M&S adds Sosandar, Hobbs, Jack & Jones and more to online offer

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 11, 2021

Following its recent purchase of the Jaeger brand, M&S is diving even deeper into selling additional fashion brands with confirmation on Thursday that it will add labels like Hobbs, Joules, Phase Eight, White Stuff, Jack & Jones, Sloggi and Sosandar to its offer.

It begins selling them this month online with a company spokesman saying it’s part of its plan to “turbocharge online growth”. Only this week, the retailer also announced the opening of new websites serving an extra 46 countries.

That all makes sense as online has been where the sales growth action has been happening lately with Clothing & Home e-sales up 34%, M&S said when delivering its last set of results.

The company is cutting its own Classics and Limited lines and banking on labels with strong brand awareness to drive fashion growth alongside its own remaining brands.

That should all help reinforce its appeal among existing customers while also pulling in new shoppers. The expansion follows the company dipping a toe in the water last autumn in a deal to sell womenswear brand Nobody's Child online. We have to assume that the experiment was a success, based on its latest move.

But the deal isn’t only important to M&S as it gives the labels concerned huge exposure with the firm having around 22 million customers.

Sosandar, for instance, may be growing fast but it remains small… for now. The company said Thursday that M&S will be selling “a curated collection” of its products, starting later this month with regular drops of new products over future months. 

The initial product range will include “best-selling styles from Sosandar's high-performing denim collection and its premium leather collection, as well as dresses, knitwear, loungewear, separates (tops, trousers and leggings) and accessories”.

“The partnership allows Sosandar to further increase brand awareness across its target market, whilst driving incremental sales and accelerating improvement in EBITDA,” it said.

Sosandar already has deals in place with John Lewis and Next that began last August. And it said sales to date from these partnerships “have been strong, with a record month in February, with ranges in both continuing to expand”.