Furniture helps Marks & Spencer dispel fears of home market collapse

19th May 2009 | retail | Marks & Spencer’s furniture and homeware category outperformed all other product groups in the year to 28th March – suggesting talk of consumers putting home spend on hold is wide of the mark.

The retailer recorded a 1.1% sales uplift, compared to a 4.1% fall in clothing sales and a 0.1% drop in food revenues. Like for like sales across its general merchandise category was down 6.9% - but the higher proportion of clothing in the M&S offer indicates Home was close to matching the previous year’s levels.

In a statement, M&S said, ‘Despite the difficulties experienced by the industry, our Home business had another good year. Our product delivers on quality and value, and our customers trust the M&S brand to deliver, particularly with high value furniture pieces.

‘Our “Improve Don’t Move” campaign struck a chord with our customers and led to increased sales of items such as soft furnishings.’

The retailer also added nursery furniture to its portfolio during the year.