In the retailer's Christmas trading update, released this morning, clothing and home sales were down 25.1% year on year to £787m in the 13 weeks to 26 December, hit by a 46.5% plunge in store sales. M&S said this was partially offset by strong online sales growth of 47.5% to £353m in the period. Total UK sales were down 8.2% to £2.5bn. Speaking after this morning's results, Rowe said bringing in third-party brands is a small part of M&S's retail strategy: “We said at the half year [results] that M&S wanted to build a curated set of brands and merchandise, largely through our online business, but also to fill in some of that excess space we have in stores.