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Marks & Spencer opens 5th Shanghai store
By Emily Ford |
June 1, 2012, Friday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
AS Britons prepare for a long holiday weekend to mark the Queen's Jubilee, Marks and Spencer was busy bringing its own brand of Britishness to downtown Shanghai yesterday as it unveiled its new store, the fifth in the city.
Customers queued to buy Scottish shortbread, English breakfast tea and marmalade while the new store's fashion ranges included Savile Row tailored suits and Union Jack print bags in what the group's China managing director described as "the most modern M&S store in the world."
The two-floor, 4,500-square-meter store on Huaihai Middle Road is one of three that will open in Shanghai this summer while the retailer plans to add another eight stores in China over the coming year, mainly in Shanghai and cities on the east coast. It already has stores in Ningbo and Wuhan.
M&S, which imports its products from Britain on a weekly basis, is targeting more affluent consumers in China. As one example, M&S has trained in-store wine advisers to help consumers choose appropriate bottles.
Stephen Rayfield, managing director for M&S China, said: "Shanghai is a leading global fashion center and this is one of the most important shopping streets in China."
The group deliberately focused on Shanghai as part of a strategy to target leading commercial cities that has worked well in Russia and Turkey. "Before we go to Beijing we want to make sure we get everything right," Rayfield added.
M&S believes it has turned around initial problems with its Nanjing Road West store, admitting that the original range was "too basic" for Chinese customers and that it had been forced to improve its fashion offering.
Last year M&S saw double-digit sales growth in China, with womenswear and clothes for children doing particularly well. Overall sales for the company rose 2 percent in 2010-2011 to 9.7 billion pounds (US$14.9 billion).
Customers queued to buy Scottish shortbread, English breakfast tea and marmalade while the new store's fashion ranges included Savile Row tailored suits and Union Jack print bags in what the group's China managing director described as "the most modern M&S store in the world."
The two-floor, 4,500-square-meter store on Huaihai Middle Road is one of three that will open in Shanghai this summer while the retailer plans to add another eight stores in China over the coming year, mainly in Shanghai and cities on the east coast. It already has stores in Ningbo and Wuhan.
M&S, which imports its products from Britain on a weekly basis, is targeting more affluent consumers in China. As one example, M&S has trained in-store wine advisers to help consumers choose appropriate bottles.
Stephen Rayfield, managing director for M&S China, said: "Shanghai is a leading global fashion center and this is one of the most important shopping streets in China."
The group deliberately focused on Shanghai as part of a strategy to target leading commercial cities that has worked well in Russia and Turkey. "Before we go to Beijing we want to make sure we get everything right," Rayfield added.
M&S believes it has turned around initial problems with its Nanjing Road West store, admitting that the original range was "too basic" for Chinese customers and that it had been forced to improve its fashion offering.
Last year M&S saw double-digit sales growth in China, with womenswear and clothes for children doing particularly well. Overall sales for the company rose 2 percent in 2010-2011 to 9.7 billion pounds (US$14.9 billion).
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