Last week saw the expansion of Marks and Spencer’s Mobile ‘Food To Go’ service in Milton Keynes. This builds, no doubt, on M&S’s expansion into Simply Food outlets at various locations such as petrol stations and motorway service stations and the ‘order in advance’ LunchToGo services via their micro web site.
This move is all the more interesting when you recall the closure of a number of Simply Food stores earlier this year. It seems that the ‘new’ service has been run in pilot mode for some time in Milton Keynes and in Swindon, with two mobile units in each town. According to our local man there are to be two more units regularly servicing MK offices and another sixty across the country by the end of this year.
I’m not sure what the local sandwich shops and existing mobile vendors will be able to do to respond to this move, but what a great idea! It brings the all the convenience and quality of their packaged foods right to the doorstep of your offices, and in Milton Keynes’ outlying office developments, as in many cities, that’s a great timesaver as well as a way to buy quality lunch items rather than poor food value snacks.
Our two M&S associates say that the service has been an ‘instant’ hit. The most popular purchase being fruit. They also carry more exotic items such as sushi, which is also very popular. As you can see from the image below there is a wide choice available.
It made us think about the Category Management meetings that must have gone on deep inside the M&S offices, working out the strategy, tactics, goals, assortment, display planning and logisitcs behind such an apparently simple proposition. I’ll bet it was huge fun though. No doubt, time will tell if they have it right. You’ll notice that the assortment includes sandiwches of all sorts (upper left), various soft drinks, water and smoothies (lower left), the centre display houses wraps and more sandwiches, sushi and various salad choices and on the right are a wide rage of crisps and biscuits. It must have been a nightmare arguing that one out! One thing should be obvious though - all the product is M&S Own Label. Just what you’d want, I guess.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Mike,
A great example of getting one step closer to your customer, and to understanding their frustration in accessing your Brand. M&S first got closer to customers by going into BP Petrol stations now they want to get even closer by getting almost to their desks as stressed out workers don’t want to waste time travelling into the town centre to park in their lunch hours.
There is a powerful lesson here.
My question is this - Are M&S selling food, convenience or time with this offering?
Whatever the answer I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of these vans across the country in the coming months.
Paul
Hello Paul,
My guess is that the answer is all three. Personally I think it’s a winner for the customer. What I’m not sure about is the economics. The ‘boys’ thought it might generate £2,500 per week per van. Hmmm.
As you say though, it’s a powerful statement and a gret lesson in how to get closer to your customers - literally!
Mike
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Michael
Swindon has had this service for nearly two months and it’s not doing too well they are no way hitting the 2500 per week only 1000 approx. There is there are already 8 other different companies supplying better quality and more choice. Swindon has been hit hard by the recession so using Swindon as one of the pilot areas was a bad idea. Also they employ two people to serve where as the other companies employ one driver to serve. They pay nearly duoble per hour so where will the proffit margin be? Wish them luck but can’t see them making enough proffit to make it work.
Hello Shirly,
Thank you for your comments. We are having some difficulty with our service too as it happens. The two mobile service vehicles that they use in MK have been off the road for several days and people are a little dissappointed with the breakdown in service. We’ll see if they can recover otherwise, as you say, it will be shortlived here too.
Michael
I read a few topics. I respect your work and added blog to favorites.
Hi,
We’re a sandwich magazine run by The British Sandwich Association called Sandwich & Snack News. I’ve been aware of this story for some time, but have no pictures of the vans.
I don’t suppose, out of the goodness of your heart, you could send me a JPEG of one for the mag. Yes, it’s a cheek!
M&S don’t want to know.
Regards,
Simon AMbrose
Editor
Hello Simon,
Thanks for visiting the blog. It’s a surprise to hear that M&S aren’t interested in publicity for their mobile services. Anyway, I’ll be happy to help, although it looks from your web site that you are more interested in Pasta and Pizza than sandwiches. I’ll send you the main image and would appreciate a mention of the source if you publish it.
Best Regards
Michael