M&S is going to outprice a lot of its customers

[Overthinker918]

I popped into an M&S food shop this afternoon and it was the first time I’ve had a proper browse of the shop in a while. And the prices now for a lot of staple items are, in my opinion, quite frankly ridiculous!

Yes I know prices have gone up a lot everywhere, but wow, over £5 for some chicken goujons…?

I’ve actually started doing about 75% of my shopping in there recently as I was saving me around £15 per week when I used either just Asda or Sainsburys. I don’t buy ready food or the convenience food from there, just the basics like fruit and veg, some meats and fish and other basic ingredients.

They've always been a premium brand. Their customers expect to pay more than they would in ALDI

Their best ever chicken tikka used for £5 now it’s £6.50 certainly not worth that…

Some things are around the same price as other supermarkets aldi’s prices have completely shot up

Butter seems really expensive at the moment everywhere

I've found things like eg cheaper than other shops recently
I do think you get what you pay for, they do deals like 2 or 3 fir £xx which I've found good
I don't do a full shop there but do too ip my main shop often

Cucumbers 60p. 69p elsewhere.

Their gluten-free ambient range tastes much better than any other I’ve tried and they don’t contain the usual preservatives which Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s g-f bread and cakes do. M&S has a relatively wide choice of breads and a few cakes, and I don’t mind paying more for that.

They have changed a few things from the chilled free-from range recently and I’m not so keen on the new items.

In my local branch, if you go in after lunchtime you can usually find something with a yellow sticker on it, especially if you’re not fussy about it being g-f or vegan. This can make it cheaper than the competition nearby.

The people that can afford to do their food shop in m&s are not the people being hit hard by the cost of living crisis.....

I have just been in the big store in Manchester City Centre. It was heaving. I noted that the aisle for fresh meat and fish was empty and swarms of people in the ready made/convenience food section. I've always been under the impression most people go in for convenience and not for a full weekly shop. I've never seen anyone with a full trolley like I fill in Lidl.

My student dd lives in a town with a co op, a marks and Spencer's and Tesco. She knows all the prices of the things she buys regularly and gets all her basics at M&S.

In my town M&S is the cheapest option, Tesco express is extortionate closely followed by Waitrose.

M&S are fast building a reputation for quality food - helped by great advertising of course, in the same way as they used to have a reputation for quality clothing. That ship sailed long ago when they outsourced the manufacturing overseas. But they are going from strength to strength with the food.

I shop with ocado the m&s thai favourites box tastes amazing. It's cheaper than going out to a Thai restaurant I think that's the M&S market people who want tasty food but don't want to pay restaurant prices. It's actually saved me money as I'm not going out as much..

Yes we’re doing this too. Good quality luxury food at the weekend instead of takeaways as default is saving us a good amount per month.

They really are. I've noticed over here that Co-Ops seem to conveniently and tactically plonk themselves right in the middle of built-up housing areas, obviously relying on people who can't make it to the huge superstores further afield (or when you just can't be arsed driving any distance).

I wonder is that why they seem to take the piss when it comes to prices? Or maybe they're just robbing bastards.

M&S ready meals are usually made with British meat. Tesco use a lot of chicken from Thailand. Many people are prepared to pay a little extra to get better quality meat with higher welfare standards in their ready meals. This also compares favourably to most takeaways and chain restaurants when it comes to meat quality and welfare.

@TheDouglasChater I wonder is that why they seem to take the piss when it comes to prices? Or maybe they're just robbing bastards

That’s so much not what the Co-op was founded to do.

In 1844 the Rochdale Pioneers founded the modern Co-operative Movement in Lancashire, England, to provide an affordable alternative to poor-quality and adulterated food and provisions, using any surplus to benefit the community. Since then, the co-operative movement has flourished, extending across the globe and encompassing all sectors of economy.

Times change.

I think there's a big split between small corner sho type co-ops and larger stores. I live near a big one and it is more expensive than Tesco but compares favourably to M&S.

We are also doing the same as @roses2 and @Overthebow. No takeaways at all but spending a bit more on 'nicer' food at the weekends. Saving a load of money and enjoying food a bit more!

What I find is that the food has a really short sell by date.

I can walk to M&S, Sainsburys, Morrisons, and Lidl. M&S is the best out of all of them, the food is better quality and the fresh food lasts longer. I don’t think they’re expensive either, particularly for basics.

I regularly price check my weekly shop against Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys. M&S is consistently cheaper and I find better quality.

I won't shop at Aldi/Lidl as so much of the food we've had from there has been awful its a false economy.

I tend to buy the same few things in Marks. The chicken goujons have jumped in price to £4.50 a box, or 3 for £12. On the other hand, £2 for half a pound of butter, 85p for a loaf and 85p for a box of cornflakes is good value and up until a few weeks ago, they were the cheapest for milk.
I do the bulk of my shopping in Tesco and nearly had a canary when I saw their 4 pack cartons of custard jumped from £1.90 to £2.30 in a week.

I've started buying my bread in M&S because our Tesco don't stock decent wholemeal bread any more. It's £2.25 a loaf but at least they keep it. And it tastes nice. Price & quality is comparable with Waitrose.

I popped in twice this week - not been in in ages and was impressed by the prices and range of food and made a note to go back more regularly.

I’d rather spend a bit more at Marks than eat out. So like DH got Charlie Bigham lasagna tonight - ordinarily might have gone out for a Wagas. So £16 vs £70