Marc Bolland said recently that M&S’s famous Marble Arch store has “passed the baton” as flagship to the retailer’s online shop.

When Marc Bolland said recently that M&S’s famous Marble Arch store has “passed the baton” as flagship to the retailer’s online shop, it got me thinking about what a modern flagship should be and why it exists.

Having watched the trials and tribulations of M&S for more years than I care to remember, as it heads into a digital future I cannot help thinking that it can learn from others when it comes to store experience and what customers are looking for, off and online.

As a big fan of John Lewis, regularly cited as a great example of multichannel retailing, I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when I asked where the camping department was to be directed by a helpful sales assistant first online… and then to the Blacks store around the corner on Regent Street.

I was in a rush and a comprehensive range with someone to guide me through a category I know very little about was what I needed.

I admit I might not be in the majority here, but when you have a nine-year-old son going on an impending camping trip and you leave everything to the last minute, going online is just too risky.

The question of whether a flagship is simply a place holding the full product range, or somewhere that provides a great experience, is ever more relevant to clothing retailers.

Teenagers, and their mums and dads, don’t want to shop online for Abercrombie or Victoria’s Secret - that’s missing the point.

And Zara’s massive new eco-friendly, super-sleek Oxford Street store is evidence that customers still love to shop, even if it’s for basics or pieces that will last a season or two. Topshop’s US flagships, meanwhile, prove that pantheons to fast fashion remain in vogue.

The White Company’s current flagship is delightfully tucked away behind Peter Jones. Originally a direct business that has gone into high street and out-of-town retail, this year it is launching 10 large-format stores with a wide range of clothing. Maybe founder Chrissie Rucker and chief executive Will Kernan have realised that a flagship experience touches customers in different ways than the internet?

While it’s unfair to compare Selfridges with M&S, there’s no reason not to as far as their food halls are concerned.

Gordon Selfridge said there should be nothing one could buy in his store that anyone should need - only want.

The same could be said about M&S food, which is delicious. You don’t actually need most of what M&S’s food halls sell - that’s what supermarkets are for. But I love M&S’s food halls and the choice of product.

For me, M&S’s clothing range and the associated store experience has failed to provide a ‘wow’ factor for a good few years.

By referring to the online store as its new flagship, M&S has not so much passed on a baton as thrown in the towel.

It is a clothing retailer from which people still want great product and helpful advice. Could it be that a little more of Selfridges and Zara, rather than a dash more of Amazon and Argos, is what M&S needs to woo and wow its customers?

  • Moira Benigson, managing partner, MBS Group