Marks & Spencer’s Retail Rethink

Moneycontrol.com:

Neerja Sinha, 43, a senior executive with a private bank, is a recent convert to the Marks & Spencer (M&S) outlet at Phoenix Mills, Central Mumbai’s bustling mall complex. Sinha, who has never been to an M&S store overseas, is now addicted to its not-so-busy ambience and the distinctly upmarket feel. She drops in at least once a month to buy stuff worth a few thousand rupees for her home and kids. “The store has really become affordable in the last few months,” she says.

Sinha is exactly the kind of customer who will make Martin Jones, the new head of M&S’ India operations, happy. Over the last 30 months, the very British 9.5 billion pound shopping chain has been trying very hard to shed its exclusive and expensive image to make itself more accessible to Indian shoppers. Importantly, in the next 30 months, it is customers like Sinha that M&S will try to attract to propel its ambitious growth plan.

Early results are heartening. Though they won’t talk specific numbers, a senior executive says that some stores’ sales have increased 25 percent since the decision to change was made. Fifteen months after the repositioning, M&S is quickening its growth plans in the country.

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