Clothing sales at M&S have at last seen an increase, the first rise in 14 quarters. The increase of 0.7% matched the rise seen in food sales, the company’s best performance in general merchandise for nearly four years.
In the three months to March 28th, the company revealed that total like-for-like UK sales were up 0.7% and group sales were up 1.9% although international sales were down 3.8%. The group also said that online sales returned to growth of 13.8%, with traffic numbers and customer satisfaction ratings continuing to improve since distribution problems hit Christmas trading.
Marc Bolland, chief executive, said: “We have made strong progress over the quarter. In Food we delivered another excellent performance, with sales growth ahead of the market. We continued to deliver on General Merchandise gross margin, and are pleased that we have achieved this whilst also improving General Merchandise sales. M&S.com has returned to growth, as planned, with further improvement in customer metrics.”
