to think we can come up with good ideas to save M&S

[FleurDelacoeur]

M&S definitely on the skids. Profits down, stores closing, Chief Exec saying radical transformation required. Fairly clear that this has happened because they're not listening to their core market, which I'd wager has a fairly large crossover with the MN demographic. So Steve Rowe, if you're listening, here are a few bullet points.

1. Scrap the Sparks card.
2. Sack your womenswear design team. All of them. Now.
3. Ditch the Per Una brand.
4. Rethink your over generous returns policy.

I think Gap is going as well. Although I have always loved Baby Gap. My son bought some shorts in there a week ago and the colour (pink) ran and ruined a wash.

tall clothes that are properly balanced, so the shoulder to waist is longer, not just longer in length.
T shirts that have actual sleeves, and that are long enough, no-one over the age of 16 wants to show off the gap between a T shirt and jeans.

100% cotton stuff. Stop with fake fabric for shirts, T shirts and cardies. I want cotton tops, not viscose or acrylic

Start selling size 9 and 10 shoes in womens. You make your own, so you could do this more easily than anyone else, it is an untapped market, why don't you tap into it?

Employ kids clothes designers who actually have/like kids 😐 The kids clothes are terrible at the moment, which is a shame since the quality is still okay.

Night shirts which are still decent if you do anything apart from stand up straight, but aren't full length polyester with a yoke.

No more waterfall cardigans, "ditsy" print, lilac or beige.

Well done for the best cup of tea on the high street though, don't stop

The problem is that people have been saying the same things on here and on Gransnet for years. I am in my late sixties and apart from underwear, skinny jeans and basic t-shirts there is nothing I want to wear. The idea that those of us who wore Biba and Mary Quant in the 1960s now want pleated skirts and pastel embroidered cardigans is just ludicrous. They seem to be incapable of listening to any of their customer base.

Agree with everything been said. Someone upthread mentioned funerals - I went to try to buy a suit for DH for a funeral. Nasty cheap polyester stuff. Horrid.

Ours closed down last mpnth. It's a small town, maybe six or seven primary schools, all of which have blue, red or green uniforms. M&S stock lilac summer dresses.

Acres of badly designed, badly made clothes. Children's clothes are horrid.

Even the food, imo, is average.

I'm not sure it's worth saving. It has a lot of goodwill but seems to be determined to ignore those who would be its core customers.

Oh and underwear -
please please sell stuff in pairs that are NOT black and white.

trying to buy for dd, and she liked a sporty crop top, only available in sets of 2, one black one white. Why???? I have never understood this.

She needs then to go under school shirts, she needs 7 white ones, not one single black one.

My underwear drawer is 90% white/beige and 10% black.
I am sure there are others who are the other way round, but I don't get this white/black pairs.

And I am large busted. I do not need adding.
Ever.
At all.
Thanks

I still like my khaki trousers and grainy leather messenger bag.

The latter is a few years old now and has been relegated to a dog-walking accessory, but I have bought similar bags for far more money in the past.

On the subject of Jigsaw. Does anyone know of a plus size store similar? I'm an 18 (medium bum and hips, just chunky 😁) and some of their dresses look amazing and would look amazing on me 😭 but they only go up to a 16

Like everyone else it seems I want them to sell well made classics. If I need a white shirt or a new work suit or a decent t-shirt in a range of colours I want to be able to go in one shop and buy them in one go. Please stick to well made good quality basics none f this “fashion “ rubbish

I am a M&S Premimum card member. Ditch the offshore call centres. When you dealing with a security breach you really don't want people with such a strong accent you can barely understand them. Stop all the IVR and the endless choices to press 1 and 2 etc.

Agree re Sparks. There are some good offers but such a faff to get them onto your card. T- shirts are dire, boxy and square. Mens undies are great as are some of the kids clothes. Why all the plus sizes. I am a 10. They always seem to be overstocked with 18 plus size. Get the staff onto the floor, asking if people need assistance.

Personal Shopper? many times over the last year I have gone online to order say garden furniture and its out of stock. No one knows (or cares!) whether it will come back.

Sort out your cafes. Massive queues and the public are not helping by faffing around. They have self service cakes on display. I have seen kids stick their fingers in the cake or pick up a scone to be told to put it down. Waitress service?

Stop thinking like most big companies that the easiest thing to do is get rid of staff. Its not. Look at John Lewis. They empower their staff to resolve issues and queries. I went into buy one of their most expensive mens suits for DH - think over £600. The young lad wqas clueless. He had an iPAD and showed me a picture. There was nothing on the shop floor even in the wrong size to look at. He told me I could order it but then I would have to queue, check it was in stock, come back to collect and then potentially back again to return.

Sorry, its such a shame its going wrong for them.

Their bra fitting service is terrible. Employ someone senior from Bravissimo/Rigby and Peller to train a hit team. Get some PR to launch this. I am a size 10 but a 30 FF. Almost impossible to get this at M&S. Their underwear dept looks great but I cannot buy anything much because they don't have anything my size.

