Marks & Spencer Chairman Sir Stuart Rose said in a recent (2/10/09) interview with the Financial Times that the retailer had made several "basic shopkeeping" mistakes when launching its first store on the Chinese mainland. "We had a screw up," he said, which had led to the supply shortages of both food and smaller sized clothes during the first few months of trading. M&S said food stocks had since returned to 90% of normal leading to higher footfall. Rose said M&S had misunderstood the local market, assuming that its expertise in Hong Kong would easily translate to the mainland. "We need to get the A to Z of sizing right and we need better market research," said Rose. "That's what I call basic shopkeeping," he added. Despite the problems in China, Rose said M&S was committed to opening more stores in China and doubling the proportion of group revenues coming through its international business, from less than 10% now to between 15 to 20%. Rose added that M&S would sit it out in China until the store returned a profit, which he expected in three years.
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