Marks & Spencer is one of the most widely recognized retail stores in the world. One of the first names a person would think about if asked to name a retail giant based in the UK would be Marks& Spencer if not Harrods. Also called M&S in short, the retail giant has around 760 stores operating around the world in 30 countries. Founded in 1884, in London, the name of the famous company derives from the surname of its two founding members: Michael Marks and Tom Spencer.

Steadily, the store diversified from selling food to men's and women's clothing and spread from the United Kingdom to the continent and later to the world. Marks & Spencer was one of the first stores to adopt the policy of buying goods straight from the retailers. With the company's stress on quality, the retail store giant has been associated with the good quality of products offered at reasonable rates. The years when the company peaked were in 1997 and 1998 and around 2001 can be located the downfall of the company. With the introduction of many changes in the stores, the company managed to recover some of its lost glory with the net income totaling around £0.521 billion in the year 2006.

Currently, Marks & Spencer has slid down to being just a fourth of the size of the largest retail outlet in UK i.e. Tesco. The goods which the company deals in are as varied as men's women's and kids wear to fashion accessories and lingerie to food and home furnishings. The company even has a website catering to its clients where customers can browse through the range of goods on offer and order the goods they want. This has greatly helped the company since in a world which is becoming increasingly dependent on the internet, online shopping is something the company could not have done without. The features on the websites such as store finder (which help the customer locate the nearest store) are of great help.

The goods purchased online are delivered to the customers after charging a nominal shipping rate. The company started its 'look behind the label' campaign in 2006 in an attempt to highlight the social responsibility initiatives undertaken by it. The various environment friendly and ethical steps taken while sourcing and producing the goods were highlighted during this campaign. The tea, coffee and most of the clothing sold by the retail chain has fair-trade certification. This means that the products sold have been certified to have been produced under certain labor and environmental standards set up by a body which sets standards for the goods.

Other initiatives include the usage of environment friendly materials to build the stores and trying to maximize the amount of electricity which is sourced from sources which are environment friendly.