Marks & Spencer has reported a 5.6% like-for-like increase in food sales for the 13 weeks to 27 December 2025. However, Fashion, Home and Beauty sales dipped 2.9% in the same period.
Stuart Machin, chief executive said: “A record number of customers shopped M&S this Christmas. From the festive food shop, to picking up party outfits and gifts, millions more trusted M&S to deliver the family Christmas.
“Food sales were strong and the business continues to outperform, hitting a new market share milestone in the period. We are the UK’s fastest growing grocer for families, reflecting our investment in value and core family staples, and demonstrating progress in our journey to become a shopping list retailer.
“Fashion, Home & Beauty is getting back on track as we work through the tail end of recovery. Sales overall were slightly down but online performance continued to improve as digital sales recovered. We planned a bigger Sale this year, with strong sell-through already making way for our new season lines.
We enter this new calendar year full of ambition and laser focused on our plan to reshape M&S for further growth. In Food, we have even more first to market innovation coming and further investment in quality and price. And in Fashion, our new season ranges are resonating well with customers as we double down on value, quality and style.
“I’d like to thank our customers for shopping with us, our colleagues for all their hard work, and wish everyone a happy and healthy 2026. We are looking forward with confidence.”
In the lead up to Christmas M&S said the focus was on delivering a strong seasonal offer for customers and restoring progress in its ‘Reshaping’ strategy. Food volumes outperformed the market, and Fashion, Home & Beauty performance improved, with a return to growth online. This was despite an environment marked by fragile consumer confidence and milder weather.
Food underlying sales increased 6.6%, with like-for-like sales up 5.6% and UK volume growth of 2.3%. M&S has outperformed the market for more than three years in both value and volume, and in November market share reached 4.0%2, a historical high. Strong operational execution and the sell-through of Christmas hero lines resulted in higher sales and lower markdown and waste versus the prior year.
M&S said sales growth was underpinned by strength in core grocery categories, with innovation and quality upgrades – such as Italian ready meals, in-store bakery and deli. In the period M&S saw an increase in both shoppers and frequency. Value ranges, including ‘Remarksable Value’ and ‘Bigger Pack, Better Value’, grew by 20% as we continue to expand the available range.
New and renewal stores outperformed the rest of the business, with new locations such as Cannock and the recently extended Chiswick store exceeding expectations.
Fashion, Home & Beauty sales decreased 2.5%, with like-for-like sales down 2.9% as online sales growth was offset by store sales decline. Performance reflected reduced high street footfall, and the long tail impact on stock data and management following the incident earlier in the year. Stock into Sale during December was higher than last year but sell-through rates have been strong.
M&S regained market share leadership in the period and now holds the number one position for customer perceptions of style, quality and value. New season product is resonating with customers and new stores such as Bristol Cabot Circus are exceeding expectations, demonstrating the benefits of the store rotation strategy, the retailer said.
International sales were up 0.9% on the year as new wholesale agreements, online growth and Food franchise offset Fashion, Home & Beauty shipment phasing and India performance.
Ocado Retail sales increased 13.7%, driven by volume growth of 10.7% and order growth of 11.0%. M&S sales on Ocado.com increased by 16.3% and accounted for c.30% of total Ocado Retail sales.
Louise Deglise-Favre, lead apparel analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view: “Marks & Spencer’s Christmas results show a split performance, with the retailer outperforming the UK food sector but underperforming in apparel. Total sales (excl. Ocado) rose 3.3% to £4.2bn, which is positive against a backdrop of fragile consumer confidence and milder winter weather, and reflects continued progress in the retailer’s Reshaping strategy. However, the Fashion, Home & Beauty division hindered growth, as the division failed to fully recover from this year’s cyberattack, with improvements in online offset by weaker store demand and inadequate stock levels. Overall, the period demonstrated M&S’ resilience rather than a step-change in growth, as the business focused on operational execution and stabilising performance.
“Food was again the main driver, with reported sales up 6.6% and like-for-like sales increasing 5.6%, supported by UK volume growth of 2.3%. M&S continued to attract shoppers this Christmas thanks to its strong execution of seasonal ranges, achieving better-sell-through rates of festive products, allowing it to reduce markdowns compared with the prior year. Growth continued to be underpinned by core grocery categories rather than discretionary spend, with innovation and quality upgrades supporting customer engagement. Value-focused ranges such as ‘Remarksable Value’ and ‘Bigger Pack, Better Value’ grew by 20%, highlighting strong demand for lower-priced goods amongst a still tense economic climate.
“Fashion, Home & Beauty remained the weaker part of the Group, with reported sales down 2.5% and like-for-like sales declining 2.9%. While the division was the most impacted by the cyber incident earlier in the year, its recovery has taken longer than expected given all operations resumed from August, highlighting weaknesses in the retailer’s stock agility as availability issues and markdowns continued to hinder its potential. Online performance in the division improved and returned to growth but was offset by lower store footfall and the lingering impact of earlier disruption to stock data and management. In contrast, Next’s strong results over the Christmas period suggests it might have retained some of the M&S customers it gained during the cyber incident. M&S has the potential to regain share and momentum within its apparel division, thanks to strong fashion credentials and high customer perceptions of quality and value. It now needs to translate these strengths into consistent full-price growth, through improved operational agility and impactful marketing.”
