British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is going full steam ahead in India despite slowing its overseas expansion drive in important markets such as China and Russia due to choppy economic environment.
It is opening its 50th store in New Delhi which is the highest number of stores outside its home market UK. The company, which operates in 60 markets globally, has even shut a few stores in China recently. The company, which has been launching around 10 stores here every year, is opening a new store in Mumbai’s T2 airport. Venu Nair, MD of Marks & Spencer Reliance said that the 131-year-old icon of Britain’s shopping streets, has witnessed a sales growth of over 23 per cent in 2014-15 here, and will only be focusing on brick-and-mortar expansion.
“We are not focusing on online retail. We want to take the offline route and will maintain the same pace of growth for opening new stores,” Nair said, adding Kolkata will see three more M&S stores this year. Marks & Spencer, one of Britain’s largest clothing retailers, operates around 870 physical stores and rakes in 637 million pounds through its online business in the UK. The company, which has recorded its international operating profit drop by 25 per cent in the year ending March 2015, operates 48 stores in Turkey, 37 in Russia, 28 in Greece,” Nair added.
