M&S appoints director to lead international expansion
Marks & Spencer has appointed Jan Heere as its new director of international to lead the international growth plans the retailer outlined in November.
Heere joins from fashion retailer Inditex, which operates chains such as Zara and Bershka, where he is currently general manager of Russia.
He will report directly to M&S CEO Marc Bolland as a member of the company’s management committee.
Bolland has previously outlined plans to transform M&S “from a UK multi-channel retailer to an international multi-channel retailer” by 2015.
The retailer aims to grow international sales from circa £500m this year to £1bn by 2014.
M&S will particularly focus on emerging markets in India and China to put more emphasis on its franchise partners to drive growth.
M&S is also terminating its relationship with Amazon, which hosts its online platform, in 2013 in favour of building its own more flexible platform to accelerate online growth.
M&S reported a 4.5% festive sales increase at international stores for the 13 weeks to 1 January, which it said reflected a good performance across most markets.
Marks & Spencer currently has more than 350 stores in 42 territories around the world, including Russia, Turkey, China and India.
