Sales Fell 1.6%, Marsha General Store Will Replace General Manager Of Clothing Department

Marks and Spencer Group PLC (MKS.L), Marsha general merchandise group (hereinafter referred to as "M&S") announced on Thursday afternoon that Jill McDonald, general manager of the clothing and Housing Department, left from this date, which confirmed the scandal of Sky News.

Steve Rowe, chief executive of M&S, said in a press release that Jill McDonald has built a "strong transformation platform" for the apparel business. It not only recruited talent teams, enhanced product quality and style, but also set a clear direction to attract younger family customers, but now the group needs to accelerate "to solve the long-term problems of clothing and home supply chain".

Over the past fiscal year, M&S's clothing and home business has fallen by 1.6% compared with sales. It has been retrograde for many years, and its revenue has fallen by 3.6% to 3 billion 537 million 300 thousand pounds annually due to the closing strategy. Management pointed out that in recent years, progress has been made in procurement, size and style, and the average age of customers has declined for the first time, and inventories have also decreased by 14% over the same period.

In fact, before joining M&S, Britain's largest clothing retailer, Jill McDonald had no experience in the clothing industry. She served as global marketing director of British Airways, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD), McDonald's British CEO, and British bicycle products retailer Halfords Group PLC (HFD.L). M&S's former clothing and home director Jo Jenkins said in an interview that the job is very difficult for those without industry experience.

So Steve Rowe recruited Jill Stanton who served Next PLC (NXT.L) and Old Navy Old Navy as women's wear and children's wear director.

Sky News quoted M&S former executives as saying that Jill McDonald should not only face bureaucratic culture, but also deal with complex supplier relationships. And product supply is the biggest failure in Jill McDonald's work. In the last fiscal year, M&S repeatedly appeared in the best-selling series, which made Steve Rowe very unhappy.

On Tuesday's annual general meeting, Steve Rowe pointed out that the most serious loss of his career was the February jeans sales. He did not mention the name of Jill McDonald at the meeting, but said that Jill Stanton and Wes Taylor brought a total of 60 years of retail experience for the clothing department. He also expects clothing business to improve in the autumn.

According to sources from the financial times, Jill McDonald did not leave voluntarily for only a year and a half after taking office. She is also responsible for the fifth outgoing clothing directors of M&S in the past ten years, but the resignation of four predecessors is a job hopping (excluding Steve Rowe). Next, Steve Rowe will be in charge of the clothing and household department for the time being. He served as director of the Department in 2015-2017 years.

M&S's restructuring plan to close stores and exit many international markets has cost over 1 billion 500 million in the past four years. In the 2019 fiscal year ended March 19th, the Group recorded an adjusted pre tax profit of 539 million pounds, down 9.9% from the same period last year, and for three consecutive years. The management has repeatedly suggested that the current network optimization plan to close 120 stores will be overweight.

In the last fiscal year, the group has concluded 35 clothing and home stores, and will further close 85 clothing and home stores and 25 "Simply Food" food stores this year.

The current restructuring program was developed by Archie Norman, who served M&S for thirty years, promoted Steve in April 2016 to CEO and joined M&S chairman in October 2017. Steve

Marks and Spencer Group PLC (MKS.L) reported a 208.1 pence on Friday, rising by 1% throughout the day. The stock has fallen by 12% since 2019, and its market value is now about 4 billion pounds.