// M&S to add 11 new third-party fashion brands to its online offer, under the “Brands at M&S” banner
// They include Jack & Jones, Phase Eight, Seasalt Cornwall, Sloggi, Joules, Hobbs, White Stuff, Triumph and more
// Partnerships with brands will vary from wholesale agreements to exclusive collaborations & occasional appearances
Marks & Spencer has announced it will add third party fashion brands such as Joules, Triumph and Hobbs to its online offer as it seeks to “turbocharge” growth.
A total of 11 brands such as Jack & Jones, Phase Eight, Seasalt Cornwall, Sloggi and White Stuff will be added to M&S’s ecommerce store under the banner “Brands at M&S” over the next three months
They are an extension of the high street giant’s new strategy of selling third-party brands, with existing tie-ups with the likes of Nobody’s Child and Ghost, and kidswear names including Ben Sherman and Original Penguin.
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Partnerships with brands will vary from wholesale agreements to exclusive collaborations and occasional appearances, such as that planned for Jaeger, bought by M&S in January.
The retailer said the move, part of its Never the Same Again turnaround strategy, aimed to make its clothing business more relevant to customers.
Almost 10 per cent of customers who bought from the Nobody’s Child line were new to M&S womenswear, it said.
“As part of our Never the Same Again programme, we’re pleased to be introducing guest brands throughout the spring onto M&S.com as part of our plans to turbocharge online growth,” M&S brands director Neil Harrison said.
M&S revealed its overhaul plan during the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, saying it expected its clothing and home division to be “severely constrained” during lockdown and remain under pressure due to an expected phased lifting of social distancing restrictions.
It had already been grappling with years of disappointing trading in its clothing and home arm and had been looking to restructure the group to focus more on online sales.
Bosses revealed in January that sales in the three months to December 26 fell 7.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
While its food division grew 2.6 per cent, M&S’s clothing and home sales dropped 24.1 per cent.
with PA Wires
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