Improving general merchandise and womenswear is key to turning around Marks & Spencer's (MKS) fortunes but, judging by its first quarter trading update, these are areas where the British high street icon is still failing to resonate with shoppers.
Like-for-like sales here fell 1.6 per cent in the 13 weeks to 29 June, offsetting a 1.8 per cent rise in food, leaving overall UK same store sales up just 0.3 per cent, despite online growth and a weak comparative quarter in 2012. Overall, UK sales rose 2.7 per cent, with 4.5 per cent growth in food and 0.5 per cent growth in general merchandise.
On a more positive note, online sales grew 30 per cent and international sales rose 8.7 per cent, with good trading in India, China and the Middle East offsetting weaker performance in Europe.
The news came as the British Retail Consortium published figures showing UK retail sales in June grew 1.4 per cent like-for-like on the same period last year and 2.9 per cent in total. Clothing and footwear were flagged as the best-performing categories, thanks to the warm weather.
BRC director-general Helen Dickinson said the figures signalled a continuing retail recovery, but Jon Copestake, a retail analyst for The Economist Intelligence Unit, said while the 1.4 per cent growth figure was encouraging, "further bankruptcies highlight the fragility of the high street, even with footfall levels rising".
