U.K. retailer M &S to create 3400 jobs as it plans to open 20 stores

Marks & Spencer (M&S), the well-known British high-end retailer, has reportedly planned to establish 20 big stores and generate 3,400 jobs as part of a £500 million (US$609 million) strategy to revitalize its high street presence following a successful Christmas season.

Apparently, the retail group stated that it intended to open 20 new bigger, better stores in regions throughout the U.K. in the upcoming fiscal year after announcing in October it was going to close 67 of its poor productivity clothing and homewares outlets, or around a fourth of its network of larger stores.

The company plans to open eight full-line shops that will offer clothing, houseware, and food in shopping malls like Manchester’s Trafford Center and Birmingham’s Bullring in addition to retail parks and major high streets.

A number of the outlets will take over locations formerly occupied by the collapsed chain of department stores, Debenhams.

M&S plans to invest £480 million (US$584 million) on 12 latest food outlets in areas such as Barnsley, Stockport, and the威而鋼
 coastal town of Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

The CEO of M&S, Stuart Machin, stated that providing customers with the most varied shopping experience required a sizable presence on the high street. He revealed that the firm is expanding its Click & Collect service to 130 stores as its online sales increased during the holiday season.

M&S also confirmed that as part of the five-year plan, its portfolio of 247 stores will convert to 180 full-line locations, and over 100 new food locations would be opened. The company wants to operate 420 food outlets throughout the U.K. by the 2025–2026 fiscal year.

It also revealed its intention to broaden its convenience store network beyond its current partners, which include BP, SSP, Moto, and Costa, in order to grow its franchise model.

Additionally, M&S revealed last week that it has the largest share of the clothes and homewares markets in seven years as well as the leading food market share ever throughout the holiday season.

Source credit: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/16/marks-spencer-to-open-stores-3400-jobs

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Puja More

Puja More holds a graduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Pune. Nurturing her passion of playing with words however, Puja undertook content writing as a career path and boasts of rich experience in content production, copywriting, and digital marketing. Presently, Puja writes articles on technology, business, and healthcare for playthemusic.biz and a few similar portals.