- The Sports Edit on M&S.com will enable customers to shop over 200 carefully curated womenswear products from sports brands including, Girlfriend Collective, FP Movement and ASICS alongside access to wellness content and advice.
- The dedicated sports retail platform is one of the many ways M&S is making it easier to shop the growing category; customers can now shop sportswear by brand, activity or product type.
Today (Tuesday 21 February) Marks & Spencer has launched The Sports Edit on M&S.com. It follows M&S’s acquisition in the fast-growing sports platform at the start of 2022, and the retailer’s ongoing investment in growth categories, including sportswear.
The launch welcomes over 200 sportswear and apparel products across women’s activewear and apparel from third-party brands including Beyond Yoga, FP Movement, Girlfriend Collective and YMO as well as footwear brands Veja and Hoka – with more leading brands to follow throughout 2023.
The brand partners have been carefully selected by The Sports Edit and M&S to sit alongside the retailers’ market leading activewear brand, Goodmove. Identified as a growth category, M&S is going into battle on Sportswear. The dedicated sports platform combines the best of The Sports Edit; featuring expert sports content curation where you can shop by brand, activity or product type, with all of the advantages of shopping with M&S – such as free Click & Collect to over 700 stores – to offer customers a seamless shopping experience.
Katie Bickerstaffe, Co-Chief Executive at M&S, said: “This year, we’re backing our growth categories with confidence and going into battle on sportswear. Building on the strong foundation of Goodmove, we’re combining our brand loyalty with the expertise of The Sports Edit to offer our customers an online sports retail platform which is a one-stop-shop for health and wellness.
“The launch of The Sports Edit as an integrated hub on M&S.com demonstrates the strength of our leading omnichannel platform; which continues to make M&S an increasingly attractive brand partner.”
The launch comes at a time when health and wellbeing is front of mind for consumers; latest insight from the M&S Family Matters Index* shows that 44% of consumers are planning to do more exercise and take their physical health more seriously in 2023. This trend is mirrored on M&S.com as, in January searches for trainers were +30% vs LY.
As well as housing third-party sportswear and apparel brands, the sports retail platform will have a distinct look and feel. Easy to navigate by your favourite brand, product type or sports activity, M&S.com will now feature product inspiration including ‘winter ready workout tops’ and ‘running trainer picks’ plus wellness content and advice to offer M&S customers a truly one-stop-shop for health and wellness.
Investment in growth categories
Launched in 2020, Goodmove has grown to become M&S’s biggest in-house brand – selling 1.6 million products annually. The latest collection for Spring 23, which launched in December, features Womenswear, Menswear and, for the first time, Kidswear and has already proved popular.
The popularity of sportswear amongst M&S customers, particularly those shopping womenswear who seek high quality, versatile product, identified a clear opportunity for M&S to expand its offering as it continues to build on style, quality and value perceptions.
The global sportswear market is estimated to be worth £8.6bn, with 56% of the market dominated by brands**. The curation-led approach on M&S.com offers the M&S customer a new way to shop sportswear apparel – from fitness and performance wear to athleisure. The launch continues to build on the retailer’s market-leading position in full price women’s activewear sales, with third-party brand partners complementing the core range and filling gaps in product areas.
Nick Paulson-Ellis, CEO and Founder at The Sports Edit, said, “At The Sports Edit, we have a proven capability in brand curation and emerging brand identification – we’re experts in curating product and content, relevant to our customers lifestyles. We have worked closely with the team at M&S, to understand their customer lifestyles in order to hand-pick the very best of The Sports Edit for M&S.com. The launch builds on M&S’s foundation in sportswear to take it to the next level, filling gaps in areas that require specialist product, such as trainers to offer a platform equipped for the future.”
The Sports Edit launches on M&S.com this month and is available for free Click & Collect to over 700 locations. Girlfriend Collective, Free People, HOFF, YMO, Chilly’s, Beyond Yoga, Lilybod, Alo Yoga, Theragun, ASICS, HOKA and VEJA are the first brands to join The Sports Edit on M&S.com.
The Goodmove Spring 23 collection launched at the end of December 2022, featuring Womenswear, Menswear and Kids and is available on M&S.com and in selected stores now.