Fashion
Marks & Spencer is one of the first major brands to join the movement that is calling to end forced labour in the cotton and garment industry in the region of Xinjiang, China.
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Food
Half-empty shelves and scarcity of fish: barely two weeks after Brexit came into force, the chaos has arrived. A (non-exhaustive) overview.
It will not be easy for food retailers to beat the record figures they recorded in the corona year 2020, but in any case, the pandemic has amplified some trends that will determine the food sector this year and in the years to come. An analysis.
General
For the first time in 94 years, iconic department store chain Marks & Spencer reports a loss: profits in the past six months have been below zero. Yet there are also signs of recovery.
Another drama hits the British high streets: retailer Marks & Spencer is to cut an additional 7,000 jobs in the next three months, one in ten of the chain's total jobs. Especially its fashion department took a bad hit from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Marks & Spencer adds 750 new food products to its online range in preparation of its launch on online grocery platform Ocado next month.
The Covid-crisis accelerates the reorganisation plans at Marks & Spencer: the British retailer wants to make three years of progress in one year, at the cost of another 950 jobs.
Despite a growth in food sales, Marks & Spencer saw its profits drop 21.2 % last year. The coronavirus crisis makes tough measures necessary, but also opens opportunities.
Closed stores and stock that cannot be sold: the havoc that corona will wreak in the fashion retail is becoming increasingly apparent. New studies now predict which chains will be the first to fall...
British retailer Marks & Spencer is reported to have told its landlords it would close more stores than the 110 already doomed by its transformation plan. In fact, all underperforming stores are said to be threatened.
Marks & Spencer has had a disappointing quarter as growth in food sales was overturned by a bigger decrease in non-food sales. Especially menswear and gifts stayed under the expected turnover.
2019 was an atrocious year for the British retail sector, which lost more than 140,000 jobs over the last year - that is almost 400 jobs per day. Worse is still to come: for 2020, experts fear an even bigger onslaught.
British department store chain Marks & Spencer feels the need to reduce twenty of its major stores in size and seeks ways to turn higher floors into offices or apartments.
Marks & Spencer has rolled out vertical farm units in seven stores in London. The British department store chain grows fresh herbs in connected mini-greenhouses.
The first half of the year has "not been good" for Marks & Spencer, the British department store group admits. With 17 % less profit and a 2 % drop in turnover, that may well be quite an understatement.
At Marks & Spencer, online customers can now pay in arrears: they have the opportunity to pay interest-free in four instalments. The trend of paying for items in instalments is also gaining momentum elsewhere.
