Simply M&S?
May 15th, 2012
This week Marks & Spencer has jumped on the bandwagon and introduced a new value-focused range – Simply M&S.
The range will eventually consist of 800 items, some new and some current lines, featuring everyday items such as eggs, bread and milk. It will all be packaged and branded as one easy-to-recognise series, with the design being themed around a shopping list style labelling. The campaign to promote this move began on the 12th May and included TV adverts using the strapline “M&S quality now at price you’ll love”.
The new brand is part of Marks and Spencer’s effort to encourage customers to do more of their weekly shop in its stores, rather than only visiting for special occasions. More generally, it carries on their wider efforts to offer more choice and be more competitive with their rivals. However, marketing experts aren’t all convinced that this move is such a good idea…
Darren Keen, managing director, MARS\Y&R
“It will be unusual for shoppers to grasp an image of M&S as anything but premium given their long-standing relationships with each other.”
Jamie Matthews, CEO, Initials Marketing
“Marks & Spencer is entering a cluttered market, late… Up until now, Marks & Spencer has made some quite valuable introductions to the business…But there isn’t anything of difference or value with Simply M&S, so I’d expect their gains to be small if anything at all.”
Crucially this range is set appeal to the squeezed middle who “don’t want to be embarrassed by naff value packaging; they want something that looks good and does the job at the right price”. Only time will tell how successful this new range is, but good quality and low prices sounds like a winner to me.
