Satisfied Marks & Spencer is set for further expansion

Marks & Spencer seems set for further expansion in Ireland, having expressed satisfaction with the performance to date of its current operations here. The company, which already has seven stores in Northern Ireland, is the anchor tenant at Dublin's new Liffey Valley shopping centre and has expanded its shops in Dublin and Cork.

In the past three years, Marks & Spencer has invested £100 million in the Republic, the company's managing director, Mr Guy McCracken, says. Although he would not be drawn on speculation that the company wanted to open stores in south Dublin, Galway and Limerick, he said the chain's current total of 300,000 square feet of retail space in the Republic was "not the end of it".

He said the company would not commit itself to further expansion unless it believed a particular site was perfect for a Marks & Spencer store. Choosing the right "pitch", he added, was a finely-honed skill.

"I don't think we're finished in Ireland. We want to grow the business, we are ambitious, but we'll do it at our own pace because you have to get it right," Mr McCracken said.

Marks & Spencer now has a total of 3,250 Irish employees, including 350 new staffers at its Liffey Valley store. In the Republic, the number of people on the payroll has grown from 120 in 1979 to 1,250 today.

With Europe's single currency a politically contentious issue in Britain, the company has not adopted a position in favour or against its introduction. But Mr McCracken said he believed Marks & Spencer had a duty to prepare for a post-EMU Europe.

"We will be in a position to take euros from January 1st, 1999. We are replacing every till in the business," he said.

A spokeswoman for the company said last night this meant some 11,000 new cash registers.

Part of the reason for the move lies in the fact that the company has expanded on the Continent, and currently runs shops in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, and the centralised, point-of-sale stock system must be ready for customers in these countries as well as in Ireland.

The world of retailing is changing in other ways, Mr McCracken added, and the company would constantly upgrade the quality of its goods and customer service.

"In the future, anyone who does not take seriously what customer service means will struggle," he said.

Consumers could expect to see more high-value additions to stores, such as mini-bakeries, coffee shops and delicatessens. Mr McCracken said retailers were also paying more attention to the size of their stores, and what range of goods each sold. This could mean making hard decisions with smaller retail spaces.

"What we won't do, if we have to make choices, is try to cram lots of little bits in. We would rather make authoritative statements in a small number of departments. "Customers understand that better, and that they have to go to a bigger store to find homeware or whatever else - they don't like itsy-bitsy displays."

He said Marks & Spencer management was very proud of its relations with its staff, and with its trade unions. Of the 120 staff recruited in 1979 for the Mary Street branch, 20 had retired and 79 still worked for the company. For the 350 positions at Liffey valley, Marks & Spencer received 2,650 applicants, he added.