to the Home product offer at M&S is value and quality - no matter what price point a shopper is browsing. M&S Home reset its pricing architecture last year* to ensure customers can be confident in the trusted value of product from entry price to premium, as well as creating curations of the ‘Best of M&S’ mid-price product to showcase customer favourites – including the best-selling £15 velvet cushion.
However, awareness of M&S Home amongst its broad customer base and more widely is low which is the key barrier to growth. To raise awareness, particularly for those looking for entry price point product, the retailer is introducing Remarksable.
In Food, Remarksable, helped drive value perception at M&S Food to its strongest in four years – the concept is showcasing low prices whilst sharing the M&S quality as a key point of difference – from souring standards to quality ingredients.
The Home campaign is looking to introduce M&S Food customers who recognise M&S value into Home and will similarly highlight price alongside quality – such as pans that are still ‘non-stick’ or towels still ‘pure cotton’ at entry point prices. Remarksable highlights trusted value at a time this is front of mind for cost-conscious consumers.
A remarksable campaign
From early February shoppers will see ‘Remarksable value’ for Home highlighted across M&S marketing channels – from customer emails to store windows. Remarksable will shine a spotlight onto c.30 entry price point products online and in 130 stores including:
- Pure cotton everyday towel - from £1 for a face towel to £6 for a bath sheet
- Set of 4 white mugs - £5
- Non-Iron duvet cover - from £7.50
- 3 Piece Aluminium Non-Stick Pan Set - £20
Heidi Woodhouse, Director of Home at M&S said, “We know that for millions of customers the pandemic has changed how they feel about the space they call Home, making it an important growth opportunity. Millions trust us for the Food and Clothing products that matter most – and so we want to highlight to them the incredible trusted value of our Home product and Remarksable does just this, focusing on the unbeatable value of our entry price product.”
Ends
*M&S Home reset its pricing last year to ensure customers can be confident in the trusted value of product – whether they’re shopping entry price point of premium. In towels for example M&S offers:
- At “Remarksable” value the Pure Cotton Everyday Towel from £1 - £6
- Super-absorbent and quick-drying Cotton Rich Supremely Washable Towel from £1.50 - £10
- Now with improved technology the Super Soft Pure Cotton Antibacterial Towel from £1.75 - £16
- Stamped online as ‘Best of M&S’ and Good housekeeping Institute approved Luxury Egyptian Cotton Towel £2 – 18
- Finally, “spa like luxury” Heavyweight Egyptian Cotton Towel £4 – £27.50
Products featured in M&S Food’s Remarksable campaign:
Scottish 2-pint semi skimmed 90p
Select Farms White Potatoes 2kg 78p
Super Soft White Medium Sliced Bread 800g 65p
Free Range Mixed Size Eggs 6 per pack £1
Select Farms British Oakham Chicken Thighs 600g £1.30
2022 Fashion, Home & Beauty