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M&S taps more high street brands to lure customers away from John Lewis and Next

M&S store front

Marks and Spencer will be expanding its ‘Brands at M&S’ banner with a major push resulting in more high street brands being sold alongside its own range.

The omnichannel retailer is set to expand the number of third-party brands it sells from 60 to 100, in a bid to entice customers away from rivals John Lewis and Next.

M&S has already started selling garments from brands including Joules, Crew Clothing and Nobody’s Child, alongside its own fashion offering.

The move into third-party brands is being pushed by Nishi Mahajan, who was poached by the retailer from Amazon’s fashion business last month.

M&S is also looking to sell beauty sportswear and homeware brands on its website, as part of the growth, which could eventually report sales as high as £1bn, according to senior figures.

The company started selling third party brands on its website around two years ago, since then reporting significant growth from customers searching for high-street names on its site. 

As a result, third party brand sales sales were up 50%.

The push by the retailer follows a similar rollout of more lines on high street rival Next, which has increased its third party brands from 500 to 1,000 in around three years.

An M&S spokesperson told InternetRetailing: “It’s been two years to the month since we launched ‘Brands at M&S’; the strength of our omnichannel offer, combined with access to over 30 million customers, continues to make us more attractive partner.

“Whilst it’s no secret that the platform continues to grow at pace – we know it’s not just about the number of brands we offer, but who, what and how. We’re focused on a carefully curated offer, which complements and enhances our core offer.”

They added: “We know that when we get this right, our brand partners drive new customers, frequency and spend.”

Marks & Spencer is ranked Leading in RXUK Top500 research, whereas Next is ranked Elite.

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