Marks & Spencer reports sales drop

British brand Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) sales from clothing and home ranges plummeted by 8.3%, while like-for-like sales declined by 8.9%.

Explaining the sales dip, M&S chief executive Steve Rowe, says, “A key part of our recovery plan for clothing & home is lowering prices and reducing promotions. As a result, we ran fewer price promotions, while continuing to lower prices to deliver real value to our customers, and moved the summer sale to July – two weeks later than last year. We knew our actions would reduce total sales but we are seeing some encouraging early signs.”

On the other hand, food sales at M&S rose by 4% although like-for-like sales were down 0.9% of which 0.5% was due to Easter timing. “We strongly outperformed the food market and continue to leverage our volume growth to reinvest in price. New Simply Food stores continue to perform ahead of our expectations,” Rowe states.

M&S’s group sales declined 0.4% in a span of 13 weeks to July 2, while international sales were up 0.7% at constant currency and rose 6.1% on a reported basis.