Mark’s and Spencer Case Study

2.1 Strengths:

M&S (Mark’s and Spencer’s) has much strength as a company; the biggest strength is its reputation. The public knows that M&S offer luxury goods at an excellent price/quality ratio. It also has a long history, it was founded in 1884 and since then it has been the first ever-British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of £1 billion (1998), and it has been growing ever since. M&S are in over 40 countries with over 1000 stores combined, but with over 700 stores in the UK and 90% of the profits coming from it the majority of the sales occur in the UK, therefore there is a lot more marketing and advertising involvement. In London for example M&S stores are located in a more central zone like, Bond street and Covent Garden this are very affluent areas with a high density of people visiting them or walking past them, also the biggest store in the UK is located at Marble Arch London another major populated area with a vast number of potential customers. Also M&S have always run newspaper and/or magazine ads since the early 1950s and with a huge advertising campaign with some very high profile appearances like, David Beckham, Antonio Bandera and Claudia Schiffer they also had high profile people voice in the adverts, they also had a big Christmas commercial featuring Danii Minogue and Peter Kay.

M&S started of a business selling high quality products; they offer luxury foods and sweets. They sell many of their own brands like the “Gastropub” line which offers ready-meals inspired by pub-cuisine, their own line of candy and sweets, which are very appealing to a younger age. M&S also have their own brands for perfumes and cosmetics for men and women and they also have their own line of home, interior design and kitchen equipment.

In 1973 M&S started it’s own beer and wine range and in 2006 & 2007 entered hundreds of its own wines in two prestigious wine competitions, and in