Marks & Spencer pins hopes on India

Iconic British brand Marks & Spencer has 58 stores in India across 27 cities. In fact, India has the largest number of M&S stores outside the UK. It operates through a joint venture partnership with Reliance Retail. Annually Marks & Spencer targets opening around 10 new stores. The retailer is also continuing to grow its online reach across the country. In fact, India is one of its strongest market and the brand is focused on growth here

Marks & Spencer has 268 franchise stores in 34 markets and is an established joint venture in Greece as well as India. It also trades online in 21 markets reaching customers through its fully localised owned and operated websites via established marketplaces such as Myntra in India and Zalando in Europe and with its established franchise partners. However, now Marks & Spencer will close down its 53 wholly-owned stores across ten markets, including seven stores in France and 10 stores in China. The retailer will also shut down close to 30 stores in the UK.

The group’s international business is separated into two parts: an owned business that is loss making in a number of markets and a profitable franchise business which made a profit of 87 million pounds last year. M&S operates owned businesses in the Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic.