M&S opens longer for full-price sales

Marks & Spencer is extending the opening hours at more than a quarter of its stores this Christmas in an effort to increase sales of full-price goods.

In the week before Christmas, 11 of the retailer's shops will stay open 24 hours and another 19 will stay open until midnight. Opening hours will be extended to either 10pm or 11pm throughout the week at 105 stores.

'Our customers have told us that they want to be able to shop late at night, so this year we've extended the opening hours of over a quarter of our stores to 10pm or later,' said M&S retail director Anthony Thompson.

Extending opening hours is something M&S has done for a number of years but this year, more stores will take part.

An M&S spokeswoman said: 'People in retail are used to working in shifts, and staff that work overnight get 40 per cent of their base pay on top of their basic wage. Opening longer is prompted by local demand from the store customer base.'