Introduction
“Clothing & Home” by Marks & Spencer is a unique business direction for producing clothing, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, and useful household goods of modern style, excellent quality, and an expanded assortment (Clothing & Home, n.d.). Today, M&S is one of the leaders in the global retail market of clothing and accessories for the whole family (About Us, n.d.). A relatively good quality rating among consumers indicates that the range of the company’s products is quite broad, and the quality is above average and high (Hobson, 2022). This firm mainly focuses on a completely different audience in terms of age, gender, behavioral, and geographic categories, as well as fashion and style preferences (Kirby, 2021). Marks & Spencer can be called a diverse company, covering many people around the world with medium and high incomes who prefer to buy stylish, trendy, and modern clothes in online stores.
Market Segments
Geographic Segmentation
It should be emphasized that Marks & Spencer is an international business that does not have clear frameworks and boundaries. In particular, the company’s activities are most developed in metropolises, major cities, and regions – large markets with growth opportunities and prospects for the future (M&S International, n.d.). Moreover, due to various external circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company decided to direct part of its business into the digital space and attract clients via the Internet (M&S international, n.d.). Consequently, the firm’s audience is people living in large cities in developing countries, as well as those who actively use Internet technologies and opportunities.
In fact, through a good strategy and several improvements such as uplifting online processes in clothing and home operations, the corporation showed renewed competitiveness and strong indicators in most categories (Mark & Spencer launches, 2021). Furthermore, the increase in profit has been attributed to digital transformation (McDonald, 2018). This shows that targeting the online market has enabled the business to encounter enhanced consumer perception of the brand (Comment, 2022). Compared to the 2019-2020 fiscal year, adjusting items has enabled Marks & Spencer Clothing & Home to improve its operating profit in 2021, which helped the business deliver a 17,3% growth in full-price sales (Marks & Spencer, 2021). The rise of e-commerce and digitizing operations enabled M&S to recover from falling profits (Lauchlan, 2020).
Demographic Segmentation
In terms of demographic aspects, M&S targets consumers of all ages (men, women, boys, and girls) and genders who can afford high-quality products (MBA Skool Team, 2021). For example, the company’s leaders say: “Today, we operate a family of businesses, selling high-quality, great-value own-brand products in the UK and internationally, from 1,509 stores and over 100 websites globally” (Marks and Spencer Group plc, 2021). It is logical to assume that clothes and household goods will be made based on the needs of families with medium and high incomes.
Psychographic Segmentation
M&S consumers are business and, as a rule, family people who have a limited amount of free time for shopping trips. They prefer to spend their leisure time through joint pastimes, travels, and active recreation with family or friends (Marks and Spencer Group plc, 2021). According to the report, M&S “can offer time-pressured customers a curated group of value for money, contemporary, stylish brands” (Marks and Spencer Group plc, 2021). That is why the company “has shifted to focus on growth categories, such as the ‘new’ office wear, kids, casual ranges and the Goodmove activewear range” (Marks and Spencer Group plc, 2021). Moreover, these people have a good style, taste, and desire to dress according to the latest fashion.
Behavioral Segmentation
Marks & Spencer Clothing & Home’s clients are business people, most of whose time is allocated to work and family. By and large, M&S customers prefer to search and buy clothes online, either with home delivery or pickup from a store (McDonald, 2021). This procedure allows one to save time on finding and choosing the necessary clothes to distribute to more important things and responsibilities.
Current Position and Evaluation
Marks & Spencer Clothing & Home’s current position is based on high store traffic, the growth of online shopping, brand recognition among customers, as well as increased revenue and sales growth in recent years (Smith, 2022). Thus, for example, in 2020, before the pandemic, Clothing & Home businesses stood at £158,8 million. However, after re-adjusting its business operations to include online delivery, the organization’s position stands at £187.3 million (Jefferson, 2021). Taking advantage of its influence and good reputation, M&S continues to retain and maintain its existing customer base and attract new clients through online services.
In addition, the Clothing & Home business benefits from well-tailored segmentation methods, strategies, and tactics. Thus, for instance, the 2021 Christmas campaign launched by Marks & Spencer was a positive strategic decision. The business encountered positive feedback for its Percy Pig products, which doubled on the weekend leading to Christmas. In the clothing and home category, the business experienced a three-fold increase in searches for family pajamas (Marks & Spencer, 2021). Furthermore, in October 2021, the firm launched the attained Jaeger business, a digital-first brand that helped the company encourage early consumer response (Jefferson, 2021). Moreover, M&S has also acquainted its online consumers with more focused class management in the clothing category, enabling it to minimize the firm’s total option count.
Recently, the market segment for the clothing and home categories has been shifting online, and the sales are projected to continue in the same direction (Langford, 2021). Compared to the retail stores, which have been experiencing a decline in sales of 17.6 percent, the two categories recorded a growth increase in their online sales of more than 60 percent (Jefferson, 2021). In its strategy to reach its target consumers, young and adult people with medium and high incomes, the first half of 2021 saw the organization relaunch the Jaeger business it had just acquired. With the emerging platform strategies where Marks & Spencer sold third-party brands like Clarks, Ghost, and Sloggi, the organization received a 3.5 percent branded sales contribution to its online sales (Jefferson, 2021). The deals enabled the firm to improve its online basket size.
M&S’s average position over the last period, which is twice the average basket size, results from a combination of strategy changes that allowed it to move to intensive removal of promotions and promotion of daily low prices (Marks and Spencer Group plc, 2019). Marks & Spencer claimed to have experienced improvements in value perceptions by their consumers with the removal of stock volume into the clearance sales by half (Marks & Spencer, 2021). The strategies have been significant in how the business could maintain the quality credentials of its products. M&S uses its experiences to build a new brand platform to stand out from the ordinary.
Conclusion
Summarizing the above, it should be stated that Marks & Spencer Clothing & Home’s market segments are formed based on four main categories: geographical, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral. Therefore, M&S develops and creates products for middle- and high-income families who prefer online shopping and live in the UK and other developed countries. It must be mentioned that a positive dynamic of sales and gaining a good reputation with the company among buyers. Visionary solutions and a customer-oriented approach combined with strategies aimed at the online space gave M&S a chance to take a leading position in the niche, gaining recognition and high profits.
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