British retailer Marks and Spencer has announced plans to launch localised websites in Spain, Germany, Belgium and Austria. The new eCommerce sites will go live on November 19.
M&S has revealed that the four new markets were among the most popular delivery destinations on its UK website, which delivers to over 80 countries.
Offering preferred delivery options to online shoppers, the new European websites follows on from the retailer’s recently launched websites in France and Ireland.
M&S chief executive Marc Bolland said that the company was moving forward with its plan to transform M&S from a traditional British retailer to a leading international, multichannel retailer.
Meanwhile, M&S in the UK has launched a free next-day collection service in stores. Customers ordering online by midday can pick up the item from a preferred store after 12pm the next day. As well as the Internet option, shoppers can also order by phone or in store. The collection service is available in around 450 stores.
In-store collection is becoming increasingly popular with shoppers. Over 40 per cent of M&S Internet orders now collected in store through its ‘click and collect’ service.
The additional retail websites will also help M&S in the monitoring of its pricing against the competition. Having the ability to gather online competitor monitoring data enpowers retailers with the ability to use such retail intelligence to grow sales and profit margins. Being able to react quickly to changes in competitors’ online pricing is an essential task for increasing Internet sales in 2012. (Oct 31)
© 2012 Profitero
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Pricing intelligence company Profitero provides retailers with actionable price intelligence data, monitoring over 50 million products across 4,000 eCommerce retailers every day, observing pricing, promotions and stock availability. We work with the world’s leading retailers, enabling them to acquire new customers and grow profit margins by monitoring and responding to changes in competitor pricing and promotional activity as they happen. For more information on Profitero price intelligence and competitor monitoring, visit www.profitero.com or email sales@profitero.com
