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.

they could do to do some plus size actually like occasionwear, i reckon it would be quite good. And Y,Y the bra measurers tie their hands together!

Yes staydazzling quality plus size. I’m a size 18 and have bought several nice things from Live Unlimited recently. They sell through Next or online with free next day delivery. Everything I’ve had has been complimented by several people. A small plus size collection like that would sell well imo.
The men’s big and tall has some nice things but not stocked in store. Dh was in London on business and urgently needed some chinos ( had forgotten to pack them) went to m and s Marble Arch no they don’t stock any big and tall. So went to jacamo who did. He actually liked the jacamo ones better so buys them now not the m & s he used to buy.

i agree i think if they put theyre heart into it could be really good.

They need expand their range of sizes. I am tall AND fat, but according to M&S I can only be one or the other.

I used to, as a Friday treat, buy the M and S very large Madagascan style prawns for £7.50 for twelve. I went to buy them yesterday and the same pack was £15. That has to be some sort of a joke. They are £7.99 in Waitrose.

And to all the above posters who write about M and S clothes being for the over 60’s. I am 62 and have not bought clothes in M andS for years as they are so frumpy. I would pay for quality or classics but the store doesn’t do either of them any more.

The clothes are awful - the quality of the fabrics is dreadful, and don't get me started on those silly bell shaped sleeves from last season. This season is some voluminous blue striped shirt waster that looks like I'm in an older sisters outfit it's so huge and long (I'm under 5ft 2) so MandS petite would be great.

Dreadful colours, very acidic lime green sweater - I like lime but this misses the mark by a country mile.

Better quality fabrics, pure wool navy blue slim trousers with classic white shirt, skirt, sweater in same range. And whilst I'm about it, FAR TOO MANY RANGES for women's clothes. I counted around 9 at the last count.

Fewer ranges, far better quality - current design team need the push.
they've got absolutely no idea.

Tbf those bell shape sleeves were everywhere not just M&s

Have to agree with Senua - the Alexa Chung stuff was dreadful. If you weigh 6 stone wet through then these were the clothes for you, but otherwise, shocking.

They sent me an email about two years ago about their website after I spent well over an hour trying to buy a pair of trousers - the website kept failing - I told them it wasn't fit for purpose but it's really not much better 2 years later. Obviously they took absolutely no notice.

Hate all the unexpected glitter, frills, bows and those bloody silly bell shaped sleeves that seemed to be on everything last season. Design team haven't got a clue. Why not open it up to competition to the public to send in what they want to see in the store?

Love minimal chic in great fabrics and colours - not the hideous colours of some of the ranges - who wears mustard and sludge Green nowadays?

On plus side as I'm small I appreciate their trousers come in graded lengths, short is just about right on me but fabrics can be dreadful.

Unless MandS start listening to their core customers they will vanish from the High Street - so they'll probably take absolutely no notice

The clothes are all over embellished and fussy but I wouldn't say they were any worse than Next offers I would rather be able to buy good quality, long enough basics from both shops rather than the sea of over embellished polyester and viscose

It's interesting that all of the drama is about them not having made as much profit. They have not actually made a loss or anywhere near a loss. How about the people who get the profit accept less profit?????

And sack the womenswear design team. It is dreadful. Rails of styleless tat in some truly awful colours that flatter no one.

Food prices need to be reduced. Their competition is because of price not quality. Again it is about profit margins.

They don't seem to do good basics anymore.

I don't want to follow the latest fashions, such as 'cold shoulders,' dippy hemlines, daft ruffles.

In the underwear department I want good plain smooth fabrics, preferably pastel, not brightly coloured bumpy lace.

I think another area they could do really well in is having varying width fittings in school shoes and have people in-store to help.

I popped in the other day to look at school shoes for DD who starts in September. I used their foot gague and she measured as extra wide but they only do standard width shoes. Why???

They were £26 so less than Clarks but still not cheap. If they could add a bit of service to their offering (and charge a bit more of need be) they would clean up when starteite shoes are circa £50. If your child has wide feet you have no choice but so spend that.

I'm pretty sure if they got people through the doors for school shoes many would get the rest of the uniform whilst they are there.

