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Why have Marks & Spencer rebranded their stores as M & S Food Hall?
Gripper Stebson
11-12-2016
The Marks & Spencer in the city centre in my city has 4 floors. Only has half the ground floor with the food and drink section. Whilst the rest of the store is all clothes, homeware stuff, etc. Yet it's recently been rebranded to M & S Foodhall! Why is this? Seems silly, when only about one eighth of the store is food and drink!
Raquelos.
11-12-2016
Why does any company rebrand anything, ever? They think it will attract more customers and make them more profit.

In M&S case they have done some market perception research and found that the best regarded part of their brand is their food.
ajman
11-12-2016
Because they fancied a change? Why does anyone do anything that breaks with routine?
seacam
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by Gripper Stebson:
“The Marks & Spencer in the city centre in my city has 4 floors. Only has half the ground floor with the food and drink section. Whilst the rest of the store is all clothes, homeware stuff, etc. Yet it's recently been rebranded to M & S Foodhall! Why is this? Seems silly, when only about one eighth of the store is food and drink!”

Hi,

This is going to be happening to 2-3 hundred of their stores initially, especially those stores where the retail clothing side of things is not profitable.

They hinted this move earlier this year but didn't really make a public announcement until September/October.

Clothes out or areas made smaller---Food Halls in.
AcerBen
11-12-2016
That does seem a bit daft if they have 4 floors - perhaps they're going to close the other ones and focus only on food?
TheEricPollard
11-12-2016
Because no one goes to Marks & Spencer to buy a cardigan any more.
Blondie X
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by TheEricPollard:
“Because no one goes to Marks & Spencer to buy a cardigan any more.”

Pretty much this. M&S are all about food and underwear these days - nothing more
Miss XYZ
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by seacam:
“Hi,

This is going to be happening to 2-3 hundred of their stores initially, especially those stores where the retail clothing side of things is not profitable.

They hinted this move earlier this year but didn't really make a public announcement until September/October.

Clothes out or areas made smaller---Food Halls in.”

It was announced the day of the US election - Trump obviously grabbed all the headlines that day so this M&S news probably went unnoticed by a lot of people. Maybe that's why they chose that particular day to announce it!
Paul237
11-12-2016
I haven't seen this.

However, I live near an M&S Food store which has never sold clothes. It's always just sold posh food. I love it.
stud u like
11-12-2016
M & S was the only shop that sold trousers with 29 inch legs. I am annoyed.
RobinOfLoxley
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by stud u like:
“M & S was the only shop that sold trousers with 29 inch legs. I am annoyed.”

Even if you have average legs, sizes can be tricky https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ir...e=off&tbm=shop
Isambard Brunel
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by Gripper Stebson:
“Why is this?”

Obviously because food is the only thing keeping that branch profitable, so they want to rename it to put the focus on the branch as a supermarket before closing the other floors at a later date, leaving the ground floor selling food and the other floors being rented out (profitably) as office space.
jazzyjazzy
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by stud u like:
“M & S was the only shop that sold trousers with 29 inch legs. I am annoyed.”


It will be years before M and S stop selling clothes. Where I live it is a very busy shop both in food and clothing. Go in the women's section, plenty of 29 inch leg trousers in there, my hubby was wearing my black 29" leg jeans for ages before he realised they were mine fit him better than men's jeans.
david16
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by jazzyjazzy:
“It will be years before M and S stop selling clothes. Where I live it is a very busy shop both in food and clothing. Go in the women's section, plenty of 29 inch leg trousers in there, my hubby was wearing my black 29" leg jeans for ages before he realised they were mine fit him better than men's jeans.”

But being very busy doesn't necessarily mean they are getting big sales.

How well are M and S actually selling clothes?
Lyricalis
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by stud u like:
“M & S was the only shop that sold trousers with 29 inch legs. I am annoyed.”

Same leg size here with the same problems. I think this is the reason why I paid more attention in textiles classes at school than I ever did in woodwork or metalwork classes. Pretty much every pair of trousers I've ever bought (apart from M&S ones) I've had to take up my self, whereas I never really saw a scenario in my future where I'd need to make my own wooden or metal things.

I can also sew on buttons.

*flex*

Don't ask what I'm flexing there, because I'm not sure.
Maxatoria
11-12-2016
Its pretty simple that fashion generally has become a zero profit pretty much thing with places like primark, theres a bit of money still in it for M&S but their food is good and people are willing to pay for it so why not chase the money.
Creamtea
11-12-2016
Well it used to have its own branding - St Michaels. Probably changed it to promote brand harmony.
Zeropoint1
11-12-2016
Originally Posted by Maxatoria:
“Its pretty simple that fashion generally has become a zero profit pretty much thing with places like primark, theres a bit of money still in it for M&S but their food is good and people are willing to pay for it so why not chase the money.”

M&S branded chocolates are actually made by Thorntons too. I'm not saying both are the exact same specification but if you want M&S chocolates it worth checking what a similar sized box of Thorntons in a supermarket is. Personally I can't tell the difference.
Welsh-lad
12-12-2016
Because food is the only part of their operation now making money.

Also the word 'Food Hall' is associated with upmarket department stores like Fortnum and Mason or Harrods. It's M&S doing the snoot factor.
koantemplation
12-12-2016
Originally Posted by Gripper Stebson:
“The Marks & Spencer in the city centre in my city has 4 floors. Only has half the ground floor with the food and drink section. Whilst the rest of the store is all clothes, homeware stuff, etc. Yet it's recently been rebranded to M & S Foodhall! Why is this? Seems silly, when only about one eighth of the store is food and drink!”

It's because their clothes line sales was declining and their food sales was increasing, so they've dropped on in favour of the other.
Pam_Kerr
12-12-2016
Originally Posted by Isambard Brunel:
“Obviously because food is the only thing keeping that branch profitable, so they want to rename it to put the focus on the branch as a supermarket before closing the other floors at a later date, leaving the ground floor selling food and the other floors being rented out (profitably) as office space.”

They think the public are stupid. Changing the name is not going to make any difference unless they change their policies. The quality of the clothing range has deteriorated since they began sourcing the products from sweatshops in Taiwan. Until they rectify that they are not going to be profitable.

Shoppers can buy the same quality for half the price from other shops, such as New Look, so why go to M&S?
CravenHaven
12-12-2016
Originally Posted by Pam_Kerr:
“They think the public are stupid. Changing the name is not going to make any difference unless they change their policies. The quality of the clothing range has deteriorated since they began sourcing the products from sweatshops in Taiwan. Until they rectify that they are not going to be profitable.”

Someone said that M&S used to have to 'predict' the fashion a year in advance, then they became pleased with themselves that they got things down to being able to bring a line to market in 6-9 weeks, even though it's generally sourced in the far east. Yet they still struggle. It's probably because they have a committee giving incompatible directions on the clothes. The core M&S customer is 50+ women. There's a vast gap between that and youth fashion. They tried to cover it with in-house brands like colorful and cosy Indigo, but they're even giving up that. They've no consistency.
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