M&S, in the midst of its latest attempt at a turnaround after decades of failures, said in May it was targeting a more than doubling of online retail sales by working with partners and expanding into new markets.

It is hoping to capitalise on a consumer shift to online shopping that has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through British Corner Shop's platform, customers from the United States to Australia will be able to purchase a tailored M&S food range and have it delivered in one to three days.

The platform, which offers over 6,000 household brands in total, saw over 140% growth between March 2020 and 2021.

The deal follows M&S' recent expansion of websites offering localised clothing and homewares ranges to customers in over 100 different markets.

M&S CEO Steve Rowe believes the pandemic has masked progress the 137-year-old group has made with its turnaround.

Last month Chairman Archie Norman predicted the group would surprise people with its financial performance.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kate Holton)