I think Marks could build a niche as an environmentally responsible retailer. Boldly be the first zero plastic chain. Even selling dried goods by weight, etc. They have form for environmental responsibility and it's such a big topic right now that lots of consumers are interested in. They also do lovely children's clothes because they focus on good basics. They need to do the same for adults. No man made fibres- which also plays well into the environmental aspect. You can justify higher prices for decent wool and cotton basics. And basic workwear too. Basically just recognise that they will never be fashionable so don't bother. Focus on high quality basics and they'll always have a market. Things I would naturally choose marks for: tights, underwear, bras, work shoes, shirts, cardigans, swimwear, work dresses. But I won't right now because their clothes are not plain enough / high enough quality for the price and every time I find my perfect tights or work shoes they fucking discontinue them.

Things I make a special trip to M&S to get, despite bitter experience and knowing it'll turn into a wild goose chase:

-Decent quality plain cotton bikini briefs. Except the thickness of the fabric is now half that it used to be and it's easy to put your finger through them when pulling up. The cut is also skimpier than it was five years ago - I'm comparing with old pants I have. M&S used to be thought as the flagship place to go for quality underwear but it certainly doesn't deliver any more.

-tights. I like the thick marled cotton ones for winter, and also their woollen tights. But I very rarely find the magic combination of right size/style/colour. It's maddening.

-school uniform items. Hard to find the right size of trousers you need, presumably because demand is so high.

-Men's trousers. DH is happy with their classic-but-not-Old-Fart styles, like moleskin. Can usually find what he wants. Men's traditional pjs also good quality still, also their woollen socks. Men's stuff in general seems not to have suffered the attrition in quality that the women's essentials have.

-Good quality, thicker denim straight legged jeans. For preference, Roma. Except ... I can't remember the last time I was in an M&S and managed to find that golden combination of correct size, length, style and dye colour.

Stuff I really hate about going into an M&S:

-the cluttered layout. Agree with the posters who say it's madness to have basics, eg a black skirt, in half a dozen different locations in such a large store. If you came in to look for a basic staple you could easily spend 45 minutes trawling before you were happy you'd seen all options.

-DENIM ZONE. It's a fucking war zone. Heaps of jeans piled up on the floor or slung over rails, no tidying by staff, and worst of all, jeans apparently randomly placed on hangers, so the hanger size bears no resemblance to the label inside. It's infuriating to think you've stuck lucky in your size, only to check the label and see you have an armful of random sizes and lengths.

-Per Una. Just, no. Maybe back in 90's when I was a student there were a few things that were ok. Tops mostly. I like to play the Per Una game in charity shops actually. See how far away I can be and still be able to pick out the Per Una piece on the rail. Extraneous slabs of luridly dyed lace, excess frills or diagonal skirt panels are a dead giveaway. I can't believe they think they have a USP here, or that a team gets paid to design this crap.

-Clutter and scale of most stores. You have to trawl all over to find all the options of, say, a pair of plain trousers, or a black t shirt. Too much stuff spread over too large a space.

-bra fitting 'service' - completely inadequate. Before I stopped using them, I went to some decent underwear places like Rigby and Peller and Bravissimo, and went down two back sizes and up two cup sizes. Have never been back - at least, not to be fitted. M&S bras are not usually to my taste now, though I like their non-wired crop top styles.

-why do they stock a tiny and pointless range of toys, ffs? Or a handful of books? Clearly they're trying to be a one-stop shop for gifts but they can't do everything.

Agree that they need to focus on quality basics. But their stores are too big for 'just' selling quality basics.
M&S stores generally have a large square footage and so their designers must have to design 200+ trouser options for example. I imagine they get to 20 styles and then just have to come up with anything to fill the other 180! Hence the poor designs.
Only solution is to move to smaller sites, make stores look boutiquey and focus on small quality basic range, with food and a few key home items. Days of large chain store selling 'something to suit everyone' (but actually does the reverse) are long gone.

I wish they could design G cup bras that are actually sexy!!
Also the bras at present are poor quality- they last about 3 months before the wires poke through!
This has happened 3 times to me now & luckily they give my money back even without a receipt.

I wear the slim fit navy trousers to work as an HCA & also their black Footglove Dolly shoes are very comfortable for 8 hours on my feet & look good.
I buy their nightwear.

