After 125 years, M&S stores to start selling other brands.

Byline: Sean Poulter Consumer Affairs Editor

MARKS & Spencer is to break with 125 years of tradition and start selling branded grocery products such as Nescafe and Persil in its stores.

Some 400 of the best-known big brands will go on to shelves following the success of two small trials.

The move comes as M&S tries to be seen as a store to use for a full weekly shop, rather than the occasional source of a few luxury meals.

It is also seen as the prelude to the launch of an internet grocery shopping operation.

The range of branded grocery products includes Coca-Cola, Marmite, Kelloggs and Heinz. Household products will include Fairy, Pantene and Persil.

The shift in policy will heighten the rivalry between M&S and its closest competitor Waitrose, which already sells the big brands alongside its own-label foods.

This week the store has run a series of aggressive advertisements demonstrating lower prices than Waitrose on a broad range of foods.

The big brand products will start arriving in M&S stores over the next year, starting this month with additional stores in the trial areas of the South-East and North-East.

Each M&S store will offer an edited selection of the range chosen according to its size, starting from around 50 products in smaller stores up to the full range of around 400 products in the largest outlets. All of the branded products have been price matched to ensure they are on a par with the major supermarkets.

M&S has also produced figures showing it is cheaper where it has a product that is similar to a big brand. For example, Nescafe Original 200g is [pounds sterling]4.44 against [pounds sterling]3.49 for the same size of M&S Cafe Granules, while a box of 80 PG Tips teabags is [pounds sterling]1.79 compared with [pounds sterling]1.30 for the equivalent M&S Red Label bags.

M&S insisted the brands will not replace any of its existing products so as not to disappoint loyal customers. The range will focus on brand-dominated categories where M&S would typically have a low market share such as soft drinks, confectionery, beer, laundry, personal care, and pet food. The brands will also fill gaps where M&S has no own brand equivalent.

Executive chairman, Sir Stuart Rose, said: 'Our trials have shown us that an edited selection of branded grocery and household products has a place at Marks & Spencer. Our customers are at the heart of this decision - they lead increasingly busy lives so buying those essential, must-have branded products at M&S will help save them time.

'It will be so much more for convenient for our customers to get what they need from M&S rather than having to go elsewhere.'

Executive director of food, John Dixon, said: 'My team and I are focused on delivering the best that M&S Food can offer - innovative products that provide unbeatable quality and great value.

'But there are some products that we could simply never compete with, like Marmite and KitKat, and other areas where, whilst we have a great M&S equivalent, the leading brand dominates the market.'

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