M&S online sales brighten Christmas gloom

Marks & Spencer's online sales were the only bright spot in an otherwise poor Christmas season for the retailer.

Web transactions through M&S Direct were up 78 per cent thanks to a relaunch of the site earlier in the year, according to the company - which posted a 2.2 per cent decrease in overall sales in the third quarter.

Predictions for 2008 are also gloomy.

“We expect trading conditions to remain tough throughout the year," said chief executive Stuart Rose.

"But we are well positioned with a strong product offer and better than ever values across our business and M&S Direct continues to make good progress.”

Last year's revamp of the website, in partnership with Amazon, improved functionality, searching and navigation, says M&S. Product catalogues online were also expanded to offer full lines of accessories and jewellery, as well as fringe sizes for clothing lines.

In November, the company reported an increase of 60 per cent in online sales. Rose's target is for £500m of sales to be made through the e-commerce channel by 2010.

See also:

M&S signs £19m Computacenter deal

Five-year managed services deal covers 4000 users at six sites across the country  12 Dec 2007

Marks and Spencer searches for business-savvy IT recruits

The retail chain is looking to build links between its IT department and its business  29 Nov 2007

M&S online sales up 60 per cent

Improvements to the retailer's web site have boosted customer spending  06 Nov 2007

M&S to dress up in-store technology

Three year deal with IBM includes upgraded point-of-sale systems to be rolled out this year  13 Aug 2007

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