M&S is expanding its range of family favourites and household essentials as it looks to become a “true shopping list retailer”, rolling out new own-label lines and larger pack sizes.

The food and fashion giant has grown its Bigger Pack, Better Value range by a third, with more than 100 lines now available in larger formats designed for family shoppers.

Fresh Market Specials have also proved popular, with family blueberry pots driving a 30% year-on-year rise in blueberry sales since March. Cherry pots, launched in June, have since become M&S’s best-selling Fresh Market Special.

The retailer has today (7 July) launched 40 new and upgraded lines, including its first own label medicines.

M&S is also rolling out eight new baby food products, including baby milk, following the earlier launch of family-sized pasta sauces and toiletries such as shampoo and conditioner.

Key homecare lines have been upgraded, with new 5-in-1 washing pods (30 washes) launching today. M&S has also enhanced its washing-up liquids, doubling the number of plates cleaned per wash.

M&S said broadening its range has helped boost its appeal across all life stages in the past 12 weeks, with particularly strong volume growth among families.

It outperformed a declining market by 20 percentage points, increasing its market share among families by nearly 0.3 percentage points year on year.

M&S Food managing director Alex Freudmann said: “When we talk about being a shopping list retailer, it means that customers can trust us to have what they need when they come shopping, in the right size and at the right price.

“We’ve been working hard to close our range gaps and make sure the price and quality of our key family lines delivers against customers expectations.”

“All this has been increasing our credibility with families and we’re seeing strong growth with these shoppers.

“As we always say at M&S, there’s still lots of opportunity to go further and really cement M&S as the destination for families to get everything they need, at the quality you can only get from M&S.”

The move comes as M&S vows to improve its menswear, after a shareholder branded its current range “drab and outdated” at the company’s annual meeting.

Speaking to The Times, Machin admitted that there was still work to do despite the retailer boosting its menswear market share to 10.4% — up 0.5 percentage points year on year — and recording a 50% sales surge in its premium Autograph label.

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