Marks & Spencer, a British clothing brand, has opened its new 6700 square feet store in Bhubaneswar. With this launch, the brand makes its presence in Odisha.
It is Marks & Spencer’s 67th store in India. The company focuses on continuing to expand its footprint and growth in the country.
James Munson, Managing Director of Marks & Spencer India, said, "What we have found in the last year or so, as we have started to expand our presence outside the top eight metros, we got some really good traction in those cities. We now have a good presence of 22 stores in 20 such cities outside of the top metros. So going forward we’ll see a balance of growth from stores in those cities and the metros. They represent now a fifth of our turnover today but we see great potential for the future, they are delivering higher rates of growth than metros."
The brand is present in the country since 2000 and only the UK has more stores than India. The Marks & Spencer store was opened in New Delhi’s Khan Market this year. Another store will be launched soon in Hyderabad.
"We want to continue to ensure we are pressing ahead with that (growth) making sure we can identify good quality real estate - that remains an important factor in terms of delivering in our growth. In the last two-three years we have opened 6-7 stores each year, and are looking to continue to increase our presence and our rate of growth," Munson said.
