MARKS & SPENCER revealed yesterday that it is to sell around 400 household products such as Kellogg's, Coca-Cola and Marmite alongside its own-brand goods across its UK store network.
The firm, with the catchphrase "this is not just any food", had previously prided itself on the "unbeatable" quality of its own-brand products.
But after year-long trials in the north-east and south-east of England, the 125 year-old retailer has f
inally bowed to market pressure to stock competing soft drinks, beer, laundry and confectionery products across its entire 560-shop network.
Speaking yesterday, bosses said they could "simply never compete" with certain popular brands and were introducing them to M&S shops for the convenience of customers.
Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose said the move would save customers time and avoid the need for them to shop elsewhere for "must-have branded products".
John Dixon, executive director of food at the retailer, added: "My team and I are focused on delivering the best that M&S Food can offer – innovative products that provide unbeatable quality and great value.
"But there are some products that we could simply never compete with, like Marmite and Kit Kat, and other areas where, whilst we have a great M&S equivalent, the leading brand dominates the market."
The number of items available will vary from store to store, with smaller outlets stocking around 50 products and the largest operations offering the full range.
Richard Sunderland, the managing director of leading brand consultants Heavenly, said the introduction of household brands into Marks & Spencer showed the company's ambition to compete with larger retailers such as Sainsbury's.
But Mr Sunderland, who consults for brands such as Vodafone, BSkyB and Sony, added a note of caution, saying that the retailer would be "foolish" to rely too heavily on externally branded goods.
He said: "They need to keep the ratio of own-brand products to outside brands at about 80:20, then they can sell themselves as a 'best of both worlds' retailer while still maintaining their current exclusive status."
No M&S products are to be dropped as a result of the move, which will focus on lines where the retailer currently has a lower share of the market.
Marks & Spencer said the range – which will also include products from Heinz, Fairy, Pantene and Persil – will be rolled out to M&S outlets in the trial areas starting this month and in other regions from January.
ANALYSISTHE introduction of competing brands by Marks & Spencer is not a huge surprise to the industry as products such as laundry detergent, ketchup, nappies and instant coffee attract an extremely loyal customer following, writes Bryan Roberts.
They were missing out on a huge market by only offering their own-brand products.
This move makes sense as it makes them more of a one-stop shop destination. Having said that, they will remain a "small basket" operation as this doesn't put them in direct competition with the larger retailers, like Tesco or Asda.
The introduction of these brands will see them attracting more family shoppers looking for the items they would have to go elsewhere to buy.
• Bryan Roberts works for Planet Retail.
