M&S brings content to the fore in site overhaul
Marks and Spencer has overhauled its website with more space given to content providing lifestyle and style tips.
The new M&S.com site, which goes live today (18 February), promises to be “brighter, bolder and better” and full of “new ideas and inspiration”. Product images are bigger, there is more video content and more detailed product information, the retailer says.
New features include “Style and Living”, what the retailer dubs “ a daily lifestyle edit”, which offers fashion and beauty advice, as well as food and wine recommendations.It also claims the site will deliver “the latest news from the world of M&S and beyond”.
Content has been developed with “journalists from top titles” as well as celebrity and guest editors. The content will be shared daily with M&S’s social media fans.
Elsewhere, visitors to the site are offered information on the fashion trends “we think you need to know about” while a “celebrity’s story” – M&S’s “favourite people in one inspirational moment” – is featured.
A tablet site has also launched as well as updates to its mobile sites.
The retailer says in a statement the redesign is a product of two years of insight gained from testing with existing and potential customers.
It is also follows the decision to move away from Amazon’s platform in November 2010, a decision which M&S says provides “greater flexibility to respond quickly to emerging trends”.
The redesign will be promoted by a social and email marketing campaign to highlight the changes to existing online customers. A major above the line campaign will follow in later this year.
It is fashion, in particular its women’s fashion offering, that has been given the most attention in the overhaul.
The retailer will be hoping the changes help lift clothing and homeware sales, which have been in decline for several consecutive quarters. It will also be eyeing a boost to online sales via M&S.com, which have been accelerating, rising 23% in the company’s latest quarter.
