High street retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has reported a positive Christmas trading period, driven by food sales.
According to its latest trading update for the 13 weeks to 28 December 2024, total sales rose 5.6% to £4bn. Food sales accounted for £2.5bn, up 8.7%, while Clothing, Home and Beauty sales rose 1% to £1.3bn.
“Clothing, Home & Beauty sales increased 1.0%, with LFL sales up 1.9%, ahead of the market in challenging conditions,” M&S said. “Underlying sales grew 2.6% adjusted for the impact of the exit of the bulky furniture category. Within this, online sales were up 11.7% driven by customer growth and improved availability and represented 34% of sales in the period vs 31% last year.
“There remains work to do to right size the store estate and invest in online growth, but new and renewal stores continued to outperform expectations. While stock into Sale was broadly in line with last year, we have an opportunity to reduce option count and drive full price sell through.”
Stuart Machin, Chief Executive, added: “This was another good Christmas for M&S, building on a strong performance in the prior year. We sustained trading momentum with like-for-like sales up 8.9% for Food and 1.9% for Clothing, Home & Beauty. Sales records were broken across the business, with Food recording its biggest day and Clothing, Home & Beauty online its biggest week, but we’re not complacent – as a growth business it’s our job to break records.
“In Clothing, Home & Beauty our focus on style, quality and value saw us grow sales and take market share in a declining market, with womenswear and menswear performing well. M&S partywear sales were up on last year but it was our heartland categories of denim and knitwear that outperformed. Although Home & Beauty grew, the development of these categories is nascent, and they remain areas of opportunity.
“Online grew strongly and new and renewed stores continued to outperform expectations, but store sales overall were down 1.5% in part due to weather. The opportunity for Clothing, Home & Beauty in 2025 is to continue offering customers the best style, quality and value, but marry that with a focus on turning stock faster, further reducing options and optimising store range and space. As in Food, these opportunities simply make us more resolute to go faster on our plans to modernise the supply chain and utilise digital and technology to maximise our online potential.
“The external environment remains challenging, with cost and economic headwinds to navigate, but there is much within our control. At M&S, we stay close to our customers and their needs, and with that in mind our investment in trusted value, along with great quality, style and innovation remains our priority. Transforming M&S is a marathon, not a sprint, and we go into 2025 shifting up a gear and raring to go as we accelerate the scale and pace of change.”
