Marks & Spencer’s decision to stock well-known brands such as Heinz Tomato Ketchup was good for a headline, but will it make much difference to the retailer’s food business?

The store group revealed in Tuesday’s results that, although food sales rose 6.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, they were down 0.5 per cent like-for-like. Comparable store food sales slipped 0.4 per cent for the year.

The performance was influenced by the addition of 8.7 per cent more food space last year, when M&S’s market share advanced to 4.3 per cent. But, given the stronger like-for-like growth of the big grocers, surely M&S’s food numbers should have been better?

Testing branded food in 19 stores in the Northeast from next month makes sense, but it is unlikely to transform the fortunes of the retailer’s food division.

Although shoppers will appreciate not having to go to another store to buy popular products such as Marmite, the presence of branded lines will only add incrementally to M&S’s food basket and may well push margin down. More is needed.

While M&S’s Simply Food stores are excellent, the food offer in some of the general stores – especially the smaller ones – can seem perfunctory. There are some star products, but many others do not justify the premium – perceived by consumers, if not always real – that M&S charges. So it was good to hear acknowledgement from the retailer that “there remains much to do”.

Better value, product enhancement and quality will be at the centre of improvement plans. That is exactly what the big four grocers have been doing for years and, noticeably, their development of own-brands has been at the heart of their success. Their food is generally just as good as M&S’s and, in some instances, particularly at the premium end, better.

Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland spoke at Tuesday’s Marketing Society Retail Forum about how he has been reviving the grocer. What he emphasised strongly in his presentation – and it would be confirmed by a visit to one of his stores – was the quality and value of Morrisons’ food offer.

Morrisons, whose ambition is to be “the food specialist for everyone”, is a very different business from M&S, but is a powerful example of the challenge M&S faces across the board from the big grocers as it attempts to distinguish itself. Quality is not the sole preserve of M&S or Waitrose.

This was a great week for M&S, as profits once again breached the billion-pound mark. To keep things that way, the food offer has to get tastier.

Over to you, Mr Esom.

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