| Marks & Spencer sales continue to slip further |
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The woes of beleaguered high street retailer Marks & Spencer are refusing to end as its sales continued to slide for the seventh consecutive quarter.
The gravity of the situation for Marks & Spencer can be gauged from figures which reveal a 5.4 percent fall in like-to-like sales in the 14 weeks to July 9. This comes at the back of a 5.1% decline registered in the 2004-5 financial year. The clothing and homewares sales, a key pointer of the organization’s success, were also down by 11.2 percent on a same-store basis.
Chief Executive Stuart Rose while admitting that the company’s performance was nowhere up to the mark, insisted shareholders not to lose faith in the organization and assured that rapid strides are being made behind the scenes which should definitely result in better returns in the future.
Among the many innovations being tried out by Mr. Ross include thorough review of supplier contracts, a complete revamp of M & S’s pricing and not least of all better stock control.
He insisted that things won’t change overnight but felt the tide was turning in the right direction with the food industry providing a good omen increasing its sales by 4 percentage points, and the clothing trade also slowly but surely showing signs of improvement.
Mr. Rose also maintained that cost and margin targets have remained the same while revealing that the company will take 40% less stock into its summer sale this time which will ensure that a better quantity of sales are being made at full value. To delay the start of its sale by 18 days compared with last year is an indicator of M&S healthy stock position, according to Mr. Rose. Agreeing that the road ahead is not a bed of roses, he expressed confidence that the company will come out of the deep hole it finds itself in courtesy of smarter deals with suppliers and stock and cost control.
Once a distinguished British retailer, currently M&S is facing fierce competition from rivals who have broadened their horizons and also from smaller companies who can easily adapt to the changing trends in the style and fashion. A slowdown in the number of shopping freaks over the years hasn’t helped matters either for M&S.
Looking at the severe fall in consumer’s shopping habits, retail tycoon Mr. Philip Green, who was willing to offer 400p a share for Marks & Spencer last summer, expressed his pleasure that his bid was repelled by the current Chief Executive Mr. Stuart Rose.
Posted
on : Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:15 GMT | Business News
By : Mike Lawson
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