LONDON: British retailer Marks & Spencer has launched 46 websites in new markets, expanding its online reach to over 100 countries, it said on Monday, adding that the expansion into countries from Argentina and Brazil to South Korea and Pakistan was part of its strategy to accelerate its online business.
When M&S published first-half results in November it reported a 75% increase in international e-commerce sales, underlining the shift in online spend throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re focused on turbocharging our online business both in the UK and internationally, and as part of this we see a real opportunity in extending the number of countries where we run an online channel further,” said Paul Friston, M&S’s international director.
The websites will offer M&S’s clothing and home products.
In January rival John Lewis said it was no longer pursuing international expansion and had ceased its online delivery service.
M&S, which also sells food, has been hit hard by the pandemic as lockdowns have shuttered most of its clothing space.
Shares in the group were up 0.5% at 1116 GMT, paring losses over the last year to 5%.
Britain’s Marks & Spencer expands online business to over 100 markets, including Pakistan
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Britain’s Marks & Spencer expands online business to over 100 markets, including Pakistan
- Says expansion into countries from Argentina and Brazil to South Korea and Pakistan part of strategy to accelerate online business
- M&S, which also sells food, has been hit hard by the pandemic as lockdowns have shuttered most of its clothing space
Pakistan condemns Israel’s West Bank expansion measures at UN Security Council
- Islamabad calls for immediate halt to Israeli steps designating occupied land as “state land”
- Pakistan backs Gaza ceasefire, reconstruction under UN-endorsed diplomatic framework
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has condemned Israel’s recent decisions to expand control over the occupied West Bank while addressing a high-level United Nations Security Council briefing on Palestine in New York, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Israel’s cabinet approved new measures this month tightening administrative and legal control over parts of the West Bank, including easing land purchases by settlers and reclassifying land as “state land,” a move Palestinians and many international observers say deepens settlement expansion and undermines prospects for a two-state solution.
Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel and has consistently supported Palestinian statehood, has also recently joined a multilateral diplomatic framework aimed at stabilizing Gaza following the latest war and ceasefire efforts.
In a statement, the foreign ministry said Dar “strongly condemned Israel’s continued ceasefire violations, illegal settlement activities, and attempts to alter the status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly its recent illegal decisions and measures to expand control over the Occupied West Bank, including designating of its land as ‘state land’.”
He called for the “immediate halt and reversal” of those actions, according to the statement.
Dar also urged a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2803, which underpins international efforts toward reconstruction and political settlement after months of conflict in the enclave.
The minister said Pakistan joined the Board of Peace — a diplomatic initiative supported by a group of Arab and Islamic countries — to support humanitarian relief and long-term political resolution.
He expressed hope the initiative would lead to “concrete steps” toward a ceasefire, expanded humanitarian aid and eventual realization of Palestinian self-determination through a political process based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s willingness to support diplomatic initiatives including the Board of Peace, a proposed international peace conference and other multilateral efforts aimed at a “just, lasting and comprehensive peace” in the Middle East.