Just get more staff and more empowered to resolve issues without having to refer to a manager.

My advice would be:
Good Quality Classics, , with a slightly more expensive designer-y range like Autograph. Boden do extremely well out of the GQC market, grab some of that back. Don't try to compete with Next, we have Next already.

Is larger ladies do not always want full briefs. I used to be able to get minis/bikini, my favourite cuts, easily in packet with pretty patterns. Now on the very odd occasion I find them they are only in packs of.black or white. I want pretty pants in a larger size!

Just get more staff and more empowered to resolve issues without having to refer to a manager.

Also train the ones they have and ditch the ones who don't give a toss. M&S is one of the few High Street stores not to flood their stores with kids on minimum wage which looks good in theory. Trouble is, even those who've been there years (inc one in our local store who's been there at least 20 years because I remember her from where she used to work) are clueless and seem incapable of simple things like checking their system for stock to be ordered in. Seems too many staff are just passengers and waiting for redundancy/pension and doing the bare minimum in the meantime.

Go back to selling women's size 9 shoes, sell clothes designed and cut for tall and longer bodies and petite. Classic decent tailoring in shades to flatter different skin tones and in natural fabrics that flatter a range of body types - pear, apple, hour glass etc.

My two pennies worth:

Completely rethink women's wear. You cant appeal to my Nan and my daughter, unfortunately. Choose your audience and cater for them. And produce good quality, reasonably priced basics in colours and fabrics the majority of people would actually wear. No more pink lurex mini dresses alongside velvet curtain dresses.

M&S used to be guaranteed to have an item of clothing - say a pair of black work trousers - in every size going, from 8-20, and also in short/regular/longer length. Its why I relied on them for work wear, even in my trendy 20s. GO BACK TO THAT. IT WORKS.

Sort the merchandising out in your larger stores. Its appalling. Racks and racks of shit, hard to find what you're looking for. TOO MUCH STUFF. Pare it down and help us decipher what's what and where.

Food delivery service. Get the logistics right and that would surely be a winner?

Last week I was in an M&S on Oxford Street and they had a special display in red, white and blue for the Royal wedding.
When paying for a new sports shirt, I asked where I could find the dress that was on display. Staff didn't have a clue.
Now this display consisted of just a few items, it would have been very easy to tell their staff where those pieces were located. Or -even better- move them to near the display.

The changing room that day was not busy at all, yet incredibly messy, but the attendants were busy chatting about their plans for the evening.

Those were also they only staff members I encountered, no one else visible on the shop floor, which is a bit ridiculous in a flagship store.

Signposts in stores? My local M&S is huge but you go in and are immediately stumped as to where anything is. So you wander around aimlessly for a bit, lose the will to live and go into the big Next opposite where there is some order to the store layout. Per Una designs are generally OK but the fabrics are just nasty. Get a grip M&S

I complained a couple of times at the M&S Westfield store about young staff who seemed clueless and had a real attitude problem. The section manager said they were in the best he could get in the Shepherds Bush area and I should have seen the ones they turned down!

Why are our young people turning up their noses at a career in retail?

If they have turned their back on higher education then their choices will be more limited. Aldi are known to pay really well and want young vibrant grads. Come on M&S, stop messing around trying to cut costs by reducing the staff.

Cracking ideas on here.
Recently went to get my mum some bras at M&S, but needed to get her measured. They didn't have a time slot while we were there, so refused to measure her. So, she tried on some bras, asked an assistant for help, who measured her, even though they wouldn't before hand - this policy can do one.
That fucking Sparks card is the worst loyalty card ever. HATE IT with a passion. Godforbid you don't check your offers before buying something - JUST APPLY THE FUCKING OFFERS TO THE CARD, DON'T MAKE ME DO IT!
Loving the capsule collection ideas on here too - and agree, ban the polyester.

I would love to buy socks and nightwear that isn't covered in flowers/sheep/bees/clouds or some other infantile design.

They need to take a look at what uniqlo is doing, great quality basics in a range of colours that wash well. Even Gap isn't reliable for that now.

I had a Poetry catalogue delivered today. Way out of my price league, mostly linen Inc knitted linen
Style wise think Judi Dench. So the sort of clothes that suit their core customers (older women. I really struggle to find anything in there)
I'm not suggesting the fabrics but the designs were just classic and classy and could be copied. That's what I want to see. No neon colours and no frills. I agree completely with the OP.

I think the person who said that you cannot appeal to my kids and my Nan has something especially around women's wear but I don't think you can beat the men's underwear. My trendy DS has the microskin boxers in small. Yet there are y fronts (probably the most unsexy garment even known) which do have an appeal to a certain generation. That works across the ages. Ditto the ladies lingerie (although the lack of 30in back is frustrating but maybe that is just me).

Make your staff care. If you look after your employees they will look after your customers

Whoever thought bright organge trackies in size 20 would be brought by anyone?

Sorry - but they were hideous in all sizes

Oh and menswear.
There is nothing there for the older, no longer as slim as he once was, man. Especially if he's short. And nowhere else caters either, especially if you don't want polyester