By Adela Suliman
LONDON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Marks & Spencer chief Steve Rowebelieves "Mrs M&S" can save Britain's biggest clothing chain asit retreats from the battle for younger shoppers whoincreasingly favour fast fashion trailblazers such as Zara.
If shoppers at the flagship M&S store on Oxford Street areanything to go by, Rowe may be on the right track with plans tostreamline ranges and improve the fit, price and availability ofbasics such as bras, T-shirts and school uniforms.
"I am a Mrs M&S," said Lynne Stone, a 68-year-old followerof fashion who has been shopping at M&S for years.
"It's quite classic Marks & Spencer's but it's up-to-dateand they do stuff with a bit of a twist," she told Reuters atthe store in central London. "I think their clothing's good."
Successive chief executives at Marks & Spencer have tried tostem years of declining clothes sales since its heyday in the1980s and 1990s when it became the first British retailer tomake 1 billion pounds ($1.2 billion) in annual profit.
In an acknowledgement the 132-year-old retailer no longerhas universal appeal in an age of internet shopping and cheaphigh street fast fashion, Rowe has decided to shut dozens ofstores and reduce floorspace for clothes in others.
Rowe, who has been in the job since April, is focusing onbetter-quality basics for the typical 50-year-old woman who hehas cast as the store's saviour, and is taking steps such asreducing product changes to nine next year from 14 now.
BRANDS CULL
Rowe said his strategy was starting to deliver, pointing onTuesday to the better availability of products and the firstrise in its share of full-price clothing sales for five years.
Its Indigo, Collezione and North Coast brands will also bejettisoned to focus on the chain's core M&S, Autograph, per unaand Blue Harbour labels, he said, responding to critics who saythe stores are confusing and difficult to shop.
Recently retired banker Theresa Oliveira said she had notlost faith in M&S, and she always bought her underwear at thestore, but the ranges were confusing.
"Before you used to have jumpers in one place, it was easy.I don't think the brands have worked very well, frankly," saidthe 61-year-old shopping in the Oxford Street store.
"You go to one place you have trousers, and you go toanother you have trousers, and in the end you have to wait threehours to choose a pair of trousers because you're going frompillar to post," she said.
Analyst Honor Strachan at Verdict said the changes announcedon Tuesday were necessary but seemed to be missing a vitalelement which continued to plague M&S: Who is it targeting andwhere does it want to position itself in the UK clothing market?
"Removing just three sub brands does not seem drastic enoughto allow it to more effectively target a clear consumersegment," she said.
"Though it has tried to remove shopper confusion about whichbrands they should shop by displaying clothing in productcategories, as well as making steps towards improvingavailability and slimming down options, these actions seem likeband aids for its core issue of not understanding which segmentof the market to go after," Strachan said.
Rowe, however, said the retailer had asked 300,000 customersabout what styles they wanted to buy, and in-house designerswere now responsible for about 70 percent of stock.
The company has received plaudits in recent years for itemssuch as a 199 pounds suede skirt, but fashion journalist HadleyFreeman at the Guardian said such one-offs represented a"triumph of M&S PR over actual fashion for women".
Shopper Janet Brook, aged 65, though said M&S was indeedgetting better at offering the basics she was looking for.
"You always know you are getting good quality with Marks andSpencer and I think that really counts for a lot," Brook said,adding she didn't want M&S to turn its back on clothing.
"It would be a shame if they minimize the clothes, thingslike underwear, most women's sort of staple."
($1 = 0.8085 pounds)
(Writing by Paul Sandle; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and DavidClarke)
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