Reasons to Read

Four major UK department-store chains—House of Fraser, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis—have come up against sustained structural shifts in retail in recent times.

In this report, we detail the resulting decline of these companies, assessing a number of factors:

• Where department stores went wrong
• The use of company voluntary arrangements to prevent business collapse and subsequent revival plans
• Internal struggles and poor management decisions
• Strategies that have been tried but failed, including e-commerce, destination retail, private-label products and store closures

The appendix includes timelines of key events.