M&S India posts 13 per cent same-store sales growth in last fiscal

While India's organized apparel retail space has slowed down due to

low consumer sentiment, the Indian subsidiary of British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has reported same store sales growth of 13 per cent in the year ending in March 2014.

M&S has a partnership with Reliance Retail in India. While sales in Asia for the British retailer increased around 16 per cent, global sales rose just 6.2 per cent and group sales saw an increase of 2.7 per cent. M&S seeks to expand its presence in the Indian market and plans to more than double its stores within two years.

On the other hand, numbers of Indian retailers such as Future Lifestyle Fashions and Shoppers Stop suffered due to the economic slowdown, high inflation and low consumer buying. Same store sales at Future Lifestyle Fashions rose 10.5 per cent and Shoppers Stop by 8.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 across their large store network. M&S comparatively has a much smaller network than its competitors. In fiscal 2014, the company opened 10 new stores, taking the number of stores to 40 in the country. The expansion included doubling its presence in Mumbai and extending its reach to smaller cities such as Kochi, Kanpur and Surat.

Apart from retail expansion, M&S India strategy also includes both partners focusing on building a leadership position in India. The plans is to expand presence in like Mumbai and Delhi by opening a cluster of supporting stores around its flagship store locations such as its new store in Bandra. The company will also expand into secondary cities such as Surat and Kanpur; capitalising on the growth opportunities in lingerie and beauty in India and maintaining M&S’s local sourcing of quality products from South Asian suppliers. The plan also focuses on expansion through its food sector and includes franchise and partnerships, such as with Reliance in India.

The high street retailer intends to open 250 new stores outside the UK in the next three years as a part of its global expansion plans, which also include Western Europe and the Middle East in a bid to pursue its plan of growing its international sales by 25 per cent and profits by 40 per cent.