According to new research from Vision One, Marks & Spencer (M&S) is best placed to dominate the UK’s department store industry in the coming years.
Vision One’s 2025 survey, which polled 1,000 UK adults using its ‘BrandVision’ tracking service, explored both consumer usage and perceptions of key retail brands.
Despite experiencing IT issues earlier this year, M&S has scored 68 out of 100 for brand health, placing it comfortably above the benchmark of 60 and ahead of Next and John Lewis.
“Our research points to M&S as the brand most in tune with today’s shoppers,” said Tony Lewis, CEO at Vision One.
“Customers continue to trust M&S for quality and value. Our research suggests M&S has significantly more momentum and remains in a much stronger position than its competitors.”
The brand’s image has evolved positively, with respondents highlighting M&S’s trustworthiness, popularity, and relatability under the theme of ‘people like me’.
Tony Lewis added: “The tide of consumer perception has shifted. M&S is winning hearts by being trusted, popular and relatable, while some competitors are losing relevance and risk stagnation, underlining the urgent need for fresh energy to regain cultural relevance.”
Vision One’s brand tracking study underlines that M&S is not just surviving in a challenging retail climate – it is thriving. The combination of brand trust, modernisation and consumer loyalty positions M&S as the leading contender to drive the UK department store sector forward for the foreseeable future.
