Marks has got its Sparks back - thanks to its lingerie! Gen Z go wild for M&S knickers and bras after brand innovated with bum-boosting shorts, period pants and on-trend sets

23/05/2024

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M&S is enjoying its strongest financial performance since 1997 - and its success is partly thanks to Gen Z shoppers buying its lingerie.

After years of its fashion lines being derided as ‘dowdy’, the British High Street has managed to entice new and younger shoppers, particularly with its underwear ranges.

Demand for its lingerie has helped fuel the retailer's 9.4 per cent jump in revenues to £13.1billion last year, with one in two women purchasing bras from M&S and 20 million bras and 60 million pairs of knickers sold last year, reported The Telegraph.

Customers under the age of 30 made up a third of the underwear sales - twice as many as the year before - largely thanks to its popular trend-led 'B by Boutique' collection.

Launched in 2022, the playful range is known for including more vibrant and modern styles - which are promoted on M&S' social media accounts with the help of Gen Z and millennial influencers and content creators.

M&S is enjoying its strongest financial performance since 1997 - and its success is partly thanks to Gen Z shoppers buying its lingerie. Pictured, an influencer promotes the retailer's underwear on Instagram

Prices range from just £5 to £20 for a full lingerie set and looks include high-waisted knickers, bralettes and crop tops. Sales for the collection increased by 16 per cent across the year.

This spring, the retailer - whose game-changing period pants are market leaders - is also jumping on the popularity of bigger rears as it launches knickers with built-in padding to give backsides a bit of oomph.

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The garments, made available from May in 35 stores and online at £15 a pair, are designed with two removable convex pads that sit atop the wearer's buttocks to create a curvy silhouette.

'We're doing for bums what we've done for boobs for years,' says Soozie Jenkinson, head of lingerie design at Marks & Spencer.

'We've had requests from both UK and international customers,' says Ms Jenkinson, who calls the pants the 'BBS' – bum-boosting shorts.

The popularity of bigger rears is, in part, a result of the Kim Kardashian effect. The ample-bottomed US reality TV star has helped shift the female body ideal away from the petite posteriors of the nineties and noughties towards an hourglass look.

But the knickers are quite a gear shift for M&S, a bellwether brand for national shopping habits.

However, chief executive Stuart Machin insisted the 140-year-old retailer, one of the biggest names in British business, is 'at the beginning of a new M&S'.

After years of its fashion lines being derided as ‘dowdy’, the British High Street has managed to entice new and younger shoppers, particularly with its underwear ranges. Pictured, a content creator promotes the retailer's underwear on Instagram

Customers under the age of 30 made up a third of the underwear sales - twice as many as the year before - largely thanks to its popular trend-led 'B by Boutique' collection. Pictured, an influencer promotes the retailer's underwear on Instagram

The knickers, made available from May in 35 stores and online at £15 a pair, are designed with two removable convex pads that sit atop the wearer's buttocks to create a curvy silhouette

The company said on Wednesday it was confident of further progress after ending 'the year in the strongest financial health since 1997'.

'We are at the beginning of a new M&S', chief executive Stuart Machin said, adding that the group now had the 'wind in our sails'.

After two decades of failed turnaround efforts, M&S is finally reaping the rewards of an expensive investment programme to improve the quality and value of its clothing and food, upgrade its technology and e-commerce operations, and radically overhaul its store estate.

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It has also swung back into style thanks to star-studded partnerships such as with actress Sienna Miller and Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham.

M&S shares rose 7.89 per cent or 21.60p to 295.40p on Wednesday morning, having surged over 80 per cent in the last year.

The group said: 'Given our track record of delivering volume growth, market share and free cash flow we are confident that we will make further progress in 2024/25 and beyond.'

M&S made an adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to 30 March of £716.4million, which was ahead of analysts' forecasts which ranged from between £665million to £705million. In the previous year, the group's adjusted annual pre-tax profit reached £453.3million.

The group said its website was 'accelerating growth, attracting new customers, and increasing profitability'.

Improved cash flow of £414million helped drive 'further balance sheet improvement and net funds position at year end', M&S added.

Mr Machin said: 'Two years into our plan to Reshape for Growth we can see the beginnings of a new M&S.

'We have made progress on 'hardwiring' sustainable change - how and when we execute our strategic priorities - with progress in store rotation and supply chain.

M&S has also swung back into style thanks to star-studded partnerships such as with actress Sienna Miller and Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham (pictured)

Sienna's first collection came out this autumn to great acclaim. The association has been successful and is thought to net her over £500,000 a year

'However, we need to move faster and be ruthlessly challenging on the areas where progress has been slower, building a more effective digital and technology infrastructure, accelerating the move to a truly personalised customer experience, and resetting priorities in International.

'We have a clear plan, a clear vision for the future, and there is so much opportunity ahead of us.'

The group also outlined plans to bolster its online operations, which it hopes to grow from 22 per cent of clothing and home sales five years ago to 50 per cent of sales.

It said: 'Online growth has increased, supported by better product and more effective marketing. Despite this, profitability is not yet market leading despite our scale advantage.'

Charlie Huggins, manager of the Quality Shares Portfolio at Wealth Club, said: 'M&S has had an excellent year and there is now enough evidence to suggest this isn't a flash in the pan.

'The most impressive thing about the M&S turnaround story so far has been the market share gains, in both Clothing and Food. They have been able to achieve this while reducing discounts, which is a good sign.'

Mark Crouch, analyst at eToro, added: 'In what has become one of the most emphatic turnarounds seen in British retail in recent years, the M&S comeback story is turning into something of a fairytale for investors.

'Shares are up over 50 per cent in the last twelve months as the business maintains the trend of attracting new customers and accelerating growth.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley showed off her incredible physique as she modelled stunning blue semi-sheer lingerie in mirror selfies on Instagram in January. The underwear is available to buy from Rosie's long-standing collaboration with high-street store M&S

'Despite inflationary pressures easing, retailers remain fully engrossed in a tug of war for market share, one where quality and value are proving to be key battlegrounds.

'M&S, renowned for their quality, has applied focus to offering customers significant value along with it and it seems to be working.'

Russell Pointon, director of consumer at Edison Group, said: 'Challenges remain in the Ocado Retail Joint Venture and international segments, where adjustments are likely needed due to a decline in sales and increased losses.'

M&S cautioned that profitability at its Ocado Retail joint venture was 'well below the original business plan and expectations', but that it was working closely with partner Ocado to 'reset the business' and drive customer and sales growth.

It was revealed earlier this year that Ocado could take legal action against M&S unless they reach agreement over the final instalment of £190.7 million as part of the payment for the £750 million 50-50 Ocado Retail tie-up, which was launched in 2019.

Mr Machin said for M&S 'it's pretty clear' that performance targets under the agreement have not been met, but insisted the dispute 'doesn't interrupt us in the day-to-day running' of the Ocado Retail business.