As well as the main offices in London, there are a number of other head office sites across the UK. The company has overseas sourcing offices in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, Ireland, Italy, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.
M&S currently has 959 stores across the UK, including 615 that only sell food products and through its television advertising, asserts the exclusive nature and luxury of its food and beverages. It also offers an online food delivery service through a joint venture with Ocado.
(Wowtimes)M&S’s history andachievements
- 1884: M&S was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds
- 1903: Marks & Spencer Ltd was registered as a firm. These were split equally between the two founders.
- 1926: Marks & Spencer Ltd becomes a public company
- 1931: The food department introduced
- 1935: Café Bars were introduced, with the first one opening in Leeds store.
- 1948: Its first food self-service trial was held at store in Wood Green, London
- 1958: M&S began selling Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings
- 1971: Frozen foods including lasagne and pizza were trialed for the first time with home freezers becoming cheaper and more easily available.
- 1973: Marks & Spencer expanded into Canada and at one point had 47 stores
- 1975: Marks & Spencer expanded into France
- 1986: The first range of furniture was introduced. This was supported by the launch of the Home Furnishings catalog.
- 1999: M&S launched online shopping on its website for the first time
- 2007: M&S announced the opening of the world's largest M&S shop outside the UK at Dubai Festival City
- 2008: M&S opened its first mainland China shop which is in Shanghai
- 2017: Online food deliveries began with trials
- 2020: M&S joint venture with Ocado launched. This included a new Food to Order offer, allowing the full availability of food ranges to be delivered straight to customer door.
According to Wikipedia