Marks & Spencer expects to cut 7,000 jobs across its business as it tries to adapt to a changing retail market in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company is launching a consultation programme that it said was likely to lead to thousands of job losses during the coming three months as it moves to “streamline the business both at stores and management level”.
The cuts will be in the business’s central support centre, regional management and across UK stores, “reflecting the fact that the change has been felt throughout the business”.
However, the retailer said new jobs would also be created during the restructuring, as it invests in online fulfilment and a new ambient food warehouse and “reshapes” the store portfolio.
M&S said it was taking a cautious approach to planning for the rest of the year despite performing better than it had expected at year-end.
“The performance of store sales has varied widely across the estate with some of the newer out-of-town stores trading close to last year’s level of sales overall in recent weeks, but legacy town centre stores and some shopping centres still heavily impacted by social distancing and reduced footfall,” the company said.
“Furthermore, with the closure of many workplaces and lack of social gatherings, the clothing sales mix has seen a substantial shift from office dressing and formal wear into casual clothing and leisure wear.”
Food sales are growing and the online business has seen an upturn, but revenue from its clothing and homes divisions was down by more than 38% during the past 13 weeks.
“It is clear that there has been a material shift in trade and while it is too early to predict with precision where a new post-Covid sales mix will settle, we must act now to reflect this change,” the company said.
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