It Will Be Lonely This Christmas For Retailers Says M&S Boss

The boss of the popular store Marks and Spencer has said he believes retailers will be facing a touch Christmas this year. Stuart Rose says shoppers are pinching the pennies and spending less on the High Street. It is believed that consumers are less well off thanks to increased taxes, high fuel bills and increased mortgages, causing their spending to dwindle.

In an interview, Mr Rose revealed,

“We have definitely entered a period of uncertainty. If you look at disposable income over the last five years it has really contracted. There are definitely indications that things have slowed up a bit.”

He went on to say that the period between now and Christmas is crucial and he will be able to tell by the middle of October how Marks and Spencer will fare this Yule tide.

It’s not only the Christmas season that has Mr Rose worried, he admitted that it had been not such a good summer for M&S due to the floods. Despite this, Mr Rose is defending the fall in share price from 750p down to around 580p in just six months, erasing around £2 billion of the companies value.

He concluded his interview by saying, “Retailers have all been hammered. But we’ve outperformed by about 64% over the last three years. The stock market is up by 45%. We’re confident about our plan, about giving customers strong products, great looking stores and good service.”

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