To think the M&S cyber attack has shown up how awful the shops are?

I think it's been awful since way before the cyber attack. I repeatedly try and visit shops (local and chain) before I shop online in an attempt to support the high street. Kids school shoes, swimwear for me, maternity wear, even staples like toothpaste etc. Mostly come back empty handed either due to availability or cost, and end up ordering things online anyway. Am reaching the stage where I don't try so hard anymore as I'm fed up with not finding what I need or it being vastly more expensive. I want to support the physical shops but recently found suncream in a local store for £14 when on a certain massive online shop it was £10 for 2! I appreciate little shops can't compete with the economies of scale but equally I can't afford to pay 3x as much for stuff like suncream which feels like a need rather than a want.

No thanks I don’t want that hassle. What a poor use of resources and so bad for the environment!I want to try things on in the shop and shop at shops with bigger numbers of popular sizes. Other stores mange it. I’m not going to return, wait for delivery or do click and collect. I work full time! I’m staggered M&S do that,there is clearly no point shopping in their stores.

I have found the same problem regarding cooked chicken, it’s been hard to get hold of in my large M&S since early March. I have asked about it several times and never get a clear answer.

I don’t feel sorry for them. I feel aggrieved that they have not taken enough steps to ringfence their security and protect my data as a customer.

You misunderstand how modern logistics and stock systems work. They can restock current items next day or even same day depending how close the store is to the warehouse. They can carry more items because they are not using the shop floor as a stockroom. If they don't have your size you can order for next day collection or delivery to you. Free returns if it doesn't fit or you change your mind. Times and systems have changed. The cyber attack has exposed a vulnerability, but the criminals picked an extremely successful, wealthy retailer to target because they wanted to hold them to ransom.

The cyber incident has impacted stock levels and re-stocking. They use sales data to inform production, logistics, etc. Large parts of their computer system were affected which means it's going to take time to unravel and resolve the issues. They also stock a lot more items they can ever have physical shop space for, including from other retailers. Computer systems make this possible.

Thirty odd years I worked for a high street retailer that upgraded its tills which meant we got rid of the huge stockroom in the cellar because deliveries were made JIT to go straight onto the shop floor to sell. Based on the sales data from the new till system.

I feel for the staff their systems are down they are having to write in a book when they clock in and out plus keep track just in case payroll messes up stocktaking is done on paper teams went down early on so they couldn't get messages to and from there immediate supervisors all the little shortcuts technology has given us to make work go faster gone they arnt getting longer to do the job but the job is taking longer to do then they have to deal with the general public who are not nice at the best of times

Someone said - The huge impact this is having on soany people is dreadful, I dont imagine they can comprehend it

As if it was a group of naughty teens so my point about ransoms was that it was deliberate and malicious - not a prank which they innocently did for fun. And a cost that will be passed on to us their customers.

You can't complain about shops not being chock full of every size when all I read on here is that no one actually goes to them anymore

Someine above mentioned buying loads of stuff online knowing most of it will be sent back

I agree with you as I never buy clothes online buy clothes online but I dont blame the shops

I do feel sorry for M&S but their stock was crap before this, as with much of the high street.

They are.

I visited their huge and excellent store in Meadowhall last week and was told this by a member of staff.

Well if they’ve only got 2 x 14s of each piece of clothing in a humungous out of town store that is nuts and speaks volumes re priorities.

M and S always has a dire selection clothing wise. I do like their food. BUT - sizing!!! Dear God! Their size 8 is like anyone else’s 12. Literally can’t shop there anymore for trousers as I end up looking like a clown in great big flappy things with a vanity sizing label. Who do they (and anyone who buys these things) think they’re kidding?!

Do M and S shops have stockrooms? In fact do any shops have them nowadays, I'd have thought modern supply chains mean they are no longer necessary and a waste of selling space

I don't work at M and S, I only know what I get from the news like everyone else, I'm not sure what you're asking. No one can demand a ransom, you can ask but you can't make the victim pay you

They don’t have the popular sizes like 14s either in store. They do a variety of lengths and sizes but only stock a couple of each so the popular sizes go. If you ask staff if they could check on stock in the stockroom( you’d think not a hard thing to do with today’s tech) they don’t want to know.

Aren’t they demanding ransoms?

The age of some of the hackers in the groups widely thought to be responsible has been known for a while now.

The huge impact this is having on soany people is dreadful, I dont imagine they can comprehend it

I hate the self service everywhere thing in M&S too. They’ve gone too far. The last time I was in there buying a load of not cheap glassware that I didn’t want to fumble and break I got told off for requesting the only manned till left with somebody to help scan and wrap.She spent the whole time lecturing me how I could do it myself.😳

I agree. When I've gone shopping in-store lately, it's been terrible - sizes and items not in stock, employees not knowing where things are. You have to go online or do click and collect otherwise you won't find anything. I worked in retail years ago and it wasn't like this

A high street with small chains and independent shops usually means you need quite a bit of money to shop there so lovely for the middle class MNters

Not really. I've shopped online since 1999. The big chains were almost always a boring and frustrating experience and tried to kill off the high street themselves, taking shopping out of town, long before the internet. I prefer a high street of small chains and independent shops. I don't "go shopping" as a leisure activity.

My friend was moaning yesterday that she took a day off to go dress shopping for an event and couldn’t find much. I asked her when was the last time she had gone to the shops in person rather than ordering a bundle online. ‘Oh it’s been years!’.

Yes they do and my data has been stolen in a few of them. I don't really worry about it, I don't get spam hardly ever anyway, probably because I'm not on Facebook or WhatsApp and use a lot of different email addresses and block all unknown numbers. you need to do it from your side as so many places do lose our data.

I am sure their stock levels in shops have been affected but in general the on,y way I can ever buy anything from M&S is by ordering it online. I have posted about this before - but there is quite a large M&S near my work in central London - so I often pop in to have a look on the way home. They never seem to have any small sizes.