I don't like per una or any of the other clothes. Too frumpy. The 'fashion' clothes are a bit weird, too many midi dresses which I'm too short for.

My dad likes the men's clothes.

But my mum rarely finds anything in M&S & she's 69.

Surely there must be some decent designers who don't subscribe to the idea that women of 50+ must either look like mutton dressed as lamb or just frumpy.

I wish to God that the late Jean Muir was still alive.

Oh, and quality please - a lot of the clothes are little better than Car Boor Sale standard!

I'm a size 22-24 and that seems to be a problem for M&S.

I usually buy from the standard ranges, but the bigger sizes sell out in minutes and they never seem to be restocked. There are a lot of women my size - stop ignoring us.

I just want to buy good quality basics: plain linen trousers, long cotton t shirts, plain cardigans and jumpers, a nice jacket, maybe a couple of maxi skirts or dresses. Not too much to ask is it?

What we get instead are linen trousers that look as though a paint factory has exploded (and no bigger sizes), t shirts that change shape (to look like a sack) when first washed, cheap nasty looking cardigans that aren't actually cheap, maybe one or two maxi dresses but hideous flowery patterns. And everything has some horrible 'embellishment' on it.

So I turn hopefully to the plus size clothes. Er, no. The new Curve range is SO BAD. I cannot emphasis enough how terrible it is. Awful quality, thin, synthetic fabric, everything is huge and baggy and shapeless, no style at all. If I wanted a tent I'd go to Evans. And it's incredibly expensive.

All I've bought for this summer is one pair of navy linen trousers that I managed to snap up before they sold out. If they'd been in stock I'd have bought 3 or 4 pairs in different plain colours.

After years of disappointment I'm now buying clothes from Seasalt, Boden and John Lewis. They're not cheap but the quality is massively better and there's a bit of style.

And start doing home delivery on the food. Everywhere else manages it. Just do it.

Bring back the Indigo Range. I loved it all, especially the shoes.
Stop doing school uniform 25% offers in bloody May and June, when we all know our DCs will grow about a foot taller in the summer holidays and all the stuff we've bought is now a) too small and b) out of returns date
and breathe

I would rather the home section was bigger in the stores, with more furniture on show, a bit like Next and John Lewis have in their stores, Very few stores have the furniture now in store.

Also my local store never seems to have the long length in stock

Only solution is to move to smaller sites

We have a small one and it's pathetic. Just not worth the shoe leather to walk around it. They have only a fraction of the range and in those, they only have the most popular/average sizes. My OH needs waist 44 trousers and 18 shirts - our local store simply don't stock anything in those sizes, not a single item from any range. Perhaps the larger stores are too big, but likewise the smaller ones are too small. I get fed up seeing things I like in their advertisements and looking online only to go into the store and they're just not there.

everything fussy or faffed with.where is the basic pjs.tops.plain shirts.skirts and trousers.its all labeld or embellished.or somehow for some reason so bloody expensive.
and its all layed out to fit how they want to sell as outfits.so you cant just find jeans without having to search in every "area" and label. every area has its own item of clothing to make you go in each but its not workedhow they planned and just frustrates me.

So marrying the suggestions of pacer, Lucien and daisy - stock fewer designs, and stock sizes 6 through 26 out on the rails. Group all similar clothes together - all the trousers in one place, all the tops in one place, all the knitwear in one place. Have only a couple of styles but a wide range of colours, materials and sizes a la Uniqlo.

Cut the clothes to fit British women and show the photos on the website on a catalogue model so that the average woman can see how a dress or a top might look on someone like them. Everyone is complaining about sizing and tops being too short when you try them on, well this model is listed as 5'10" wearing a size 8. This one is 5'9" wearing an 8. Both of them appear to have tops that are about as long as I would want, but as a 5'6" size 12 with 34G tits I just know that top is going to be too short. If you want to sell over the internet you have to make sure your customers have an idea of what the clothes are going to look like on a slightly more average model.

Sounds like M&S don’t try their tops on women with larger busts. But surely they know what size busts their customers have from the bras they sell?
Whoops! No, they don’t because they think we have all have broader backs and smaller breasts because if they way they measure.....