Marks & Spencer has announced the closure of a number of its clothing stores, Vedomosti reports. In the coming years, the retailer will focus on developing a network of grocery stores.

One of the largest British retailers, Marks & Spencer (M&S), announced a business restructuring amid falling sales and profits. The reform, designed for the next five years, involves reducing the number of own stores both in the UK and outside the country.

In the home market of M&S, in the UK, the transformation will affect more than 100 stores out of the available 304. About 30 clothing and household goods stores will be closed, 45 stores will either have their areas reduced, or they will be replaced by grocery stores Simply Food. In total, M&S will open more than 200 stores Simply Food by the end of the 2018/19 fiscal year.

In addition, the company will close 53 unprofitable stores abroad: 10 stores in China, seven in France, as well as all stores in Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

This step is associated with a change in consumer behavior: people are increasingly buying goods in online stores.

In the 2015/16 financial year, according to the report of M&S, own stores outside the UK brought the company 45 million pounds of losses. Operating profit of M&S in foreign markets decreased by 39.6% to 55.8 million pounds.

The company intends to continue the work of existing joint ventures in India and Greece, as well as "develop its presence in international markets with the help of strong franchisee partners". According to its own data, today the company has 267 franchise stores in 34 countries.

In Russia, the Marks & Spencer grocery store chain is also represented, and operates under a franchise. The franchisee is Retail International Holding company Marka Magazacilik. The Russian multi-object franchisee owns 35 points. In the present, nothing is known about their future.

Photo: shutterstock