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

You are so ignorant.
Every organisation suffers cyber attacks every day but they have the software, processes and technology in place to repel them.

Even before the cyber attacks in store shopping at M&S was not a good experience. Even in the largest store near me , there were never any size 12s in stock. I usually left empty handed. The smaller store at my nearest retail
park is useless, the stock
there seems to be geared towards the over 70s so is not even worth looking at.

I think OP means BEFORE the cyber attack.
I've been in to m&s to try source things I seen posted on Facebook, like a nice cardi but couldn't find it, when I eventually found someone, they told me to order online.

New look is the same, the sales assistant told me I'd get 15% off if I ordered online instead of buying in store. The very things I wanted my size wasn't available so back to online I go.

I've been looking for a sports bra, tried sports direct, matalan and primark but none in my size. Gave up and ordered online

The smiggle shop local to me is closing down, they've got a 50% off sale. But the prices online are still cheaper than buying in store with 50% off 🤨 it doesn't make sense but it's easy to see why online is so favoured

Coop stores were also hit with a cyber attack recently

Empty food shelves in my local shop

I love m and s, the one near me always has lots of size 10s and 12s and the quality is always good. We shop at Ocado and the m and s stuff being mainly out of stock has been really noticeable I didn’t realise how much we must normally buy. Looking forward to them being back to normal so I can have my chocolate covered custard creams back (realise that’s a very first world problem!)

M&S's response to this was fantastic. Lucky if you have a clothes shop you can go into. We had a fab one in Staines but they've moved and now it's just a food store. Some of their stuff online is fab.
I had to return an item and in Staines as long as it was in the original packaging they were putting it in cage to be processed for refund later. I took a pic with the store helper holding it. Took 2 weeks for refund to come through but I was expecting longer.

Of course people understand that it will take time to recover, but it’s pointless for them to keep promoting online, when you can’t order online and if you were to go to a store to buy something you’ve seen online, the likelihood is that it won’t be in stock and certainly not in the size you need. Many lines are online only anyway.

The trouble is that people will find alternatives, because no one wants to wait weeks for a cardigan or pair of trousers.

Ours is pretty good. In the last two weeks I've bought a size 8 dress and top (the red puffy one that is advertised with the skirt).

They're out of stock of chocolate flapjacks though.

I have been to the Marble Arch flagship store and the other oxford St one today. Could not find what I needed. The shelves look fully-stocked but there are many normal items missing and they are filling the shelves with other stuff to make them look full.

You do realise that the cyber attack doesn't just affect the online ordering system? It has been widely publicised in the news that it affects stock levels across the business, so in store and in the food hall too.

They are having to rebuild all of their systems from scratch, I understand. It will take weeks or months and can't happen overnight.

I'm afraid you have made yourself look rather silly here. A cyber attack is not a small glitch, and all large organisations are vulnerable. Harrods and the Co-op were attacked at the same time as M & S. The NHS was attacked a few years ago too.

I always got the DC’s uniform from M&S and they never had what I needed in store even years ago, so I’ve always bought it online. The store here dramatically reduced in size many years before covid.

OP, reread your post and then consider this - the Co-op Food chain suffered a cyber attack at the same time. Many communities rely on the Co-op as their only food retailer. Extreme cases of this are many Scottish islands where it is literally the one and only shop. They were unable to buy bread and milk let alone anything else. If you live somewhere with a handy M&S that sells clothes, you must also have other clothes shops nearby. Go on, branch out and see what else is out there. You have the choice; the people on Lewis, or wherever, don't. And while you're at it, start educating yourself about cyber crime and it's far reaching effects. It will help you and stop you looking very silly on online forums.

That's what I don't get. Went into a large M&S in York a few weeks ago - so sparsely kitted out with stock - racks/shelves spaced wide apart, all stock on one level (nothing high or low). They could probably have fitted in two or three times more stock and still have full accessibility. Went next door to Next and the difference in stock levels was obvious - not fill "floor to ceiling" racks like in places like JD Sports, but certainly 2, if not 3 levels of stock, i.e. racks of suit jackets above racks of suit trousers in menswear, whereas in M&S next door, it was racks of jackets next to racks of trousers, so twice the floor space taken up. Same with jeans/T shirts etc that were folded on shelves where there were 4/5/6 shelves whereas in M&S they were on racks with just two shelves, In M&S you could see from one end of the store to the other because no racks were over 5 feet tall! Just padded out to make it look like the shop was full, but it's really not. Then they whinge about too many people buying online and returning most of it - what choice do people have if their shops don't actually have stock? Same with Clarks shoes - barely ever have any real choice in stores - that's also become a "showroom" where they tell you to order online rather than having enough stock to actually sell in store.

