As Steve Rowe bowed out this week as Marks & Spencer chief executive, he left a business in one respect as he found it – in the midst of radical change.
In 2016, Rowe inherited a company that was almost a basket case – the rise of omnichannel shopping had left it beached, its clothing sales were being lost to a new generation of retailers more attuned to contemporary consumers. It lived on its legacy.
It was a great legacy, but M&S needed to change to reflect a new reality, to find its mojo and click with consumers in the way it originally did. Rowe proved himself up to the task of steering Marks & Spencer off the rocks and towards port again.
In the 2018 annual report, Rowe wrote: “M&S needs to change and change fast.” He was “embarking on the task of transforming the business to arrest the decline and restart long-term growth.”
On top of the challenges specific to M&S, he has faced the most turbulent of times – the pandemic, which tested the mettle of all retailers, Brexit, and most recently the impact of the war in Ukraine.
As the world, and the retail industry, was convulsed, Rowe managed to find opportunity in crisis and accelerated transformation, addressing basics such as pricing and style as well as powering full-tilt into omnichannel retailing and sealing a joint venture with Ocado.
Much has been made of his Saturday boy origins at M&S – his ascent from the shop floor to the boardroom is something to celebrate, and a testament to the opportunities that the retail industry creates. But while he never lost his traditional retail operator’s street smarts, perhaps the biggest takeaway from Rowe’s time in charge was his own ability to change. He woke up and smelled the coffee, and he knew that for M&S to thrive, it had to recast itself for contemporary times.
Rowe, formerly M&S’ retail director and a lover of the shopfloor, drove through a fundamental shift of mindset across the business, alongside chair Archie Norman. It is now a digital-first business, rather than a chain of shops.
Rowe could have followed the course set out by some of his predecessors and overseen the slow decline of a famous name that had rested on its laurels. But he didn’t. He never lost his eye for what worked in-store, but he threw himself – and M&S – into the omnichannel world.
“Rowe had the strength to recognise that the breadth of skills needed today can rarely be found in a single person”
In the same way that in the old days he might have checked the shelves for tidiness after the post-rush rumble, he got to know the ins and outs of the new world of data and technology – it sums him up that he learned to code and created his own app, which shows how far he is from the home stadium of his beloved Millwall Football Club at any given point in time.
He showed the capacity for change, too, by adopting a collaborative approach. Known affectionately within the business as ‘Nails’, he had the strength to recognise that unlike in past retail times of sometimes tyrannical command and control by charismatic leaders, the breadth of skills needed today can rarely be found in a single person.
With Norman, perhaps the most hands-on chair in all of retail, he set ego aside and the pair brought complementary strengths to the task of reinvigorating M&S – a task that remains unfinished, as Rowe would acknowledge.
His own succession also epitomised the manner in which Rowe has fostered a greater sense of shared responsibility within M&S – Stuart Machin and Kate Bickerstaffe will now share the duties of chief executive.
Norman summed up Rowe’s contribution well this week. Paying tribute to Rowe’s enormous dedication, he described him as pragmatic, open-minded and fearless. “He was the guy who got up and presented the ‘facing the facts’ presentation four years ago that told the business, as well as the markets, that we had woken up and smelled the coffee.
“He’s never been one of those CEOs who’s full of bombast or self-proclaiming. He’s been humble in his approach and we owe him a great debt.”
M&S is still here, which is more than some expected – and it has the foundations on which to continue building, earning once again its status as one of the industry’s premier companies. Farewell Steve Rowe, you did well.
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