Marks & Spencer is to boost its strength in visual merchandising with a raft of new appointments.
The retailer is appointing 24 new visual merchandise area managers. Thirty-five geographical areas in the UK and Ireland will each be covered by a designated manager.
As part of the programme, at least one member of staff will also be permanently based in each of the 327 stores and be dedicated to VM. At least 15 extra store managers for VM will also be appointed in larger shops.
Previously, heads of VM at larger stores would have been responsible for up to 10 other outlets. An M&S spokeswoman said the drive follows a pilot last year that received positive responses from customers in six test areas.
She said the strategy is 'part of our continued investment in visual merchandising and our ongoing drive to create inspirational and easy-to-shop stores. Every store will have a VM presence. The size of the presence will depend on the size of the stores,' she said. A recruitment push is under way.
The area managers will report to five heads of merchandise responsible for the regions, who in turn will report to visual merchandise executive Alex Rayner.
A reorganisation of the overall store management at M&S last year put full-time managers in charge of every store.
The previous store management hierarchy had also relied on roving area managers.
Last week, M&S reported strong Christmas trading, although markdown costs were higher than the previous year.
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