M&S made the announcement this week saying it has introduced selective prices for some of the products sold at its Simply Food convenience stores in London and at railway stations in other locations.
By making this move, M&S appears to be aping a strategy already adopted by Tesco and Sainsbury's with its Express and Local formats respectively.
The store has set aside £150million for its ambisious plans to open 150 more Simply Food stores across the UK by 2006. Simply Food is part of a tripartite attack on the marketplace by M&S which also has food departments in its largest clothing stores and 26- standalone food stores with car-parking. It is these stores, formerly known as neighbourhood shops within the company, that will be re-branded as Marks & Spencer Food. They are 8,000 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft and stock 2,400 products on average.
The decision on re-branding was taken to reduce confusion among shoppers. "We needed to water down the Simply Food idea but tell custoemrs the stores were still part of the Marks & Spencer family," said Justin King, M&S esecutive director for food.
The company is also interested in picking up some Safeway's stores once the bid battle for the troubled retailer is decided.
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