Marks & Spencer ramps up investment in sportswear with launch of The Sports Edit platform on M&S.com

Marks & Spencer ramps up investment in sportswear with launch of The Sports Edit platform on M&S.com

(IN BRIEF) Marks & Spencer (M&S) has launched The Sports Edit, a new sports retail platform on M&S.com, with over 200 sportswear and apparel products available from third-party brands such as Beyond Yoga, FP Movement, Girlfriend Collective, YMO, Veja, and Hoka, with more brands to follow in 2023. The platform offers customers a one-stop-shop for health and wellness, with expert sports content curation and wellness content and advice, alongside product inspiration. The launch follows M&S’s acquisition of the fast-growing sports platform at the beginning of 2022 and the retailer’s ongoing investment in growth categories, including sportswear. The Goodmove Spring 23 collection, M&S’s biggest in-house brand, is also available on M&S.com and in selected stores.

(PRESS RELEASE) LONDON, 21-Feb-2023 — /EuropaWire/ —  Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON: MKS), a major British multinational retailer, has unveiled its new sports retail platform, The Sports Edit, on M&S.com, with over 200 sportswear and apparel products available across women’s activewear and apparel from third-party brands including Beyond Yoga, FP Movement, Girlfriend Collective, YMO, Veja and Hoka, with more leading brands to follow throughout 2023. This follows M&S’s acquisition of the fast-growing sports platform at the beginning of 2022 and the retailer’s ongoing investment in growth categories, including sportswear. The new platform features expert sports content curation where customers can shop by brand, activity or product type, combined with all the advantages of shopping with M&S, such as free Click & Collect to over 700 stores, for a seamless shopping experience.

With the health and wellness trend in mind, which is front of mind for consumers, M&S has identified sportswear as a growth category and is going into battle. The platform offers customers a one-stop-shop for health and wellness, with wellness content and advice alongside product inspiration, including ‘winter ready workout tops’ and ‘running trainer picks.’

In addition to housing third-party sportswear and apparel brands, the sports retail platform will have a distinct look and feel, making it easy to navigate by favourite brand, product type or sports activity. The launch continues to build on the retailer’s market-leading position in full price women’s activewear sales, with third-party brand partners complementing the core range and filling gaps in product areas.

The Goodmove Spring 23 collection, which features womenswear, menswear and kids and is available on M&S.com and in selected stores now, has already proved popular. Launched in 2020, Goodmove has grown to become M&S’s biggest in-house brand, selling 1.6 million products annually.

Katie Bickerstaffe, Co-Chief Executive at M&S, said: “This year, we’re backing our growth categories with confidence and going into battle on sportswear.  Building on the strong foundation of Goodmove, we’re combining our brand loyalty with the expertise of The Sports Edit to offer our customers an online sports retail platform which is a one-stop-shop for health and wellness.

“The launch of The Sports Edit as an integrated hub on M&S.com demonstrates the strength of our leading omnichannel platform; which continues to make M&S an increasingly attractive brand partner.”

Nick Paulson-Ellis, CEO and Founder at The Sports Edit, said, “At The Sports Edit, we have a proven capability in brand curation and emerging brand identification – we’re experts in curating product and content, relevant to our customers lifestyles. We have worked closely with the team at M&S, to understand their customer lifestyles in order to hand-pick the very best of The Sports Edit for M&S.com. The launch builds on M&S’s foundation in sportswear to take it to the next level, filling gaps in areas that require specialist product, such as trainers to offer a platform equipped for the future.”

Timeline

• January 2020 – M&S launched activewear collection, Goodmove
• March 2021 – ‘Brands at M&S’ officially launched introducing several clothing brands to M&S.com
• March 2022 – M&S invested in The Sports Edit as part of Brands at M&S strategy
• May 2022 – Goodmove launched on The Sports Edit
• February 2023 – The Sports Edit launched on M&S.com

Brands at M&S

The Sports Edit forms part of the wider ‘Brands at M&S strategy; the online platform has now grown to over 50 third-party brands, delivering over 50% in growth in Q3 and representing 8% of total Clothing & Home sales. The curated approach to selecting new brand partners is driving new customers, frequency and increased spend, with the majority of third-party brand orders also contain an M&S product. Whilst the brand partners have access to over 30m M&S customers, substantial customer data and engagement alongside omnichannel purchase and return opportunities.

The Sports Edit

The Sports Edit is a fast-growing activewear ecommerce retailer, which M&S made a strategic investment in last year. It is Europe’s leading curator of premium activewear, partnering with more than 50 leading brands. Style, strength, and durability are at the core of every collection.:

The Sports Edit continues to be run by the original founding team but now has access to M&S investment, resources, and capabilities to accelerate growth.

For further information, please contact: Corporate.Press@marks-and-spencer.com

SOURCE: MARKS & SPENCER