I think this is going to be a fairly varied collection of posts on stuff to do with art, science, culture, geekery and science communication. But we'll see, eh?
The other week in Newcastle’s fine branch of M&S, Innovation was everywhere. Innovation in action was trumpeted by the suits, the shirts, and even the socks, in signage and tannoy announcements.
And it’s about bleeding time. Marks and Spencer is finally owning up to being one of the most research-intensive retailers in the UK.
The traditional view of where commercial R&D takes place is in companies that produce new, technical, complex stuff: electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering – big, heavy, dirty product-producing businesses. Not shops. Where’s the R&D going to be done in shops? In the most efficient way of counting out the change, or squirting the perfume at consumers?
And if you look at the government’s R&D Scoreboard, and its Distribution of UK850 R&D expenditure by sector, sure enough, pharma, bio, aerospace, software and telecoms make up the majority of the UK commercial R&D expenditure pie:
But there’s still a substantial slice of “Other”. And in that Other there’s some companies that do heaps of R&D where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it. Like banking. Or construction. Or education. NESTA calls this Hidden Innovation.
And there’s bucketloads of it in retail. Not all of it is explicitly reported in the company accounts though – so not all of it is countable, or apparent. Even then, the R&D Scoreboard has some revealing figures – M&S, for example, spent a touch under £50m on R&D, some 4.9& of sales, in its 2006 financial year. At a talk given to the R&D Society in 2005, Mike Barry, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility outlined where some of that money was spent. A lot of it was in co-developing products with suppliers. New products – like the three-years-of-development machine washable wool suit – and improving old ones – like commissioning a study of how its fish suppliers can trawl more sustainably.
So far, M&S’s consumer marketing seems to have only trumpeted this to men – its Innovation in action campaign in stores and online seems only to feature stuff for blokes. It looks like it will expand this out to the ladies too – apparently getting stretch into every stitch in hosiery is a tricky bit of textiles science (or is it engineering?). And so far, it looks to only be in clothing and textiles – not in food or household cleaners.
Which begs three questions:Last updated: Friday, 25 Apr 2008 - 10:02 GMT
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group
I think M&S gets some of its money from the Templeton Foundation, judging from this case study overheard at their flagship Marble Arch branch.
Sales assistant in Lingerie: Can I help you?
Customer, middle-aged male, (furtively): Er… yes please. I’m looking for a bra for my wife.
Sales assistant: Do you know what size she wears?
Customer: (gets out a piece of paper and reads) Yes, she wants a Size 34D Jewish Bra.
S. A. A Jewish bra?
Customer: Yes, she was quite specific.
S. A. Ah yes, I remember. I think I can help you, though we don’t have a lot of demand for that model these days. Usually people want the Catholic, Salvation Army or Presbyterian types.
Customer (intrigued): Why the different models? What do they all do?
S. A.: Well, let’s see. The Catholic bra lifts up the masses; the Salvation Army model raises the fallen, and the Presbyterian one keeps them staunch and upright.
Customer: What about the Jewish bra?
S. A.: That just makes mountains out of molehills.
[Yes, I know, it’s an old one, but I couldn’t resist]
He’s here all week, ladies and gentlemen. Try the veal, it’s delicious!
Ah the old ones are …. the old ones!
Did you look at the ladies expanding shoes page – wolverine leather? You wouldn’t get many shoes our of a wolverine. Anyway they’re endangered in the wild. I’m assuming their capital W mid sentence means it’s not really made from leather from wolverines. I’ve a good mind to borrow the one from the zoo and take it to the M&S shoe department to help me find out!
But if you got the right Wolverine, you’d get built in Rosa Klebb shoes?
This is an interesting story, although a little strange that such a traditional retailer like M&S is using ‘Innovation in action’ for marketing.
In sports and outdoor wear, techy features are a big selling point, think of Gore-tex. I think innovation is a good selling point, I’m sure it enhances the view of M&S selling long-lasting quality stuff.
a little strange that such a traditional retailer like M&S is using ‘Innovation in action’ for marketing
That’s perhaps deliberate? To try and show its not traditional, and to try and appeal to the Gore-tex loving, technophile consumer?
(Incidentally, I noticed tonight that in the Charing Cross M&S, there’s a sign behind the till saying that M&S has always been innovative as it was the first to bring the iceberg lettuce and the avocado to the high street. It’s true. It also was the first to sell prepackaged sandwiches, which were a failure the first two times they introduced them. But that’s another story.)
I can’t imagine many technophiles going to M&S for their weekly fix, although I guess everyone needs new socks once in a while… I think M&S would do far better to use the techno angle to highlight the quality of their garments and the thought that has gone into making them.
Yikes, Gore-tex. The last three letters—shudder!
I guess everyone needs new socks once in a while
No, they don’t!
Argh! killer shoes of electric death!