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Marks and Spencer


francine

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The times they are a changing and the retail competition takes no prisoners - if you don't meet the needs of the customers your are dead meet - is that enough puns.

The retail analyst this morning was siting an additional reason that shoppers year for a good experience and want to meet up with their friends etc. with shopping a social experience, say around a coffee light snack somewhere where they can have a make over etc. Beats me but then I don't like shopping on or offline but Mrs S loves to go to the Gemini or now the Stockton Heath version when she's Southside. She can spends out in the shopping outlets and a day at that place on the Wirral.

However what sort of message does this send out that M&S are leaving the Town Centre?

 

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M&S leaving the town centre will leave a massive hole in the prestige of Golden Square even if it is out of favour with many modern shoppers.

It is hardly surprising though that shopping habits are changing when goods can be ordered in the comfort of home without the need to travel to a shopping centre...petrol,parking traffic congestion & when you consider that groceries are also available on line then taking running a car out of the equation is even more inviting.

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Out of Town retail stores were built to suit the car, taking shopping away; this was compounded by G/Square sucking the life out of the rest of the T/Centre. Now we're getting direct shopping to suit those with a PC. Perhaps to avoid a ghost Town, we should be building flats in the T/Centre ?

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What M&S needs is a massive injection of footfall with money to spend into its prime stores  but the company has been losing the retail battle for years in terms of attracting customers to its clothing range. There is no doubting the quality of M&S products but they are not attractive to the youngsters with money in their pockets.

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On ‎20‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 5:53 PM, Geoffrey Settle said:

The times they are a changing and the retail competition takes no prisoners - if you don't meet the needs of the customers your are dead meet - is that enough puns.

The retail analyst this morning was siting an additional reason that shoppers year for a good experience and want to meet up with their friends etc. with shopping a social experience, say around a coffee light snack somewhere where they can have a make over etc. Beats me but then I don't like shopping on or offline but Mrs S loves to go to the Gemini or now the Stockton Heath version when she's Southside. She can spends out in the shopping outlets and a day at that place on the Wirral.

However what sort of message does this send out that M&S are leaving the Town Centre?

 

A lot of people shop online these days but most people I know 'shop around' online then once they've found a few things they are interested in they go to the shop and check out the quality and fit - who wants to drive all the way to out of town locations just on the off-chance they might find something?

  M&S has never really been that popular with the younger set and in recent years popularity has dropped, not necessarily because of quality but 'fit'.  Their suppliers seem to be cutting from ancient or asian patterns but people in Europe are now taller, more angular etc.

Whatever,  'going shopping' is more for the inclusion of the social aspect and like your wife Geoff people will go to places which are pleasant to visit.

 You are right to ask " what sort of message does this send out that M&S are leaving the Town Centre?"     I think we all know the answer to that! 

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Hi Sha, probably better asking my daughter about the changes in retail.

She did work for Miss Selfridge in the Trafford Centre to fund her MSc in International Fashion & Business she went on to work as an Ecommerce Trading Assistant for a company with its HQ less than 20 miles away and is currently a Digital Content Co-ordinator for an International Birmingham Organisation. Both of these companies have shops in Warrington. It's interesting to note that both jobs probably didn't exist when we were at school but they are now well established professions. 

As you say a lot of people shop on line so she is learning about the IT side of the business as a way of developing her career in fashion. Who knows what will happen next but she feels that she is best placed where she is in order to take the next opportunity as more changes come along?

Her degree research was to analyse and study the way Miss Selfridge customers shop and she did I think address the issues that you describe with reference to size, shopping experience, returns, on-line campaigns etc. She is always looking for ways to get a commercial advantage and as far as M&S is concerned it looks like they stopped doing this and stood still which as we all know will lead to failure.

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Obs,

What there is online is the following:

On WBC Application 91/26863 In Section 22 Planning Appeal Decision is the Appeal Decision on the Outline Planning Application lost at 91/26862! It includes a copy of the Inspectors Report from the Planning Enquiry. In Section 4.1.4 it contains the following text:

"Undertakings are given to retain the M&S stores which do exist at St Helen's, Wigan and Warrington (M&S33(i-11))."

Now if I had the money to write a City Of Culture Application I would spend it instead on asking the Planning Inspectorate about the documents they hold from the  planning inquiry held into the outline application by:
Leonora J Rozee BA(Hons) MRTPI
on 10-12, 16-18, 23-26 June 1992

File Numbers PNW/5150/219/9 & PNW/5150/21/139

The Planning Inspectorate should still have access to the documents.

Since WBC don't seem to have found it maybe you can have the cold case investigation after all!

 

 

 

 

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