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.

Natural materials
Excellent quality
Range of attractive H cup bras with matching knickers
Simple staples
Decide on a shade and then stick to it. A navy cardigan should match navy trousers.
Food deliveries
Overhaul Sparks. Make it have some value
Make the website clear, easy to navigate, good filters
The customer service is generally good in M&S, make it excellent again
Nightwear is either frumpy or skimpy. Something attractive and comfortable would be very welcome
Make your stores easy to navigate. Put knitwear in one place, trousers in another.
The accessories (particularly jewellery) looks a mess and I'll-thought out

bras.

please, no padding for large sizes
please far more large cup sizes (in fact get your bra measuring and sizing sorted)
please sell bras in colours that don't show through clothes, at 50 and large I don't need a bright red bra under my clothes, I want lots of everyday bras in nice styles to chose from, in wearable colours.

Sack the design and buyer team!

Amen to that. Employ women over 30.. and listen

Smooth bras that don't make you look like your breasts are made of rice pudding.

They should ditch Per Una. I don’t know much about fashion but even I can see it’s a travesty. Many of their shoes are really ugly too. Good things are their ladies underwear, food and primary school uniforms. Neither my husband or teenage son will let me buy them anything out of M&S. It is deeply uncool!

Classic pieces, made to last.

Like a few previous posters have said, I look every winter for some nice cardigans. For years now, they’ve all had weird brass-effect buttons, or lace features on the back. I just want a few simple cardigans to wear to work!

The children’s section (for my toddler anyway) is good, but mostly overpriced. It has the odd gem though- I got him 2 pairs of joggers in there last week for £9.50, which was cheaper than Tesco.

100% COTTON bikini knickers in 5 packs. None of this elastane/Lycra mix shite. I agree also, I want 5 pairs of black, not 2 black, 1 white, 1 nude and 2 random firework pattern.

Why can’t I order office lunch stuff of salads for collection in fewer than 5 days? I collect it from bloody Marble Arch store. There’s 50 salads RIGHT THERE on the deli counter, not to mention all the sushi, but I have to walk around the store and pick it all up, and then pay for it, separately to my actual food order of sandwiche platters. Grrr.

Basic good quality cardigans and tshirts in 25 colours.

Stupid Sparks card is pointless. We’re loyal customers, so reward us if we keep coming. See Boots for reference.

Oh that’s interesting @gardengeek. I’ve had a pan and a knife from M&S, but they were both atrocious. I do have some lovely bed sheets and towels from there though.

Online food shopping

Agree with those that say classic pieces and natural materials.
Enough with the Polyester mixes, i can get that in Peacocks (if i wanted it)..

Stop splitting your shop floor up into wanky brands. I went in to look for a pair of jeans. Ended up having to traipse around Limited, Autograph, Per Una and even Classic searching out denim. In the end they only had sizes 18 and 22 in the style that was the least worst. Eventually bought a pair online and tbf they are great.

Shrink, Simplify and Stock

You can sum it up in those three words!

Right I can sum up where M and S is going wrong.... I am a massive uniqlo fan for basics.... the pictures I have attached 2 similar jumpers both costing £40. The black viscose one is m and s. The blue one is from uniqlo ( and has now sold out).
Both seem to be going for the same vibe but the uniqlo one looks a lot better on the model... is cotton and it's fit gets great reviews. THe uniqlo one comes in different colours- yellow blue grey and black. The M and S one is black only. . The M and S one seems almost unanimously to be too short in the body ( as we keep telling them)! I'm not sure how they keep getting basic stuff like nice fabrics and a good fit so wrong. The pictures on the m and s website are mostly dire!

I want to love m and s I really do- I worked there in the 90's and for a while it was my go to place for smart sixth form/ interview clothes. T shirts were thick and washed well. skirts were lined and well made! You could get different lengths and everything fitted. I sometimes go into the beauty section and something will catch my eye but I'll get closer and it will be hideous fabric or have a random asymmetric hem or a ruffle or crazy buttons! I don't mind paying more than primark prices but not for poor quality clothes!

YY @medicinal! I find that so annoying too. It’s all M&S! Why all the different sections?

( Apologies I missed from my rant that the M and S one is viscose and the uniqlo one 100% cotton)

Hire some people with young children to at least look at the designs you come up with for children. Cardigans with full-length funnel sleeves? For 4 year olds? Are you quite, quite mad? Have you considered exactly how much yoghurt / baked bean juice / ketchup / hummus / all 4 of these will be encrusted on them with within one meal time? I popped into M&S the other month needing a kid's cardigan - any cardigan - and if I hadn't found one on the sale rail from the previous winter collection would have left empty-handed.

Bring back those triangle crisps!

Tbh posters on mumsnet have pointed out improvements to M & S frequently, but they have taken any notice, and often slagged them off re the awful clothes, I don’t think they will take any notice now, sadly!

They need to fire their buyers, some of the clothes are bloody awful looking and when you see something that looks nice it is made of dreadful fabic.
Stick to the basics
Make them of lovely natural fabrics.
Make quality clothes again, like they used to when they were made in UK and my Mum worked in one of their factories.
Get rid of all the nylon knickers and make some nice cotton ones.

And the middle market for workwear is yours if you want it. Trouser / skirt suits which are not navy or grey but could be worn by your senior management (all workwear sections in all shops seem to assume a junior role).

Ribbed tops for wear under suits which don't require ironing, of a generous length (no one is going to buy a work top which they think is even slightly likely to reveal their navel).

Non-iron shirts which aren't skimping on fabric and don't cut under the armpit (I have pretty slim arms and this often happens, it's ridiculous).

Work shoes with a medium / block heel which will look good in a trouser suit (not mum boots).

anon YES I totally get that jumper comparison.
You can instantly tell from that photo that the m&s one is far too short, the shoulders too big, the weird sleeves will sag round the elbows and you’ll be forever pulling it down and wishing you’d worn a vest. There will also be 95 other versions of it dotted around their other shitty brands. Nasty.

Urgh and it’s viscose. So you can work up a sweat while pulling it down, adjusting the top-big shoulders, wondering where your elbows should be and scratching. That jumper is giving me anxiety and I don’t even own it.

What is the point of the Sparks card? It seems to me to be utterly, errr pointless....
The qislity of their clothing has declined. For example, their knickers seem to fall apart after not many washes - trims fray and come detached.
The designs of much of their clothing is poor, doesn’t seem to really suit anyone. I find the trousers and skirt lengths either way too long or way too short. The tops are either waist length or too boxy for someone like me who is short and fat. What’s wrong with wanting a slightly fitted top that hides my bottom?
Sell more bras in a wider variety of cup and back sizes. We girls come in all sizes, you know!