Marks & Spencer duels Estee Lauder before returning to the Footsie
Marks & Spencer duels Estee Lauder before returning to the Footsie
Marks & Spencer has partnered with the company to expand its “brand” strategy.
Starting next month, more than 30 fragrances from the New York beauty giant will be available on the M&S website and via Click & Collect in over 700 stores.
A number of stores also carry the fragrances, including the Beautiful, Bronze Goddess and Pleasures collections for women and Aramis for men. Estee Lauder is the latest addition to the site as M&S continues its dramatic turnaround.
The high street chain has over 140 brand partners and is looking to attract a wider range of shoppers to its clothing and home divisions.
Third-party brands account for 42 percent of all beauty sales at M&S.
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Heidi Woodhouse, Head of Home, Furniture and Beauty at M&S, said: “At M&S we strive to become the trusted beauty publisher for our customers.”
“We continue to innovate with our leading private labels and hire third-party partners to complement and complete our offering.”
M&S launched its Brands at M&S offering in March 2021 after acquiring Jaeger, its first brand, in January 2021.
The company has since partnered with womenswear brands Sosandar and Nobody’s Child, and distributes menswear from Lyle & Scott and FatFace.
The move helped revitalize M&S and shake off its bad image.
The change is palpable in the city, with shares up more than 80 percent this year.
It’s valued at £4.5 billion and last week the company regained inclusion in the FTSE 100 after a four-year absence.
CEO Stuart Machin welcomed the return to the blue-chip index and said the company still had “work to do”.
He added: “While we’ve made progress, there are still so many opportunities ahead and my mantra with all of them is to stay positively dissatisfied – and always strive to raise the bar.”
“As a team we are very ambitious for the future of M&S and our focus is on transforming the business for future growth.”
Returning to the FTSE 100 – four years after being relegated in September 2019 – was a boost for chairman Archie Norman, as well as Machin and his co-CEO Katie Bickerstaffe.
In an unscheduled trade update last month, M&S raised its earnings forecasts for the year after an 11 percent rise in grocery sales and a more than 6 percent rise in the apparel and home divisions.
That sparked a spate of upgrades from City analysts, as observers said M&S had gotten its mojo back.