Really M&S !!!

[Bransdalelass]

Have felt incredibly supportive of M&S through their Cyber incident.

Despite the lack of stock in store for weeks now, my account details being compromised, my M&S credit card (only ever used in M&S or on their website) being used fraudulently and the poor communication, I have remained totally loyal.

Until today !!!

I am shocked at the numerous, price increases across the Foodhall. Fish Pie up from £6 to £7. Prawn Thermidor a similar increase, 10p a loaf on my normal bread, Blueberries up by 25p etc.etc.

I am shocked that they are clearly planning to pass all their losses onto their customers in this way and even more shocked that they are doing it whilst we are still having to cope with their ongoing stock shortages etc.

Am I alone in feeling aggrieved? I feel quite strongly that the losses caused by this incident should be borne by their reserves & shareholders.

Regardless, my shopping next week will be with Waitrose, Sainsburys or Aldi. All stores within 1/2 mile of M&S. This customer will not be returning and their loss will not just be my regular food shop, but also the cosmetics, clothes etc I have historically always picked up in-store at the same time.

I'm what you'd call a very careful shopper. I use Trolley.co.uk to keep check on branded items but have been buying a lot more store brand items over the last few years. I have to shop online as I'm disabled but am also very lucky to have a friend who will do the non-delivery shopping for me, including picking up stuff from Poundland/B&M/Home Bargains etc.

If you use online shopping you can keep an eye on your favourites and buy when on offer. If I'm starting to run low on something I'll put it in the save for later and keep checking there or Trolley until it comes on offer.

Before I discovered the save for later option I would take photos of what I needed and check those regularly.

As it happens, I was cleaning up all my old photos over the weekend and was shocked at the price rises and shrinkflation that's seemed to have happened in blocks.

Covid was the start, then the Suez ship incident, then Ukraine. The latest jump has been recent and probably down to the NI rises.

It's not just M&S, they've all increased.

Do you care to share what the Costco items are which they’re no longer stocking please? 🙏 I travel to my nearest Costco to get my favourites so I’d be gutted to get there and not find something :(

food prices are going up everywhere due to inflation. YABU

i will keep shopping there, long live M&S

Is this a joke? 😂

I hope that m and s can survive all this , but it’s all quite bleak isn’t it.

Sainsbury’s do nice own brand tea bags and gold ranges.

Poor old M&S is getting a right kicking. I will continue to shop there and won’t be going elsewhere when their website opens again. Prices are up everywhere. I like shopping in a supermarket with high food standards, lovely food and where they don’t throw your shopping at you at the check out.

We run a tiny egg wholesale business. All our customers have put their egg price up although we've held our prices. They're all independent shops. It's all because of the NI and minimum wage increases.

It’s thought they’re losing £34mil a week due to the impact of the Cyber issues. Assume they’re looking to try and make some of it back!

I don’t think 25p on a pack of blueberries is going to cover their losses. Inflation is rife. They have bills to pay. This hacking debacle isn’t over yet and will cause permanent losses.

Or hit their share holders and make less profit?

Everything is going up everywhere. I don't think supermarkets or shops have any choice.

Minumum wage goes up, shops have to pay their staff so prices go up, suppliers have to pay their staff so prices go up.

Upping the minimum wage has a huge knock on effect.

Prawn Thermidor.
😂

Went to Asda this week, my shop came to £75 and it filled two bags, it shocked me, all I bought was bog standard basics for breakfast, lunch and evening meal and that is just for me. Yes, I got a bottle of wine, a bottle of lager and some fresh flowers but even minus these non-essentials it came in at around £60. I don't buy snacks or chocolate so my shop was stuff for meals. . I am a good cook, I menu plan and can put a meal together from odds and ends but I feel there is nothing I can cut back on unless I want to live a life devoid of all treats. I used to go to M and S food hall for treats or if I was going to cook something special but I feel almost faint when I see the prices.

This in a nutshell. Minimum wage 6.7% for the vast majority of staff - those on minimum wage and those on a the next level or two. This applies to shop floor staff, delivery and ops staff at the supermarket plus those costs flowing through on labour from producers.
plus employers NI hit, All staff on an annual wage of £9100 now incur a basic uplift cost of employers ni of £615 - ie another 6.7% hit on top of minimum wage increase of 6.7% plus the increase in the basic rate from 13.8% to 15%. The employers ni particularly hits part time low paid jobs such as those done by women and young people. So someone working 16 per week at minimum wage now costs the employer 14.6 % more than before 6th April. And that is through the whole supply chain.

I feel sorry for M&S. They are always my go to for online clothes shopping, but it is STILL down. I've just ordered some holiday clothes from John Lewis instead.

Its shocking everywhere, very noticeable price rises everywhere for lots of things so £1 here, 35p there, so not just 2p or 10p rises. We can still afford to buy what we want and fancy but a lot of speculative buys we don't bother with now.

I am relatively well off. I live alone. I thought i would just go and treat myself in M&S. upgrade my meal experience! Just with non upf non ready meals. Actual fruit and veg, meat and fish etc. i was so shocked at the cost that i bought nothing and walked out again. I won’t be back.

I’m not loyal to any one supermarket, I shop around using them all - they all keep increasing the prices and they will put offers on things they need to shift. Sainsbury’s nectar send me offers and more times than not it’s out of stock when I go to purchase because they give everyone the same offer- as mentioned it’s probably something they want to shift. Aldi 5% mince is more expensive than Ocado so that’s where I buy it and it’s nicer .

I’m quite glad for the pause in online shopping. It’s just what I need at the moment.

A fair bit of my food shop is from the Too Good To Go app and I’ve decided I’m not qualified to help M&S recover so no pressure there. I’ll leave it to the likes of Cynic17

Agree @IBelieveinSomething
By any objective standards we would be considered well off. Was in a different town yesterday and had half an hour to kill, thought i would go into the M and S food hall and treat us. I was so shocked at the prices that I didn’t buy a single thing.

It is shocking. People need to eat and we are all told to only have veg , fish , protein , fruit , but most families can’t afford to eat this every single day and the obesity crisis continues. Not sure what the answers are , but with even the more budget stores being expensive where can people shop cheaply but still get the nutrients they need? Cereal used to be reasonable, but that’s gone up in price.
All quite depressing.

Meanwhile their Remarkably Good Value mature cheddar at £2-75 for 350g is cheaper than the Tesco Club Card price for the same weight of the nastiest rankest Cathedral City Red Leicester.

I think the idea of being loyal and supportive to any profit-focused huge business is going to keep causing you disappointment.

I don't think the price increases are only in M&S. Since the pandemic, Brexit and the war in Ukraine everything has got more expensive. The increase I have noticed most in M&S is the clothing.