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LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - British clothing and foodretailer Marks & Spencer is to launch a new members cluband card scheme called "Sparks", it said on Thursday, seeking tobuild a closer relationship with its customers so they spendmore both in shops and online.
The national launch of Sparks on Oct. 22 follows thebillions of pounds spent by M&S Chief Executive Marc Bolland onthe redesign of products, stores, supply chain logistics and thefirm's website to address decades of underinvestment at the131-year-old retailer.
Having last year shifted the M&S website from a platformprovided by Amazon to one of its own, M&S now has bettercustomer insight. That's encouraged it to try to capitalise onits traditionally strong fanbase among UK shoppers.
"The fresh look that we have taken is a move from loyaltyinto a members club," Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, M&S executivedirector marketing, told reporters.
"We believe the time is right for M&S to be introducingSparks today ... But most importantly we could not have done itbefore."
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters in June M&Swas looking into launching the Sparks scheme.
Loyalty cards, pioneered by Tesco's Clubcard twodecades ago, are widespread throughout Britain's retail sector.
But unlike the purely transaction-based schemes offeringgeneric discounts run by many other chains, Sparks membershiprewards M&S customers across food, fashion, home and beauty withtailor-made offers, priority access to new season previews and"sale" products, as well as invitations to special events.
For M&S shoppers who register, points -- or Sparks -- areawarded every time they make a purchase, for every 1 pound theyspend, and every time they write a product review or donate oldclothes to charity. Also, each time customers use a Sparks card,M&S will donate 1 pence to a charity of their choice.
In July, M&S reported a dip in first-quarter underlyingsales in its key clothing, shoes and homeware business, asetback after a return to growth in the previous quarter raisedhopes it had rediscovered a winning formula.
Shares in M&S are up nearly a quarter over the last year buthave fallen 2 percent over the last week after some analystsforecast another fall in general merchandise like-for-like salesin its second quarter and cut profit forecasts.
M&S' first half results will be published on Nov. 4. (Editing by Mark Potter)
