Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland this week found himself unveiling a drop in first-half pre-tax profits on the same day as high street rival Primark announced rocketing full-year results.

In an unfortunate twist of the financial calendar, Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland this week found himself unveiling a drop in first-half pre-tax profits on the same day as high street rival Primark announced rocketing full-year results.

Bolland’s message that M&S’s direction of travel was more important than the numbers themselves has some credence, given the enormity of the challenge. And it seemed to hold sway with investors, with shares up despite its results.

However, Primark is coming up fast in M&S’s rear-view mirror and comparisons are increasingly drawn.

ABF-owned Primark reported a 44% leap in profits, achieved without an online presence.

Primark and M&S operate to some degree at different ends of the market but they are nevertheless competing for many of the same shoppers. There are lessons M&S can take from what is increasingly seen as its competitor.

The key is focus. Primark has a crystal clear sense of what it is and what its customers want from it, and even the digital winds that have swept through the high street have been unable to blow the business off course in delivering on that vision.

M&S by comparison is still struggling for a renewed sense of identity in the new retail landscape, caught between customers looking for value and the rise of high-end high street players from Whistles to House of Fraser.

A refreshed M&S leadership team has evolved the proposition by focusing on quality, introducing multichannel innovation and revamping marketing. But store environments remain inconsistent and the new ranges have yet to fully win over customers. Bolland may have set M&S on a new direction, but the final destination is not yet in sight.

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