Marks & Spencer (M&S) has launched The Sports Edit on M&S.com, a dedicated sports platform featuring over 200 sportswear and apparel products from third-party brands. This launch comes after M&S acquired the fast-growing sports platform at the beginning of last year and reflects the retailer’s ongoing investment in growth categories, including sportswear.
Identified as a growth category, M&S is investing in sportswear, which has become increasingly popular among M&S customers. The platform offers a curation-led approach, allowing customers to shop by brand, activity or product type. In addition to offering third-party brands, the sports retail platform includes M&S’s market-leading activewear brand, Goodmove. The platform features expert sports content curation and also offers free Click & Collect to over 700 stores, providing a seamless shopping experience.
M&S co-Chief Executive, Katie Bickerstaffe, said that the launch of The Sports Edit as an integrated hub on M&S.com shows the strength of M&S’s leading omnichannel platform, which is making M&S an increasingly attractive brand partner. The launch comes at a time when health and wellbeing are top of mind for consumers, with 44% of consumers planning to do more exercise and take their physical health more seriously this year, according to the latest insight from the M&S Family Matters Index.
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The Sports Edit features popular third-party brands such as Veja, Hoka, Beyond Yoga, FP Movement, Girlfriend Collective and YMO, with more brands to follow in 2023. The platform is available for free Click & Collect to over 700 locations, and customers can browse by their favourite brand, product type or sports activity. The sports retail platform will have a distinct look and feel and feature product inspiration, including ‘winter ready workout tops’ and ‘running trainer picks,’ as well as wellness content and advice, providing a one-stop-shop for health and wellness.
M&S has been investing in growth categories, and Goodmove, launched in 2020, has grown to become M&S’s biggest in-house brand, selling 1.6 million products annually. The latest collection for Spring 2023 features Womenswear, Menswear and Kidswear and has already proved popular. The global sportswear market is worth an estimated £8.6bn, with 56% of the market dominated by brands. The curation-led approach on M&S.com offers customers a new way to shop sportswear apparel, from fitness and performance wear to athleisure. The launch continues to build on the retailer’s market-leading position in full-price women’s activewear sales, with third-party brand partners complementing the core range and filling gaps in product areas.
