Anne Bruce
Marks and Spencer's Simply Food estate is set for rapid expansion as early stores outperform the rest of its estate.
Chief executive Roger Holmes said M&S planned to acquire parcels of sites as well as individual stores to hit a target of 150 Simply Food stores by 2005/6. Fifty stores are scheduled this financial year.
There were 18 Simply Food stores at the year-end serving 250,000 customers a week, said chief financial officer Alison Reed, as M&S presented its preliminary results this week. There are now 24.
Reed said the Simply Food concept, launched in July 2001, offered higher returns per square foot than the overall food or general merchandise businesses. M&S's food business outperformed general merchandise on returns per square foot in 2003, with merchandise returning £450 per square foot and food over £900.
Although staffing costs are higher than in larger food stores, Simply Food stores are set to be profitable in their second year, and profitable in line with the core food business by their third year, said Reed.
Meanwhile, Holmes would not be drawn on whether M&S would seek to acquire a whole chain of stores, to drive the expansion of the format.
M&S was sticking to plans to open 40 of the stores on railway concourses with travel station partner Compass, he said, refusing to comment on speculation M&S might extend the partnership in areas such as motorway service stations.
He said: "We are looking at lots of possibilities to make our food offer more convenient, but there is nothing we are announcing at the moment."
Across the business, M&S also sees "significant opportunities" for improved efficiency in sourcing and costs, extending new technologies like RFID.
M&S food business unit director Justin King said it already had the largest supply chain application of RFID in the world after investing £20m on RFID tagged trays for its food supply chain.
M&S launched a combined credit and loyalty card nationwide at the presentation, following successful trials in Wales. Customers get 1p in M&S vouchers for every pound spent in M&S, and 1p for every £2 spent elsewhere.
M&S posted an 11.5% rise in pre-tax profit to £721.3m on turnover up 6% to £8.08bn for the year to March 29.
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Marks and Spencer's Simply Food estate is set for rapid expansion as early stores outperform the rest of its estate.
Chief executive Roger Holmes said M&S planned to acquire parcels of sites as well as individual stores to hit a target of 150 Simply Food stores by 2005/6. Fifty stores are scheduled this financial year.
There were 18 Simply Food stores at the year-end serving 250,000 customers a week, said chief financial officer Alison Reed, as M&S presented its preliminary results this week. There are now 24.
Reed said the Simply Food concept, launched in July 2001, offered higher returns per square foot than the overall food or general merchandise businesses. M&S's food business outperformed general merchandise on returns per square foot in 2003, with merchandise returning £450 per square foot and food over £900.
Although staffing costs are higher than in larger food stores, Simply Food stores are set to be profitable in their second year, and profitable in line with the core food business by their third year, said Reed.
Meanwhile, Holmes would not be drawn on whether M&S would seek to acquire a whole chain of stores, to drive the expansion of the format.
M&S was sticking to plans to open 40 of the stores on railway concourses with travel station partner Compass, he said, refusing to comment on speculation M&S might extend the partnership in areas such as motorway service stations.
He said: "We are looking at lots of possibilities to make our food offer more convenient, but there is nothing we are announcing at the moment."
Across the business, M&S also sees "significant opportunities" for improved efficiency in sourcing and costs, extending new technologies like RFID.
M&S food business unit director Justin King said it already had the largest supply chain application of RFID in the world after investing £20m on RFID tagged trays for its food supply chain.
M&S launched a combined credit and loyalty card nationwide at the presentation, following successful trials in Wales. Customers get 1p in M&S vouchers for every pound spent in M&S, and 1p for every £2 spent elsewhere.
M&S posted an 11.5% rise in pre-tax profit to £721.3m on turnover up 6% to £8.08bn for the year to March 29.
{{NEWS }}
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