British retailer Marks & Spencer is to add more guest clothing and footwear brands to its website, including FatFace and Jones Bootmaker, after an initial wave of brands increased traffic and attracted new customers.

M&S Chief Executive Steve Rowe said last year the group, still Britain's biggest clothing retailer by value, was shifting strategy and would sell other brands to broaden its appeal.

In January, M&S purchased the Jaeger brand and in March launched 'Brands at M&S', selling labels such as Hobbs, White Stuff and Joules on its online platform. Over the summer kidswear brands were added to the platform including Clarks shoes and stationery brand Smiggle.

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Other new brands launched on Monday include Albaray, Celtic & Co, Craghoppers and Frugi.

Brand Director at Craghoppers, James McNamara, said: "We have been very focused on making our technical outdoor clothing as sustainable as possible and it's certainly paying off by being chosen by M&S to be their first outdoor clothing offering. We firmly believe that our mix of sustainability, style and performance will resonate well with current and future customers of M&S."

"Early results on brands driving frequency have been encouraging, with traffic on M&S.com increasing and new customers who buy into a guest brand returning to make their second purchase nearly 10 days sooner than those who didn’t buy into brands," M&S said. Importantly, brands also continue to attract new customers," it said.

Whilst ‘Brands at M&S’ is predominantly an online offer, M&S plans to extend an in-store trial to five stores. Rowe believes the COVID-19 pandemic has masked progress the 137-year-old M&S has made in its latest attempt at a turnaround after decades of failures.

Last month Chairman Archie Norman said the group will surprise people with its financial performance.

Additional reporting by Sandra Halliday