M&S half-yearly sales hit! Apparel and home revenue falls by 40.8%

As predicted by industry experts and analysts, Marks & Spencer (M&S) saw its half-yearly sales go down.

Also Read: M&S will post half-yearly loss as apparel sales get hit, say analysts

The British high street retailer witnessed its total apparel and home revenue slump by 40.8 per cent during the 26-week period that ended on 26 September 2020.

While the revenue for apparels and home segment fell by 61.5 per cent in Q1, the drop was 21.3 per cent in Q2.

The improvement in the second quarter was also due to the new ranges introduced in the apparel segment that was driving sales.

Here it is also important to mention that M&S’ efforts to initiate many transformation policies that are a part of its ‘Never the Same Again’ programme also helped increase apparel sales – not to state the apparel recycling programme – shwopping scheme – launched last month.

Also Read: M&S to bring back its ‘shwopping’ scheme from 1 October

M&S hopes the performance of apparel segment to improve in the coming months, especially with the launch of MS2 – an integrated digital, data and online section within apparels and home. That’s some effort to grow digitally!

Notably, the online apparel and home revenue for the 6 months rose by 34 per cent – thanks to lower returns.

The half-yearly period also saw the group revenue decline by 15.8 per cent to post £4 billion.