M&S wants Plan A to go global

Marc Bolland, the Chief Executive Officer of Marks and Spencer, expects Plan A to resonate even more loudly with British consumers in future and intends to flag up this environmental initiative overseas as the UK retailer expands its global reach.

The Royal College of Physicians at Regent’s Park in London was the venue for the annual update of Marks and Spencer’s Plan A initiative where new CEO Marc Bolland outlined his future commitment to the strategy to investors, stakeholders, suppliers and employees.

“Plan A is now integral to the spirit and substance of Marks and Spencer,” Bolland explained, “But going forward we see Plan A as more about engagement with the consumers, we want to make it a more emotional and tangible concept so that consumers really do buy into the whole sustainability issue.”

At the moment, Plan A is largely an internal initiative from the company with minimal consumer engagement, but Bolland sees “trust in the brand with consumers as a central plank of the M&S strategy,” and he sees Plan A as an important way of Maintaining this trust with consumers.

He also revealed to stakeholders that Plan A will apply to its future plans for international expansion. “Plan A is part of our DNA,” he said, “We see it as more of an opportunity for the business to break into new international markets.”

Currently M&S has over 300 stores in over 40 territories, but plans to expand its international business through both franchised operations and partnerships in “some of the world’s most dynamic emerging economies.”

Bolland outlined how back in 2007 the company gave 100 original specific Plan A commitments that it expected to achieve by 2012 and revealed it expects 93 of these to be delivered by the end of 2011. Included within these commitments is for the company to procure 25% of its cotton from sustainable sources by 2015 and to 50% by 2020.

Savings from Plan A contributed £70 million to the Marks and Spencer bottom line in the latest fiscal year and Bolland was keen to point out to investors that the company is taking an open approach to stakeholders.

He also outlined how directors are being rewarded for meeting specific Plan A commitments.

“We will reveal more Plan A sustainability initiatives going forward,” and has recruited Jonathan Porritt, the co-founder of Forum for the Future and a confidante of the Prince of Wales to set up an advisory board to help M&S identify key objectives for its next tranche of Plan A objectives.