M&S revival: how the retail giant is defying high street trends

How did M&S pull off one of the biggest turnarounds in British retail? Hannah Prevett speaks to operations director Sacha Berendji about the high street giant's transformation. In this episode of The Business, we explore how M&S transformed its food, fashion, and shop location strategy to capture market share across British business. From store renewals and digital growth - to managing a cyber attack - we consider what its resurgence reveals about wider retail trends and consumer spending across the UK economy. M&S operations director Sacha Berendji joins Hannah Prevett, associate business editor at The Sunday Times, to discuss the corporate strategy behind the multi-billion-pound revival of M&S. He explains how leadership set the course to revamp its product lineup, handle the logistics of "fortress factories" and is now approaching shoplifting challenges. He also discusses the tax burden on high street retailers, along with what M&S wants from government fiscal policy to address rising costs and the youth unemployment crisis. He breaks down the company's decision to close a number of high street shops across the country: “We're very well aware of the role that we play on a high street and within a local community, so we never take these decisions [to close a location] lightly - but when you look at the economics at play, not just for us, but for all retailers, and, really importantly, where customers are shopping, it has become more and more difficult to justify being in locations where there isn't customer foot fall,” he says on the show. “It's not an anti-high street agenda … If the high street is the right place, then we'll be on the high street.” Guest: Sacha Berendji, operations director at M&S Presenter: Hannah Prevett, associate business editor at The Sunday Times Producer: Hope Federico Executive Producer: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy Get in touch: [email protected] Picture: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.