Marks and Spencer

Marks and Spencer are one of the UK’s leading retailers, with over 21 million people visiting M&S stores each week. The company offers quality clothing, home and food products, responsibly sourced from around 2,000 suppliers globally. Employing over 78,000 people in the UK and abroad, M&S have over 700 UK stores plus an expanding international business.

M&S are the number one provider of  womenswear and lingerie in the UK, and are rapidly growing their market share in menswear, kidswear and home, due in part to their growing online business. Overall, clothing and homeware sales account for 49% of our business. The other 51% of the business is in food, where M&S sells everything from fresh produce and groceries, to partly-prepared meals and ready meals. 

Now more than ever Marks and Spencer is known for their green credentials as a result of their five-year eco plan, Plan A. Amongst other things, the plan will see the company become entirely carbon neutral and send no waste to landfill by 2012.

In 2010 the company announced their five-year plan. A key component of the plan was the acceleration the benefits of Project 2020, Marks and Spencer’s plan to transform their IT and Logistics operation. The acceleration increased original target cost savings from £250m to £300m. This comprised £175m savings from logistics, with no increase in capital investment. 

In Clothing and Home, M&S continues to reduce their dependency on full service vendor suppliers, giving them greater control of their supply chain. By 2015 the company aims to have a supply base comprising 35% FSV suppliers and 65% Direct.

As a result of these actions M&S plans to deliver a 5% improvement in Food availability by 2013/14, and a 9% improvement in Clothing and Home by 2015.

www.marksandspencer.com