Good morning, Around 7,000 jobs are being axed at retail giant Marks & Spencer as part of a further shake-up of its stores and management in the face of the coronavirus crisis. The group said the roles were set to go over the next three months across shops, regional management and its support centre. M&S expects a "significant" number of roles will be cut through voluntary departures and early retirement while it said it will also create some jobs through investing further in online warehousing and its new ambient food warehouse. It comes as M&S revealed total sales in its hard-hit clothing and home arm plunged 29.9% in the eight weeks since shops reopened, with store sales tumbling 47.9% and online surging 39.2%. It said sales declines were improving but that it was "clear that there has been a material shift in trade". Message from the editor While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription. Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up. Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website. Your feedback is really important, please email me with any comments and suggestions at joy.yates@jpimedia.co.uk Joy Yates Editorial Director JPIMedia Scotland |