It's the strength of their food offering that largely keeps M & S afloat, I suspect. But I suspect they missed the boat with Home deliveries; the fatal blow was probably when Waitrose started them, and M&S seemed content to rest on their laurels.
All the Home Delivery services offered by supermarkets run at a loss; especially given the nature of the terrain in North Wales. But Covid has changed everything. M&S has to adapt–and do so rapidly.
But Llandudno businesses are very, very slow to change. Some years ago I proposed a scheme which would have helped the shops and hotels simultaneously. It was a very simple idea: the single thing that most deters holidaymakers from doing a lot of shopping is carrying the bags around town and eventually back to their hotel. I suggested an entrepreneurial type could set up a scheme whereby for a weekly fee, shops and hotels could join the 'Magic delivery' scheme.
It would work like this: on checking into their hotel guests would be given a card showing their hotel was a scheme member. Shops in town would display a poster showing their membership of the same scheme. Then, when out shopping, anything a customer might buy is bagged, sealed and tagged with a special label giving name, hotel and a personalised code that would be pre-printed on their card. That code is key, as the hotel can use it to discover which room of the hotel the guest is in.
Shopper would then simply pay for the item, show the card and leave their purchase in the shop. At around 1600 the folk running the scheme would drive around and collect the bags from all the shops registered with the scheme. Those bags would all be taken back to a central location, possibly a room in a registered hotel, sorted by hotel destination, then put back into the vans, holding large boxes labelled by hotel, then by 1700 delivered to each hotel reception.
The hotels would take delivery, check the personal code on each label then do one of two things: either drop the purchases in the hotel room or keep them behind the reception to be collected by guests as they return to the hotel.
The major advantages of the system become apparent over time: people start to look for hotels registered with the scheme, so those hotels benefit directly. Likewise, shops in the scheme will find more custom coming their way. With no bags to lug around people are happy to buy whatever.
It works, too. When the kids were small, we stayed inn the US where the system was operated, and, although we stayed in a 1500 bed hotel, getting back after an afternoon out to find a bed full of presents was truly magical.
Of course, the scheme needs someone with drive and ambition to start it.
