{"id":165883,"date":"2020-03-20T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/marks-spencer-cancels-100m-in-clothing-orders-and-considers-temporary-closures\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T12:05:05","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T12:05:05","slug":"marks-spencer-cancels-100m-in-clothing-orders-and-considers-temporary-closures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/marks-spencer-cancels-100m-in-clothing-orders-and-considers-temporary-closures\/","title":{"rendered":"Marks & Spencer cancels \u00a3100m in clothing orders and considers temporary closures"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marks & Spencer has cancelled \u00a3100m in clothing orders <\/strong>and is considering closing stores temporarily during the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The high street retailer had said its stores would remain open during the crisis but that it expected to take a significant hit on clothing & home, with staff in those departments redeployed to food wherever practical.<\/strong><\/p>\n In a trading update today it said it was cutting all unnecessary costs<\/strong> and the cancellation of the clothing orders were to avoid it being left with a glut of stock as non-essential retailers across the country shut up shop. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has yet to legally enforce a shutdown of non-essential retail but it is expected that this will happen as the spread of the virus escalates.<\/p>\n The retail said one of the steps it was taking was cancelling forward orders and holding over inventory in clothing. The company said it would be: \"Reducing the supply pipeline by over \u00a3100m and holding over stock: with around two thirds of our Clothing inventory \u2018core\u2019 product we will take extraordinary measures to hold over inventory.\"<\/p>\n Marks & Spencer's food has not seen the same huge uplift in sales that other retailers have witnessed in recent weeks, given its focus on fresh produce and convenience food, with shoppers looking to stock up longer life tins and packaged food.<\/p>\n