M&S plans to grow market share in kidswear with baby club launch

British high street retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is looking to grow its market share in kidswear and attract more family shoppers with the launch of its first-ever baby club.

‘The Parent Hood’ is exclusive to members of M&S’ loyalty programme, Sparks, and is part of M&S’s mission to become “more relevant, more often to family shoppers” by offering treats, rewards, inspiration and advice for new parents and their little ones, from pregnancy to the baby’s first two years.

The free-to-join baby club will bring together "the very best of M&S" across clothing, home, beauty, food, and its in-store cafés, as well as third-party brands, and offers members the opportunity to save up to 250 pounds each year.

Members will receive 10 percent off M&S’ entire range of baby grows for 12 months, plus tailored offers across clothing and home, including maternity and nursing bras and bedding, as well as products from Bloom & Blossom and This Works in beauty, while in M&S’ Food Halls, members will receive offers across specialist products from Pampers to Piccolo organic baby food.

Marks & Spencer launches ‘The Parent Hood’ baby club

The move comes as M&S states that more families are choosing to shop with them, with families shopping for food up 24 percent and the retailer adding there is “an expanding customer base” for its clothing and home.

The UK baby 0-2 clothing market is worth almost 900 million pounds, according to Kantar data: FY23/24, with M&S holding a 6 percent market share in kidswear and sustained market share growth in areas including ‘newborn’.

M&S has identified ‘baby’ as a key enabler to unlock further growth and has seen double-digit sales growth in the category in 23/24 after giving ‘baby’ a stronger presence in-store through improved signage and greater space. The retailer now sells more than 1.1 million baby grows every year.

It hopes the baby club will help it attract family shoppers at an earlier life stage – birth and baby, building on its success as a market leader in kidswear, especially for school uniforms during back-to-school season.

Alexandra Dimitriu, director of kidswear at M&S, said in a statement: “Our customers trust us for the hand-me-down quality of our kids clothing and with our growing style credentials and a presence in so many communities, there is so much opportunity to grow our market share through appealing to new customers and introducing existing customers to more of what we have to offer.

“As a mum, I’m incredibly excited to be launching M&S’ first baby club - the proposition we’ve created by remaining laser-focused on what baby – and parents - need, when they need it, is something I wish I had access to when I was a member of the 2am club!”

Sharry Cramond, director of loyalty, food marketing and masterbrand, added: “The M&S baby club is the first of our special interest clubs for Sparks members, and we have big ambitions to make it the very best baby club in the country by bringing together the very best of M&S – from food, to clothing, to our cafes – and be a one stop shop for the UK’s incredible community of parents.”