M&S to start selling big brands – standing tall or running scared?

Is the announcement by M&S that they are to be introducing 400 branded products into their stores a brave move that shows the absorbance and strength or is this another response to the recession – giving customers what they want, regardless of keeping the heart of a brand intact, for the sake of driving sales?

M&S last sold branded goods in the 1930s, and the fact that after that they never sold anything other than own brand was one of their USPs. Their specially created “St Michael” food brand (abandoned in the early part of this decade for cleaner and more modern branding) guaranteed quality for nearly 70 years.

Stuart Rose has said that his priority is to give customers what they want and if adding brands to their shelves means customers are happier and more likely to complete their entire weekly shop at M&S then it makes sense. He doesn’t see it as a move away from M&S’ heart - own brand only offering – or at least if he did, he made a good show of strength to the journalists.

Is one of the reasons customers shop at M&S knowing that they can get everything under one roof? Or is it knowing that what they can get under one roof will all be of the best quality and sealed with the M&S promise? The one thing M&S can’t do is place their own guarantee on other brands’ products. Does this move de-value the M&S promise that their own goods are of the highest quality – it basically tells you that their cornflakes aren’t as good as Kellogg’s. John Dixon, executive director of food at the retailer, as good as admitted that, saying: “there are areas where, whilst we have a great M&S equivalent, the leading brand dominates the market.”

What’s next? A key reason for bringing in brands is to help bridge the gap between M&S and Waitrose – after all both stores offer similarly high quality products and an equally pleasurable shopping experience, so if M&S can now offer branded products in addition to their high quality own-branded lines, then the two stores will be on a par. How then will the two brands ultimately look to differentiate themselves from one another – should we expect further roll-out of the John Lewis food hall model? After all if Waitrose can stock clothes and homewares, in addition to food, then the gap will surely be entirely bridged? But is this a realistic response from Waitrose? Or maybe M&S are going after Sainsbury’s, which will be an even more dramatic departure from their current core values.

Will consumers really change? Even if consumers can buy everything they need at M&S, from their favourite branded cleaning product to M&S best strawberries, will they actually do their weekly shop there when Tesco’s pricing strategy is so competitive? Aside from the more pleasurable shopping experience, what difference will there now be between the food you have in your basket from M&S and from Tesco, if you always pick up the “Finest*” options? And, while we might be slowly edging our way out of the recession the average consumer surely still feels too ‘credit crunch conscious’ to buy Tabasco at a premium in return for a premium shopping experience.

I can see why M&S have done what they have, after all there are certain products that just aren’t worth mimicking – Ketchup, KitKats, Tabasco, Marmite – no matter how close you try to get with the name, it’s the taste that matters and no-one likes a ‘fake’ (Stuart Rose confirmed this on BBC news yesterday). But the challenge for the brand now is to make sure that the additional branded products don’t take away from the M&S quality to which we have all become accustomed; that the shopping experience is improved not made worse; and that prices can be matched with other leading supermarkets. If they can do all this then they certainly won’t lose customers. Whether they will gain them is another issue.

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Polly MacLehose launched our senior retail offering three years ago and has turned it into a flourishing part of FreshMinds Talent’s portfolio. She is a go-to for clients and candidates seeking opinion and advice in the sector and enjoys working with a wide range of companies, large and small. In her spare time she enjoys running marathons, swimming, sailing and walking - more or less anything that gets her outdoors, into green space or onto the open water – as well as keeping up her interest in current affairs and travel.