LONDON (Reuters) – British retailer Marks & Spencer will sell 800 food products, including Percy Pig sweets and Luxury Gold Teabags, online to over 150 new countries after tying up with export platform British Corner Shop, it said on Wednesday.
M&S, in the midst of its latest attempt at a turnaround after decades of failures, said in May it was targeting a more than doubling of online retail sales by working with partners and expanding into new markets.
It is hoping to capitalise on a consumer shift to online shopping that has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through British Corner Shop’s platform, customers from the United States to Australia will be able to purchase a tailored M&S food range and have it delivered in one to three days.
The platform, which offers over 6,000 household brands in total, saw over 140% growth between March 2020 and 2021.
The deal follows M&S’ recent expansion of websites offering localised clothing and homewares ranges to customers in over 100 different markets.
M&S CEO Steve Rowe believes the pandemic has masked progress the 137-year-old group has made with its turnaround.
Last month Chairman Archie Norman predicted the group would surprise people with its financial performance.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kate Holton)
