Company performs well in France
“We are very happy with our performance in France. We sell as much per square meter as we do in England”, Jill Bruce (head of food business development) says.
The food branch has become strategically more important for the British company: 55 % of total turnover in Great Britain comes from the nearly 600 neighbourhood food stores (420 of those are Simply Food stores). In total, it has 800 stores.
Some items even sell better in France than in Great Britain, like lemon curd, Indian recipes and even items that are typically British, like the limited edition items celebrating the 60 year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II or Prince George’s baptism.
By 2017, the chain wants to open 20 stores in Paris. Jill Bruce also wants to open 6 new M&S Food stores, one of which will open in April in the RER train station of Châtelet-les-Halles in Paris, taking the place of a Monop’ store. Another one will open in the Lille Flandres station, by the end of the year.
