Marks & Spencer is expanding its online reach across Europe, as part of its strategy to become a leading international multichannel retailer.
The retailer is launching localised customer websites in Germany, Spain, Austria and Belgium. The move adds to sites in France and Ireland to take it more than halfway to its aim of trading online in 10 international markets by the end of its financial year.
“This is us moving forward with our plan to transform M&S from traditional British retailer to a leading international, multi-channel retailer,” said chief executive Marc Bolland. “M&S is a brand that’s synonymous with British quality, style and value and this move enables us to extend the reach of our brand to more new markets.”
M&S says the launches tap into existing demand for its products, already seen through orders for international delivieries from the UK site. The new sites will trade in Euros and offer local language, payment and delivery options for more a range of more than 15,000 M&S products.
Laura Wade-Gery, executive director, ecommerce multichannel at Marks & Spencer, said: “Entering these countries with online capabilities allows us to serve customers right across some of the biggest and fastest growing online fashion markets in Europe. Since 2008 we’ve been in dialogue with the customers who already use our international delivery service and we’ve learnt much from them. With our new sites we can provide customers with what they want – a fully localised service that enables them to shop with M&S in the way they want to.”
