Goodmove now M&S's biggest own-brand, launches key campaign for New Year

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 30, 2021

M&S’s bold bet on launching a dedicated activewear brand two years ago has paid off handsomely with the company saying Goodmove has grown to become its biggest in-house brand.

It’s now launching new products, adding third-party brands and debuting a colourful new campaign to promote the brand during the key month of January, “as new M&S Family Matters data shows customers are planning important lifestyle changes in 2022”.

The spring season will see the label featuring “new innovations including front adjusting sports bras” and being supported by “new complementary guest brand Speedo”, among others.

The company said the growth of the brand has come as the wider M&S offer has pivoted towards casualwear and the Goodmove line-up now incudes 275 products across womenswear, menswear and kidswear, “run by a 12 strong team of experienced designers, buyers, merchandisers, and technologists”.

It sells 1.6 million Goodmove items annually “and is market leader for full price women’s activewear”. 

And it said “activewear is a key strategic focus for M&S, with the market now worth almost £900 million after seeing 35% growth over the last two years”, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

The new Goodmove campaign will run throughout January as it’s “the month where the customer mindset is firmly on health & wellness”. And that makes sense as last year, its webstore had one million searches for ‘activewear’ in January, double the normal monthly average. 

The “colourful” campaign is tagged ‘Goodmove – activewear that performs’ and covers the full spectrum of marketing activity. It’s focused on growing brand awareness and highlighting the innovations within the range. 

Highlights of the spring range include the best-selling (£25) ‘Go Move’ “squat-proof” legging (5,000 are sold in black every month) introduced in new prints; new reflective and bright items for dark January days; and a new Extra High Impact sports bra (£28), with innovative cup technology and front adjusting velcro straps for maximum support and a custom fit.

As well as the products, the campaign will also “celebrate the loyal customer following Goodmove has grown, and the incredible feedback customers have given on the product”. Throughout M&S stores, signage will include comments lifted from five-star reviews on M&S.com.

And as mentioned above, alongside Goodmove, the retailer is adding selected third-party brands in complementary activewear categories to support the range, including fitness watches via WatchShop and, from January, Speedo swimwear. 

The small curation of Speedo products will include bestsellers such as the Endurance+ Medallist swimming costume in womenswear and the Boom Logo Splice Jammer swim shorts in menswear. As part of ‘Brands at M&S’ the retailer is also now selling Dharma Burns, a popular yoga brand with “feminine designs”.

Richard Price, MD of Clothing & Home at M&S said: “Shaping the future of M&S Clothing means continuing to maximise the strength of our own brand product: consistently focusing on everyday style and value, heroing product categories that matter most to our customers and developing our unique in-house brands. 

“Launched just two years ago, today Goodmove is our biggest own brand, a credible competitor in the growing activewear market and a truly relevant offer for our customers. With health and wellness more important than ever for our customers, we’re starting 2022 with a bold campaign for Goodmove that highlights both the trusted value of the product and the important innovations within the range.”