M&S and Game developments set backdrop for The Cloud Retail Week Conference

The future of Game and the news unveiled by Retail Week this morning that Marks & Spencer veteran Andrew Skinner is leaving the retailer will be amongst the major talking points for delegates as we head into The Cloud Retail Week Conference tomorrow.

Skinner, who is Marks & Spencer’s general merchandise merchandising director, joined Marks & Spencer aged 18 as a management trainee. Over three decades he has been worked his way through the ranks and was seen in some quarters as being groomed for even greater things at the UK retail giant.

His decision now to seek “new opportunities outside the business” makes him the third high profile exit from M&S this year, following general merchandise brand director Alison Jones and director of new channels Susan Aubrey-Cound.

Game, meanwhile, can attest to the adage that trouble comes in threes. The breakdown between the entertainment group and its suppliers Capcom, Nintendo and Electronic Arts is ensuring its problems continue to snowball.

The retailer was forced to admit to doubts over its future yesterday morning, caught between its fracturing supplier relations and negotiations with its lenders over the company’s debts.

The situation has led the company’s board to issue the extraordinary statement that it was uncertain if any of the solutions currently being explored by chief executive Ian Shepherd “will result in any value being attributed to the shares of the company.”

The rise and fall of Game is a fitting, yet sad, reminder of the pace of change in the current retail industry.

Breaking onto the high street as recently as 1991, Game grew rapidly, organically and by acquisition, and held as many as 1,374 stores as recently as January 2010 as it grew off the back new console launches such as the Wii in 2006.

Those high ticket launches have tailed off and the company’s struggle to adapt its business model to the changing economic and consumer environment reflects many of the broader issues facing retailers in 2012 that will be picked up, debated and scrutinised at the conference. It acts as a fascinating backdrop to what is sure to be an intriguing couple of days.