Marks & Spencer returns to the Netherlands in European push

The retailer today opened a new store on the Kalverstraat shopping street in Amsterdam as well as a website in Dutch, priced in Euros and with local delivery and payment options. It has also launched a local mobile optimised site.

The retailer will open on busy shopping street The Rokin in Amsterdam by autumn 2015. It will also open two stores in shopping complex De Markies in The Hague in spring 2014.

M&S will also open six M&S Simply Food pilots on BP forecourts in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht in partnership with the petroleum giant. The first store will open in Utrecht in September.

A flagship store at Toison D’Or, Brussels will open in 2015 following the retailer’s online launch in Belgian in November 2012. It also launched a dedicated website for customers in Luxemburg today.

Chief executive Marc Bolland has re-ignited M&S’ presence in Europe after the retailer retrenched 10 years ago. The retailer returned to France in 2011 and will have three new full-line stores open in Paris this financial year.

Bolland said: “We’re extremely happy to be coming back to Holland in response to huge customer demand. We’re coming back in a new way because Holland is one of the most internet savvy countries in Europe. We are therefore launching our new website and a brand new e-boutique as a first step towards rolling out a number of stores in the Netherlands.”

M&S executive director of ecommerce multichannel Laura Wade-Gery said: “The Netherlands has embraced online shopping – customers adore the ease and convenience of buying clothes this way, which is why we were determined to return with our very latest multi-channel thinking.”