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…?

Should say CB isn’t M&S I know but same concept. Higher quality ready made meals.

Their clothing range is dire at the moment. I haven't seen anything I even remotely like for months now, and I'm in what you would expect to be their traditional age-range target market.

It depends which one you go to as well. I bought some truffle choc eggs in one shop in Central London for £3.50, and the same box was at the shop in Waterloo for £5.50. I imagine the ones at petrol stations will be more expensive as well.

Their clothing range is dire at the moment. I haven't seen anything I even remotely like for months now, and I'm in what you would expect to be their traditional age-range target market

And yet their sales figures for clothing & home are up 37% from last year.

Their cookies used to be £1.75 and are now £2.40 so definitely some huge price increases.

Who can afford to shop in the Co-op ? M&S is always going to be more expensive but it is worth it. Biggest shock was lidl, first time i have been in there this year and was shocked at the increases.

This ^

We were recently unable to get to M&S (our favourite for good quality pizza when we can't be bothered to make our own) so picked a 'deluxe' one up in our local Lidl. It was so vile, the worst pizza we've ever tasted, that we threw it away. Iirc it was half the price of those in M&S, but inedible so a complete waste of money!

Like many other posters we use M&S for treats, takeaway type meals etc, but also for lots of staple items as these not only compare favourably but taste much nicer too.

Our nearest supermarket is Tesco which we both hate and only use occasionally. We get a few things from Aldi (particularly like their quilted loo rolls!) and actually get a lot of our meat, veg etc from our local Co-op which is a larger one and seems reasonably priced for most stuff.

@LibertyLily Yep I posted similar a day or so ago. I find Aldi and Lidl very hit or miss - a few things are totally fine such as cheese, cold meat or yoghurt or ice cream or some booze but lots of stuff is cheapish but tasteless and poor quality - I do appreciate it's a budget thing too, but for those who don't need to budget quite so tightly I don't get the appeal. We used them a fair bit when living in Denmark as choices in supermarkets are different and the only higher end one (Meny) was quite a way and one thing when we moved back I preferred was the ability to go to M&S, Waitrose and sainsburys and it seemed quite cheap too!!

But have they trained their staff up to advise you on which chips go best with your steak yet?

You sound like my DSis. You don't happen to be a doctor who lives in the Midlands do you?

My daughter decided to pop to M&S for a Chinese meal pack, instead of getting a takeaway as this saved money.

it’s a down shift from eating out or takeaways

Yup, just looked on the Ocado website. 3 for 12.

I wonder if there’s two types. The real breast ones and the chopped and shaped mechanically recovered meat ones, like there are in Tesco?

I love M&S. 99% of my clothing is from there.

The difference is that the coop food is expensive cheap food. M and S is expensive nice food.

I think people who food shop at m and s are not really bothered about price to be honest

I buy a couple of their ready made pasta dishes. One is bolognaise and the other is chicken. ££5.25 for a tray that feeds 2. Charlie Bighams meals are over £9 in my local supermarket now for pretty much the same thing. I don’t find some of marks stuff that pricey. Their veg is good value.

Everywhere charges a lot for some stuff, like Ambrosia custard in Morrisons is £2! quality in marks is much better and they have great offers and regular prices for some items like pasta and milk. At the moment all supermarkets can be costly, just depends in where you go and what you want. If you are prepared to buy sausages from Asda costing £1.30 for 20, you can’t throw a wobbly at the prices elsewhere as it’s not the same.

Massive price rise on the cookies. I’m sure they’re £2.50 in ours. I did buy some the other day but was shocked. Only because I was in there (usually get the stir fry selection meal as it’s easy for DH to cook, gives me a night off!).

There's price increases across the board. I find I'm doing more shopping in M&S thanks to Food Stores opening closer to home and work. I agree it's hard to do a whole shop but eggs, butter, milk and I love their whipped cream cheese with their crackers for lunch. Their fruit and veg does tend to last longer although across the board I'm finding that fresh produce is not as good as it used to be pre pandemic/Brexit.

Some of M&S frozen meals are nice. Their bouef Bourgogne pie, or cheese and potato pie served with veg is a nice easy meal to pull out of the freezer if you have unexpected guests for lunch or supper and I always like having a bag of their frozen petit pois, leek and cabbage with savoury butter in the freezer for this too. I don't know which other supermarket has equivalents.

As pp said I have also found I've bought more clothes this past year from M&S than I have in the past decade. And to add to my previous post I find they have a lot of stock and good variety in both food and clothes. It seems M&S are definitely doing something right.

I shop at M&S. I was spending £50-70 more a week in Tesco/Sainsburys.

The food is superior. I eat less and nothing is wasted.

The shopping experience is 100% better than any other supermarket as it's small, well laid out and the choice is excellent.

Recently I’ve been doing about 70% of my food shop in M&S and the other bits in Asda or Sainsburys. I had a hectic week last week and so did all the shopping in Sainsburys. It was £40 more than when I do most of it in M&S.

People shop at different shops for different reasons, convenience, food preference, availability of funds, friendly face or occasionally as they're looking for a treat. If you've got more money available, looking for a treat or nice meal (instead of going out which people are cutting back on) then M&S ticks the box. My DM shops there for total convenience, she's elderly bus drops her off at the side entrance and she just walks to next street for bus home.

Co-op has been mentioned up thread. DD works there occasionally. She said they get a lot of people in there who don't drive (her Co-op isn't on a very good bus service), so do their main shop there rather instead of paying for a taxi each way. Also, they get a lot of regulars in there, who just like a friendly face and will enjoy a chat when staff have time.

You can get chicken Goujons and fish ones too in the 3 for £12 - I buy them a fair bit - and brings it to £4 a pack. I do nearly all my food shop at M&S but meal plan depending what the offers are and what I pick up and freeze on yellow tickets. Other stuff like tinned soup and packet rice is very reasonable and yet still good quality