From January 2010 M&S will offer over 400 branded goods in its stores in order to strengthen customer choice.

Following a successful 16-month trial in its stores in the North East and South East of England, Marks and Spencer (M&S) has announced plans to sell around 400 branded grocery and household products in all of its stores.

From January 2010, customers will be able to buy products from brands such as Coca-Cola, Marmite, Fairy and Persil alongside their normal M&S shopping, although each M&S store will offer “an edited range” according to its size.

Executive Director of Food, John Dixon, said that adding the nation’s favourite brands to the M&S offering, will give customers more choice: “My team and I are focused on delivering the best that M&S Food can offer.

“But there are some products that we could simply never compete with, like Marmite and Kit Kat, and other areas where, whilst we have a great M&S equivalent, the leading brand dominates the market.”

The company also announced that as a finale to its 125th birthday celebrations it is holding another ‘Penny Bazaar Bonanza’ on 13 November 2009. For one day only an exclusive range of M&S products will be on sale for a penny. M&S held a number of penny bazaars in May, which drew in thousands of customers.

These latest announcements have coincided with the release of the retailer’s half-yearly results. Overall sales are up 2.8% at £4.3 billion, with international sales showing the most significant rise of 12.2%. However, like-for-like sales are slightly down on the same period last year, across both general merchandise and food.

Sir Stuart Rose, M&S Chairman, said: “We are pleased with our first half performance. Our strong customer offer, together with tight management of costs and margin, has allowed us to report slightly ahead of last year, despite a challenging economic environment.”