The newly appointed womenswear director of M&S has a challenge ahead to win consumer spend.

Russell will be in charge of womenswear at Marks & Spencer, as featured in a recent ad campaign

Frances Russell’s promotion to director of womenswear at Marks & Spencer will thrust her into the spotlight.

The category is among the most important for the under-pressure retailer, and one that observers say is in need of the greatest attention.

Although the retailer’s general merchandise like-for-likes showed some improvement in its second quarter, declining 1.8% against a 6.8% plunge in the first quarter, figures were helped by items such as coats flying off the shelves because of an early cold snap.

There’s still much to do to woo shoppers to the retailer, whose customer base some fear is getting too weighted towards older shoppers.

However, Russell comes with much experience and has helped sustain M&S’s power in the lingerie category despite struggles across other parts of its fashion business.

The retailer now holds 27.4% of the UK lingerie market and initiatives such as the Rosie for Autograph range, created by supermodel and face of the brand Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, have kept the offer relevant for younger shoppers.

That has led to some observers saying that Russell is perfect for the womenswear job. But it won’t be easy.

“It’s going to be much tougher for her,” says Verdict practice leader Maureen Hinton. “Lingerie has always been a strong department for M&S, but outerwear is much more competitive than underwear.”

Russell has a strong track record at M&S, where she previously reported to clothing chief Kate Bostock. Russell was in charge of buying and merchandising across lingerie before adding beauty to her repertoire over two years ago. Bostock is understood to have thought highly of Russell and had long petitioned to move her on to the critical womenswear role.

Russell has a strong womenswear background. Before moving to M&S, she was brand director of plus-size Evans and menswear specialist Burton, both owned by Arcadia. Like so many of the current breed of retail leaders, Russell started her career at the Burton Group, which she joined as a graduate trainee in 1985. She stayed there for 14 years. Hinton says Russell will have ample understanding of the supply chain as well as buying, merchandising and trading from her time at Arcadia.

James Hyde, director of headhunter Flint Hyde, says: “It’s a big job. She’s very capable and highly regarded, but she may need time to grow into it.”

But time may not be a luxury that she has. Observers believe swift action is needed for M&S to reclaim its position as a fashion leader. Hinton believes Russell should Focus on segmenting the retailer’s womenswear offer.

“M&S has so much clothing space,” says Hinton. “It has two times as much space than anyone else in the market, so it has to appeal to a wide audience.

“Yet it seems to only be attracting a specific part of the market – older women. She needs to segment the range to appeal to different women with different lifestyles, more like a department store.”

Hinton says the retailer’s stores are confusing and there is insufficient editing for shoppers. “People don’t have time to wander around stores. Clearly segmenting their brands will do the editing for customers,” she says.

Work is already under way to improve performance by the new general merchandise team, led by John Dixon, who turned around the food division.

A merchandising blip during the first quarter, when the buyers did not buy enough of the big selling lines, seems to have been rectified. Russell will need to continue encouraging and empowering her buying team to be bold enough to back trends. 

If she can bring to womenswear the same qualities as she did to lingerie, M&S may soon be saying knickers to the competition.

M&S trends

Womenswear market share Down 0.5 percentage points to 10.4% in value in 2011/12

Number of fashion brands Five

General merchandise sales Like-for-likes down 4.3% in the six months to September 29

Source: M&S and Kantar worldpanel