Since covid the stock levels and ranges in most shops have been reduced. Its because we all had to shop online and never went back to the shops afterwards. OP starts with a wishlist of things she can't buy online..... Only went to the store because she can't shop online..... That's what everyone is doing and that's why shops don't have the full range of colours, sizes and products in their physical stores.

The stock is poor because everyone has move to shop online. I think the co op attack is causing chaos else where but not getting the coverage as middle class journos don’t shop there. Cyber crime is getting worse. Scams are the norm…. Through a work thing I was shown the video here and it’s heart breaking https://solutions.lseg.com/LSEGRiskIntelligence_facevalue

Ours has been awful for years. Nothing to do with a cyber attack a couple of weeks ago. I've regularly walked in M&S and walked out again after seeing nothing I could buy. The few things I'd actually want havn't been available in my size (12). Last time, there was a lovely pastel coloured light Summer jacket - an entire rack full of size 20s! - no other sizes at all. Just why do they do that? I can understand it during the annual clearance sale when they obviously have warehouses to clear, but this was mainstream, not discounted. The jacket was also in other colours, and whilst not as obvious, the availability was also not consistent across sizing - they had several 12s but no 10s or 14s (I was trying on other sizes to check which size I needed to order online of the colour I liked). When I look online, there's so much I can buy in sizes/colours/designs that I like but they're never in the shops. It's not just that I only go to a small local one either. I've been to shops all over, including some very large ones, and they still have the same limited ranges and still often don't have a full range of sizes. They're driving people online - I don't think they actually want to keep the shops open for clothing. And no, it really isn't just the last couple of weeks after the cyber attack. It goes back years. Go into other major chains and their racks have a good range of sizes, i.e. 2 of each sizes 8 through to 18, but M&S have 1 size 8 and then 10 of size 20! It makes no sense, as if they'd started with 10 of all sizes, they'd not have fitted on the rack, so it was a conscious choice to send so many of a single size to a particular store and few/none of other sizes.

I went in a medium sized Coop yesterday. The green grocery department seemed ok, but the stock levels in some other sections looked like the first week of lockdown in March 2020!

We have an old fashioned department store in our town -smart, polite staff, nice range of clothes. I don’t see why M&S can’t set up a few old fashioned stores, properly staffed, that can accept cash in the old fashioned way for times like these -I don’t see cyber attacks going away -surely the cleverer the geeks get , and the vast amounts they can extract from the companies, the more there will be.
A proper well stocked, well staffed store might be an attraction.

I have huge sympathy for any business that suffers a cyber attack and completely respect that they haven't paid the ransom.
There's no guarantee that their system would be left intact even if they had paid up. Plus after being compromised they might have to rebuild their systems from scratch anyway.

M&S have upped their game in recent years, and just as importantly, there's a still a high street shop I can easily get to.

Plus I love their pistachio cookies.

I agree. The stock in our local town is dreadful. You can’t just go shopping. You have to order, collect, try it on in store and either take it home or return it. They have all this space in store and so few options.

They haven’t been careless with your data, it was a cyber attack, ffs 🤷‍♀️

i haven’t shopped for clothes in an M&S store for years. Their stores have a poor range of sizes and lengths in almost everything. I find it much easier to order online in different sizes, try on and return as appropriate.

I like to see and touch what I am buying and not just in pictures, so I don’t buy much online either. It’s not all bad news, the state of the shops and their lack of stock is saving me a fortune!

I know what you mean. Their lighting department is superb, really nice designs and quality that give expensive companies a run for their money but our massive out of town M&S doesn’t have a lighting department. Having bought 2 really lovely shades I have my eye on another shade I wanted 2 of so that’s that then I guess. Zero possibility of buying it.

They have some really great clothes but the good stuff never seems to have my size(14) in store but they have/ had loads online. 🤷‍♀️

What makes you think it’s a teenagers?