Marks & Spencer allocates £480m to become UK’s omnichannel retailer

British retail company Marks & Spencer (M&S) will invest approximately £480 million in bigger, better stores across the UK as part of its five-year Store Rotation Programme.

The investment is expected to help Marks & Spencer establish itself as a major omnichannel retailer in the UK and provide new employment opportunities to more than 3,400 people across the country.

Under its Store Rotation Programme acceleration, the British retailer has already identified a pipeline of 20 new bigger, better stores to be opened for the 2023/2024 financial year.

Stuart Machin — Marks & Spencer Chief Executive said: “Stores are a core part of M&S’s omni-channel future and serve as a competitive advantage for how customers want to shop today.

“Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space and we’re aiming to rotate from the 247 stores we have today to 180 higher quality, higher productivity full-line stores that sell our full Clothing, Home and Food offer whilst also opening over 100 bigger, better food sites.”

Marks & Spencer to invest £480m in its Store Rotation Programme

The new store pipeline for 2023/2024 contains eight full-line destination locations, including a 70,000sft store in Liverpool ONE and a new 97,000sft store in Leeds White Rose both due to open in Summer 2023.

Marks & Spencer will open a 65,000sft store in Birmingham Bullring in Autumn 2023 as well as a 96,000sft store in Manchester‘s Trafford Centre and a 98,000sft store in Lakeside Thurrock in Winter 2023.

The British retail company will relocate all five new stores to former Debenhams sites as part of its investment to regenerate currently vacant sites.

In addition to full-line sites, Marks & Spencer plans to open a dozen new food halls across the UK this year.

Marks & Spencer also plans to extend its franchise model for its food range, following current successful franchise partnerships with BP, SSP, Costa, and Moto.

The Store Rotation Programme is anticipated to roll out Digital Click & Collect to 130 stores across the UK, allowing customers to collect their parcel in under 60 seconds, and Scan & Shop, directly from the M&S app.