As Marks & Spencer bids to put its apparel offer fully back in fashion with shoppers, it has wooed one of its former retail stars back to lead the offensive.
Marks & Spencer last week named Richard Price, who rose to the role of menswear trading director at M&S before his departure in 2012 and currently runs Tesco’s F&F clothing business, as its new managing director of clothing and home.
The position has been a poisoned chalice for a decade as apparel bosses have come and gone and like for likes have typically headed south.
The same year as Price left M&S, so did general merchandise supremo Kate Bostock. She was replaced by John Dixon, who departed in 2015. Price succeeds Jill McDonald, who was ignominiously shown the door this summer when chief executive Steve Rowe took charge on an interim basis.
One observer describes Price’s return as “the last throw of the dice” from M&S in its bid to reinvigorate its stuttering clothing business. But can Price pull off the Herculean challenge that has defeated his predecessors?
Unlike McDonald, who earned her spurs in categories other than clothing and whose appointment surprised some industry observers, Price’s experience is in mass-market fashion, encompassing roles at Next and BHS, where he was chief executive, as well as Tesco.
His time at Tesco, in particular, bears direct comparisons with M&S. To all intents and purposes, F&F is a standalone business within a group, much like M&S’ clothing operation.
Price is familiar with clothing end to end, from sourcing to selling the product in-store or online. While at Tesco, Price increased clothing sales even after the grocer shut its Direct general merchandise website in July last year.
In Tesco’s last full year, clothing like for likes rose 3% and the retailer reported that the strong performance “removed the impact” of the closure of Direct. Price oversaw the launch earlier this year of an F&F proposition on Next’s website.
Get up and go
His prior experience at M&S should also help him hit the ground running – and he appears keen to do so.
When details of his return were announced last week, Price said of M&S: “I left the business because I thought it was drifting in the wrong direction, but now feel we have a real chance to make it special again.”
Others think Price brings the character and ability needed to breathe fresh life into the chain’s clothing business. Barracuda Search managing partner Justin Linger says: “He has quite an entrepreneurial, get-up-and-go spirit. In this market, you need that – doing the normal in this market doesn’t work, you need to be creative.
“He’s interested in results and is highly commercial, but he’s got a reputation for being collaborative and not coming up with the same old, same old.
“There are people who light fires under people and there are people who light fires within people. He’s one of the latter.”
“He’s very hands-on, he gets stuck in among the bullets. That’s what’s needed at M&S”
Tony Gregg, Anthony Gregg Partnership
Anthony Gregg Partnership founder Tony Gregg believes Price’s previous experience at M&S will help him take decisive action quickly – something that will prove an advantage at the helm of a business that has been beset by a lack of confidence. During the final days of McDonald’s reign, M&S was hit by ‘jeansgate’, leaving the retailer short of winning denim ranges after lacking the conviction to buy deep enough in a winning product line.
Gregg says: “He’s known in the business and he knows the business. M&S is a big animal, but he probably won’t need six months to know who everybody is. Suppliers will know him. He’ll be able to act fast.”
Clive Black, head of research at M&S house broker Shore Capital, makes a similar point. He says: “Price has worked for M&S and so knows of its weaknesses, some of its past skeletons – which may yet need to be dug up and cleared out – and the business’ virtues, of which there remain several, most notably underwear, lingerie and nightwear.”
He will lead from the front, believes Gregg, who adds: “He’s very hands-on, he gets stuck in among the bullets. That’s what’s needed at M&S – like Stuart Machin [the boss of M&S’ food division].”
Green shoots
One thing that has raised eyebrows among some is the fact that Price left M&S to run Sir Philip Green’s BHS, which he departed in 2015, a year before its collapse into administration.
However, Linger argues that the demise of BHS cannot be laid at Price’s door and his experience there will be beneficial to M&S.
Linger says: “Being in a business that’s been in difficulty gives you good experience. [M&S chair] Archie Norman was at Asda when it was in difficulty, Stuart Machin was in businesses that were in difficulty and turned around. You learn a lot about the market and yourself.”
Price joins M&S when there may, at last, be some green shoots showing in clothing.
During the first half of its current financial year, clothing and home revenue slid 7.8% and like for likes fell 5.5%. But in October, full-price and planned promotional sales grew 2.7%.
M&S pointed out that a stronger apparel market had helped, but said changes being made by new senior womenswear director Jill Stanton and menswear boss Wes Taylor are starting to pay off.
If so, Price, who will take up his new role next year, may arrive with a welcome tailwind behind him.
If those green shoots succumb to frosty trading conditions, he will need to draw upon all his experience to turn the fashion business around.
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