Marks & Spencer is cutting 7,000 jobs over the next three months across its stores and management.

The comapany said that the coronavirus outbreak made it clear that there has been a “material shift in trade”. The chain deals in variety of products such as clothes, food and household goods. In a statement the brand said that it was “too early to predict with precision where a new post-Covid sales mix will settle. We must now act to reflect this change”. They learned that the employees can work more flexibly, and that some can transition between its food and clothing and home departments.

The new technology in stores has enable them to reduce layers of management and overheads in the support office. It also expects a large portion of the reductions to be through voluntary departures and early retirement.

Apart from the job cut news, Mr Rowe said: “In May we outlined our plans to learn from the crisis, accelerate our transformation and deliver a stronger, more agile business in a world in which some customer habits were changed forever. “Three months on and our ‘Never the Same Again’ programme is progressing; albeit the outlook is uncertain and we remain cautious. He said the proposals to “further streamline store operations and management” were an “important step in becoming a leaner, faster business set up to serve changing customer needs”.