As chief executive Steve Rowe prepares to leave the business, Marks & Spencer might finally be emerging from turnaround mode, writes George MacDonald.

Steve Rowe at fresh fruit aisle in an M&S store

Steve Rowe ran M&S’ flagship food and clothing divisions before becoming CEO

The end of an era is an overused phrase, but when applied to Marks & Spencer chief executive Steve Rowe, it spans not just one but several key periods in the retailer’s recent history.

Rowe, the Saturday boy who became chief executive, has spent 40 years at Marks & Spencer. As he recalled to me yesterday after his departure was announced, he has been with one company but done a host of jobs in his time, under bosses ranging from Rick Greenbury to Stuart Rose.

He’d served through many false dawns of recovery before getting the chance to steer the business himself, running the two flagship divisions of food and clothing along the way.

For almost a quarter of a century, M&S has been in near-permanent turnaround mode. But as Rowe’s term comes to an end, perhaps it may, at last, be on a more permanent foundation for prolonged success. Rowe melded traditional values with a modern mindset – confounding critics who thought him too much of a traditionalist to shake things up in the way that was needed.

“Rowe, a fan of Millwall Football Club, brought some of the grittiness of the South London outfit to his job”

During his time in charge, Rowe has driven change in the business, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and launched the Never the Same Again programme. The upshot, though M&S is not out of the woods yet, is that it is again on the front foot and innovating, through the introduction of third-party brands and a platform digital model, for instance.

Rowe is old-school M&S. But where he differed from some of his predecessors was that there were no sacred cows. Nothing was sacrosanct as the retailer chased recovery – Rowe, a former retail director, was in a hurry to make his mark in new ways.           

Rowe has proved the case that being steeped in a company’s culture – but not in hock to traditions – cannot be overestimated.

Perhaps his greatest contribution was to make M&S’ principles, such as quality, service and value, resonate in new ways. Those old values helped him put the retailer on track again. 

The dream team

He took over in the most difficult of times. M&S was already in dire straits following a series of false dawns, and then Covid hit. The launch of the Never the Same Again programme marked a definitive break with the past. The strategy of Rowe and chair Archie Norman was accelerated as the retailer switched to an overtly digital-first culture leading to the creation of the MS2 division – M&S’ integrated online, digital and data team within its clothing and home business.  

Rowe, a fan of Millwall Football Club, brought some of the grittiness of the South London outfit to his job. Not so much ‘no one likes us we don’t care’, as ‘a lot of people like us less – and we need to care desperately’.

His view from the shopfloor and practical approach was perfectly complemented by Norman’s experience and strategic mind.

They were a great pair, but the tradition is being carried on. Unusually, Rowe is succeeded not by another strong-minded individual but by three: food boss Stuart Machin becomes chief executive; Katie Bickerstaffe, who has led much of the digital push, becomes co-CEO; and finance supremo Eoin Tonge becomes chief strategy and finance officer.

“For breaking the mould, at M&S and in retail, Steve Rowe and Archie Norman deserve great credit”

In a business and an industry so often dominated by charismatic individuals, it is a radical departure. It has surprised some – analyst Nick Bubb described the new structure as “not just fudge, but an M&S fudge”.

But perhaps a better way of viewing the transition of power at UK retail’s most venerable institution is as an acknowledgment that today, the role of a chief executive is bigger than any one person. 

Rowe told me yesterday: “What we sell, how, locations – there are very few people who have covered all that ground in their career. We’ve got three very strong individuals who can cover more ground.”

Norman described Rowe as a “magnificent servant of M&S and that is what is now still needed. However strong an individual and whatever their strengths, nobody is bigger than the team anymore and the team delivers success.”

The new M&S leadership team must now prove itself, but for breaking the mould, at M&S and in retail, Rowe and Norman deserve great credit.