Marks and Spencer : & SPENCER CONTINUES TO INNOVATE ITS BEAUTY OFFERING WITH LAUNCH OF NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH BENEFIT COSMETICS

The launch forms part of retailer's 'Brands at M&S' strategy - curated third-party ranges for the M&S customer that complement its existing offer

Today (Tuesday 19^th July), M&S Beauty is announcing that it will welcome the UK's no.1 Prestige Makeup Brand* - Benefit Cosmetics - in-store and online.

This Autumn/ Winter, M&S customers will be able to shop the Benefit collection at M&S.com with free click & collect next day delivery to over 700 M&S locations. Five destination M&S stores** will be home to a Benefit Cosmetics counter, with beauty experts on hand to assist customers on makeup products and tips & tricks for instant beauty fixes. Whilst an additional 10 stores will have product available - displayed in a bespoke Benefit Cosmetics fixture.

The collection will comprise more than 200 products and will include all the brand's one-of-a-kind cult favourites like Benetint, They're Real! Mascara, the POREfessional Face Primer, Hoola Bronzer and Gimme Brow+ with prices ranging from £12.50 to £48.

Tara Singleton, Head of Beauty at M&S, said:"We are so pleased to be welcoming Benefit Cosmetics as our latest partner as we continue to introduce dynamic third-party brands to complement our own beauty offer, helping us become more relevant, more often for our customers. Beauty plays a big part in our 'Brands at M&S' strategy as we know brands such as Benefit Cosmetics inspire loyalty and repeat purchase around their cult products and therefore play an important role in how and where customers shop. Bringing these brands to M&S.com and selected stores, will give customers - both existing and new - more reasons to shop with M&S."

The launch follows the successful partnership with global skincare and make-up brand, Clinique, earlier this year. Over the past 12 months, M&S Beauty has been evolving at pace to be more relevant, more often to its 22m customers through exclusive own brand products (including Apothecary which has grown to a £20m brand in just two years) and complementary third-party brand partnerships as part of the wider 'Brands at M&S' strategy (including Aveda, Clinique, Origins, REN, Emma Hardie, Eve Lom and Prai).

Last year c.15% of M&S Clothing & Home customers shopped beauty which represents an opportunity for growth by encouraging cross-category shopping through various initiatives and M&S's loyalty scheme, Sparks.

Sarah Harbon, General Manager of Benefit Cosmetics, said:"The launch of Benefit Cosmetics on M&S reflects our commitment to making our products accessible, we are passionate about building a beauty community for all and delighted to be joining M&S Beauty. The partnership will provide a unique omnichannel opportunity for new and our existing customers to easily shop and discover the UK's no. 1 Prestige Makeup brand alongside leading British retailer, M&S."

Brands at M&S

The M&S partnership with Benefit Cosmetics comes as the roll out of third-party clothing brands on M&S.com continues to go from strength to strength - the average online basket size for clothing brands is more than twice the average for M&S.com with brands contributing c.3.5% of total online sales in the first half of the year, 1.2 million customers have shopped with 'Brands at M&S'.

Ends

*Source: The NPD Group. Value and Unit Division sales of Total Prestige Makeup for 2021 January to December.

**The five stores with a Benefits Cosmetics counter are M&S Camberley, Cheshire Oaks, Handforth Dean, Hedge End and Lisburn.

More about Benefit Cosmetics

Benefit Cosmetics is No.1 Prestige Makeup Brand in the UK and No. 1 Brow Brand Worldwide* and is synonymous with fun, instant beauty solutions. Here in the UK, Benefit Cosmetics is the No 1 Prestige Mascara brand, Brow Brand, Primer brand, with iconic much loved products such as Hoola Bronzer, They're Real Mascara, Gimme Brow+, Porefessional Primer dominating make-up bags up and down the country. Founded in 1976 by twin sisters Jean and Jane, the beauty brand is one of the fastest growing prestige beauty brands in the business with locations in 59 countries across 5 continents. With more than 3,000 Brow Bars with over 6,000 aestheticians worldwide, Benefit has become the brow destination for both product and service! Benefit is part of the world's leading luxury products group, LVMH.

Brands at M&S Timeline

• 2009 - M&S introduced selected Food brands into Foodhalls
• 2012 - M&S launched branded beauty to sit alongside its popular own brand offer
• September 2020 - The first Clothing brand went live on M&S.com - Nobody's Child (M&S then purchased a minority stake of the eco-conscious fashion brand in November 2021)
• January 2021 - M&S purchased its first brand - Jaeger - for £6m, (Jaeger then relaunched under the leadership of Fiona Lambert in October 2021)
• March 2021 - 'Brands at M&S' officially launched introducing several clothing brands including Seasalt, Sloggi and Sosandar.
• March 2022 - Today, M&S sells over 35 brands on M&S.com

More About Beauty at M&S

• M&S began selling toiletries in 1913 and today has a compelling offer across skincare, bath & body, haircare, fragrance, make-up, and gifting
• Beauty is run by Heidi Woodhouse, Director of Home, Furniture and Beauty, with Beauty experts including Head of Beauty, Tara Singleton
• Over the past year M&S Beauty has been changing at pace (more detail here) including introducing new categories such as perimenopausal and menopausal skincare and more inclusive foundations (detail here)
• M&S Beauty has a loyal following, particularly for cult products such as the bestselling Formula sleep cream which turned five last year- on average 50,000 units are sold annually
• M&S Beauty is focused on providing eco-friendly options including Pure - M&S's own brand, made with 95% natural ingredients