From 1884 Michael Marks encouraged his Penny Bazaar customers to browse and handle items before they purchased them. Signage on the Penny Bazaar shops read ‘Admission Free’ and ‘Inspection Welcome’, helping customers to understand that this new way of shopping was as much about enjoying the experience as it was about getting your weekly supplies.
Self-service shopping was trialled at M&S in 1947, customers were able to select products from shelves for the first time. Previously everything had been chosen, wrapped and handed over by a customer assistant.
The next major change in how we shop came in the 1980s with the arrival of mail order. In 1985 our first Home Choice catalogue was published, with a clear message for customers about this new, convenient way to buy home furnishings, “A New Service. Order your St Michael goods from home and have them delivered to your door”.
This service expanded to include clothing in 1998 with the M&S Direct mail order catalogue. It was presented as “an alternative shopping option which is designed to complement our stores”.
Today we’re used to being able to buy almost anything online. In 1999, for the first time, M&S products could be bought through the M&S website. A limited range of 200 products was launched to test the site, customer demand, infrastructure and delivery.
Ten years later, Click & Collect was introduced in 163 stores. For the first time, Customers could order fashion, beauty and homeware in stores, online or over the phone, for home delivery, or free delivery to their nearest store for collection.
Then M&S went multi-channel. The M&S mobile shopping site had arrived in 2010, and by 2012 stores offered customers wi-fi, QR codes to find product information quickly and Browse and Order hubs if they couldn’t find their size in the store.
2020 marked the beginning of M&S’s partnership with online food delivery platform Ocado. For the first time ever, M&S food products were available to buy online, delivered straight to customers’ doors. On launch day alone, 20,000 bags of Percy Pigs were ordered!
In 2020 M&S had to find new ways to serve and support customers with the onset of the Covid19 pandemic and lockdown in the UK. Food Boxes were quickly made available to order through the Clothing & Home distribution network.
Today shopping is more convenient than ever. In 2021 all M&S digital payment methods were brought under one brand banner – Scan & Shop with Sparks. This includes hand-held scanners which allow customers to scan and pack as they go, and Mobile Pay Go which means that customers can choose their products, scan and pay on their phone and leave the store without having to visit a checkout.
Glossary
Complement - contribute extra features to something to improve it
Infrastructure - the basic structures needed for a system to operate
Multi-channel - selling products or engaging customers through more than one channel, including physical stores, websites, mobile apps and social media platforms