Marks & Spencer's Restructuring Efforts Heading in the Right Direction, but Headwinds Persist

In a fiercely competitive United Kingdom retail marketplace Marks & Spencer Group's underperformance is yet another sign of the difficulty in developing competitive advantages in the retail sector, leaving it exposed to disruption from new players such as price-led discounters and online retailers. When new management took over in 2016, a fresh transformational plan was implemented. Although slow at the beginning, progress has been material postcoronavirus, with the company aggressively slashing costs at a rapid pace in light of strong headwinds for its nonfood business caused by pandemic-driven lockdowns.