Marks & Spencer (M&S) has scaled back expansion plans in the Chinese market, according to media reports.
In 2014, the UK-based retail giant had revealed it hoped to open an additional 250 stores worldwide over the next three years, with Hong Kong and China earmarked as key expansion markets. However, global political and economic factors appear to have taken their toll.
“The world has shifted, is a different place… The Syrian situation was very different from what it is today… Putin had not invaded Ukraine and China was growing at close to nine per cent,” M&S’s executive director of marketing & international Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne told Reuters. “It’s reasonable in that context that you would expect a different outlook on the next three years for the company.”
M&S currently operates 20 stores in Hong Kong and 10 in China. The company closed five underperforming stores in People’s Rebulic last year.
However, the company seemingly remains committed to the market, with plans to open a flagship store in Beijing within the next 12 months and a desire to enter the rapidly expanding cities of Guangzhou and Dalian.
