Stuart Rose, chief executive of M&S, has decided to sell electrical goods at the group’s largest stores after a 10-month trial. The move is a big departure for the fashion and food retailer.
Shares in M&S closed at 605p last week. Having soared 70% over the past 12 months, they are now heading close to the all-time high of 652Åp reached in 1997.
The roll-out is a further blow to DSG International, owner of Currys and Currys Digital — the former Dixons chain.
Last week Tesco unveiled plans to increase its electrical range with the launch of Tesco Direct, a home-shopping service offering more than 8,000 non-food products.
The move could also hit Argos, which is being demerged from parent company GUS.
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M&S’s Rose said: “We’ve been trialling technology products since October last year and the results have been encouraging. Extending the range is therefore the logical next step.
“Customers have told us they want to buy a wider range of products including technology from us, but they want to be able to do this in dedicated departments, with specially trained staff,” he added.
Rose plans stand-alone electrical departments in 13 M&S shops — including the group’s flagship Marble Arch store — selling DVD players, television sets, hi-fi systems, digital cameras, camcorders, microwaves, digital radios, and mobile and landline telephones.
The dedicated sections will have their own modern shopfit, clear signs and product displays and specially trained staff.
Work on the Marble Arch store has already started — with a section of the store boarded off — and staff expect the department to open later this month.
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M&S plans to sell a more limited range — which will include telephones, digital radios and accessories — in a further 85 stores.
The retailer has struck deals with Sony, Samsung and Nokia to sell the products in bespoke packaging, designed by M&S, and with the M&S brand alongside that of the manufacturer.
In some cases M&S has also rewritten the instructions to make them more user-friendly.
Rose announced in May he was looking to expand into new retail areas — alongside upbeat results showing pre-tax profits were up by 35% to £751.4m.
After almost a decade of boardroom battles, a lack of leadership and increasing competition on the high street, M&S lost its position as Britain’s No 1 clothing retailer.
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But the brand has been revived under Rose, who was parachuted into M&S in May 2004 after a takeover attempt by Sir Philip Green.
Two years into a three-year recovery plan, Rose is increasingly looking for new areas of growth, including a possible move back into Europe.
M&S used to own and operate 38 stores across France, Germany and Spain, but they were closed in 2001 by previous chairman Luc Vandevelde when the retailer ran into problems.
Rose has described Vandevelde’s decision to pull out of Europe as an “unfortunate reversal” and “a mistake”.