when did marks and spencer start accepting credit cards
Marks & Spencer M&S's profits peaked in the financial year 1997/1998.[6] At the time it was seen as a continuing success story, but with hindsight it is considered that during Sir Richard Greenbury's tenure as head of the company, profit margins were pushed to untenable levels, and the loyalty of its customers was seriously eroded. The rising cost of using British suppliers was also a burden, as rival retailers increasingly imported their goods from low-cost countries, but M&S's belated switch to overseas suppliers undermined a core part of its appeal to the public. Another factor was the company's refusal until 2001 to accept any credit cards except its own chargecard.[28]
St Michael (brand) In 2000, the new Marks & Spencer dropped the St Michael brand, and replaced it with the Marks & Spencer brand.[1] The St Michael Quality Promise was subsequently phased out.
M&M's In 1995, tan M&Ms were discontinued to be replaced by blue.[16]
Debit card In the United Kingdom, banks started to issue debit cards in the mid-1980s in a bid to reduce the number of cheques being used at the point of sale, which are costly for the banks to process; the first bank to do so was Barclays with the Barclays Connect card. As in most countries, fees paid by merchants in the United Kingdom to accept credit cards are a percentage of the transaction amount,[50] which funds card holders' interest-free credit periods as well as incentive schemes such as points or cashback. For consumer credit cards issued within the EEA, the interchange fee is capped at 0.3%, with a cap of 0.2% for debit cards, although the merchant acquirers may charge the merchant a higher fee. Although merchants won the right through The Credit Cards (Price Discrimination) Order 1990 to charge customers different prices according to the payment method, few merchants in the UK charge less for payment by debit card than by credit card, the most notable exceptions being budget airlines and travel agents. Most debit cards in the UK lack the advantages offered to holders of UK-issued credit cards, such as free incentives (points, cashback etc. (the Tesco Bank debit card being one exception)), interest-free credit and protection against defaulting merchants under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Almost all establishments in the United Kingdom that accept credit cards also accept debit cards, but a minority of merchants, for cost reasons, accept debit cards and not credit cards.