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The Giving Card welcomes Marks and Spencer

Posted Jun 21, 2012 by netrix

The Giving Card is delighted to welcome one of the Nation’s favourite stores: Marks & Spencer. We are very pleased to offer our members frequent up-to-date discounts as a reward for supporting their favourite charity.

The Giving Card is delighted to welcome one of the Nation’s favourite stores: Marks & Spencer. We are very pleased to offer our members frequent up-to-date discounts as a reward for supporting their favourite charity.

Marks & Spencer is considered a British Institution as is its iconic M&S logo. With over 21 million customers visiting their stores each week in 361 stores over 40 countries, they are famous all over the world. Synonymous with high quality and the well regarded reputation of a dependable food store who offer a range of fashionable clothes and home products at great value; Mark & Spencer are an important business within the British retail industry with a growing online presence and similarly expanding global presence. They are the number one provider of lingerie and womenswear in the United Kingdom and are in the process of achieving this feat with menswear, kids wear and home products too. A factor of their success is their constant originality of items and the constant expansion of their range by developing more innovative and unique products to choose from.

Marks & Spencer began in 1894, Michael Marks, owner of a market chain in Leeds where one could buy quality articles for just one penny, became associated with a cashier: Thomas Spencer. 80 years later Marks and Spencer gained notoriety at an international level as stores opened in France, Belgium, Spain, and Netherlands. Despite its global reach Marks & Spencer have remained a brand that promotes strong British values and a company that consistently delivers high value, high quality goods accompanied by unparalleled customer service.

Marks & Spencer is well known for its green credentials and have initiated an eco-plan over the last 5 years pushing Marks & Spencer to become carbon neutral. Marks & Spencer have stopped sending waste to landfill; they have reduced the amount of packaging used and have developed programmes to encourage their suppliers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions among other things. Moreover, they support local and national charities: they donate unsold clothing, food, unwanted equipment, they help raise funds and they provide donations to foundations like Shelter, Oxfam, Newlife foundation and FareShare, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research to name a few, as well as to encourage their employees to participate with their local communities with employee volunteer awards and paid time off for volunteering.

Despite this Marks & Spencer believe there is still room to grow. They state that every five minutes, almost 10 000 clothes are sent to landfill – A frightening figure when we know that it represents one in four items sold. To avoid this ‘throw-away’ culture, Marks and Spencer are developing a simple but revolutionary way of shopping called: “Shwopping”. With the help of celebrity Joanna Lumley, Marks and Spencer have launched a new way to get rid of our unwanted clothes, involving no waste and no pollution. It requires customers to bring their old clothes (whatever the brand) to a Marks & Spencer store, where they can be resold, reused or recycled in order to help people living in poverty thanks to the money raised. It is a first for the world of high street and an unexpected campaign which could bring millions of pounds in revenue every year.

If you want to enjoy discounts from Marks & Spencer whilst help raise vital funds for some of the largest charities in the UK, simply visit www.thegivingcard.co.uk and start making a difference today.