For 26 years the chain had been providing Parisians with tea, marmalade and shortbread. However, a crisis back home meant that on May 17, 2001 M & S closed all 38 of its European shops. The goodwill and status bestowed on the chain through its stores in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Spain, and Germany disappeared overnight Portugal.The retrenchment is still seen as one of the M & s greatest follies.
Fast forward almost a decade and that could all be about to change.
Next week, Marc Bolland, M & s new chief executive, will unveil his strategic review of the UK's best known retailer. European expansion is likely to be firmly back on the agenda.
Although the suave Dutchman has said that his modus operandi is "evolution not revolution" at M & S, it is thought that one of his first initiatives will be to turn the chain into a truly international business once more.
Since he joined the chain may from Wm Morrison, the Bradford-based supermarket, Mr Bolland has been getting to know the retailer and plotting its future course.He replaces Sir Stuart Rose, who will withdraw in January after running M & S since 2004.
While Sir Stuart stabilised the supertanker and release its leaking hull, the former Heineken executive hopes to sail good ship M & S into a golden new era.
The City, so often at loggerheads with the "old lady of the high street", is willing Mr Bolland is. Tony Shiret, retail analyst at Credit Switzerland veteran, said the mood music in the Square Mile is good."I think the feeling towards M & S is benign as Bolland is less confrontational than rose, and critics don't want to bet against him given his record and the low transparency of his plans,"
He said.
Next Tuesday, these plans will become clear. Although M & S has 320 shops overseas and has outlined plans growth in China and India, many of these stores are run as franchises.More importantly, there is the gaping hole in Europe.
Mr Bolland has engaged headhunters to find a new international director to replace the incumbent Clem Constantine, who is likely to retain his other role as group director after the property changes.The new executive will lead the charge overseas.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that M & S has been secretly plotting to re - enter some of the European markets that it quit almost a decade ago.According to multiple sources, M & S has been talking to the owners of some of the European shops that it quit in 2001 about taking the buildings back. One such owner is understood to be El Corte Inglés, the Spanish retailer that bought the M & s nine Spanish blinds in 2001.Its 18 French blinds were bought by Galeries Lafayette, the French retailer.
Such a bold U-turn would show Mr Bolland to be something of a revolutionary after GER. "M & S has been circling back around to see where the ownership was on some of the properties that it exited in 2001.""There was a view that the company exited in some haste," said a source.
A second source said: "Marc wants to rebuild some of the geographies it left in 2001 pretty quickly."
The first source added: "I think everybody has got a sense that the one thing Stuart Rose did not nail international was, although he did have plenty on his flat." "There is the opportunity for Marc to be very bold internationally."
Order overseas blinds will form just one part of Mr Bolland's master.
There is work to do back home, too.In terms of the products that M & S sells, Mr Bolland has hinted that he will bolster M & s is "quality" credentials.
This could herald a move upmarket or at the very least mean that M & S will stop trying to compete so hard with fast-fashion retailers at the lower "entry price point".Speaking this month at the Q2 results, Mr Bolland said that shoppers are more interested in quality than before: "They buy once and buy well in general merchandise items, and that is a trend we see continuing."
One rival retailer said that M & S must bolster its position at the quality end of the market: "M & S has the clear position of a premium brand." Stuart Rose took the business downmarket. "His view was that he had to get big sales."
One thing that Mr Bolland is likely to do is simplify and reduce the number of sub-brands that M & S sells clothing. The proliferation has served to confused customers.
In the summer, Drapers, the fashion magazine, said that Per Una is the only sub-brand safe from Mr Bolland's shake-up of the chain's clothing offer.
The retailer has launched a clutch of womenswear sub brands in recent years such as Indigo Collection and portfolio.The training is aimed at women over 30, while the latter is aimed at women over 45. In total, M & S has 10 womenswear brands sub and sub sub brands, such as Per Una and Autograph. Meanwhile, it has six menswear brands, such as Blue Harbour, North Coast and Collezione.
The mushrooming of brands under Sir Stuart's tenure came as something of a surprise.In his 2004 strategic review of the chain following his arrival to split off a bid from Sir Philip Green, Sir Stuart's mantra was "less is" more.On arrival he said that M & S had too many brands.
His strategic review of 2004 said: "Our sub-brands are seen as over-mobile and show a lack of confidence in the core brand." So Sir Stuart ditched brands such as PS, Just Perfect and formula.However, a curious case of "brand-creep" has occurred since then, and many new brands have been re-introduced.
Some fashion executives think that Mr Bolland should go further and buy in third-party brands to stiffen the chain's position in the upper mid-market.
"M & S ain ain't cool."But the name above the door is insurance.I'd use that name to bring in other brands."He should turn M & S into a brand emporium, buying names like Karen Millen," said one fashion chief.
Food is the other area where M & S is expected to excel under Mr Bolland.His experience at Morrisons means that he knows what is involved in running a "Big Four" UK supermarket.M & S is not one of those.
Mr Bolland said at the Q2 results that M & if s strength in food lies in its unique products, rather than offering consumers their weekly shop.This means that instead of aiming to compete with grocers such as Tesco - an impossible task given its limited ranges - M & S is likely to instead focus on convenience food, ready-meals and "treats".
Observers say that Mr Bolland has arrived at M & S at a good time in its financial cycle.Adjusted pre - tax profit over the year to March 2010 was ￡ 632 5 m, just ￡ 14 m more than it was at the end of Sir Stuart's first year at the chain in 2005.
In the intervening period profit jumped to ￡ 1bn, but then fell back sharply.The ￡ 1bn figure will not be bothering Mr Bolland for some time."He has turned up at the bottom, which will help," said one old M & S hand.M & S also has an advantage over rivals in that it has a low average rent-to-sales ratio, meaning that its cost base is low.
It is expected that Mr Bolland seront a pacifying force with institutional shareholders and, as Mr Shiret said, City analysts.
Chairman-elect Robert Swannell, the former Citigroup banker who joined M & S as a non-executive director this month and will take the flesh when Sir Stuart leaves in January, is thought to want M & S to have a lower profile than it has had in the past few years.
"Marc will pacify the City.""They will give him a chance," said one well placed source.There is also an IT and logistics overhaul that needs seeing through, and some more money could be taken out of the supply chain.However, it is Mr Bolland's bold plan to re-establish M & S as a force in European retail that is likely to define his first year at the chain.
View the original article here
00:05
zhbjzhql
, Posted in
ANNUAL
,
Chief
,
Executive
,
International
,
Personal
,
President
,
shareholders
,
store
,
0 Comments
??
