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 haven't read all of the thread but why are all their basic tops' bodies and sleeves so short? I'm only 5ft4 but I don't want tops that end at my jeans waistband. Give me overlap! Also, long sleeved does not mean "ends above wristbone".

Sleeve lengths.

Some halfway point between orangutan long and none please.

More three quarter or half length sleeves.

I have short arms. I have bingo wings.

I don't want sleeveless or capped sleeves to show off my wings and I don't want long sleeves to hide my fingers.

More intermediate length sleeves please.

There are some lovely tops, but I have to leave them behind as the sleeves are either ridiculously long (frilled, bell, slashed etc) or nonexistent.

Nude knickers in COTTON
Not modal or viscose
Nude is a great colour for underwear as it doesn't 'show' when wearing light coloured clothing.

It's not rocket science.

l've worn their low rise cotton garter string thongs for years. Some of the ones l've got, l've had for years. Excellent quality, and they wash amazingly well. l thought they'd stopped making them because l could never find them instore.
Til by chance l was looking on their website, and lo and behold, there they were! BUT... as one previous poster said, the multipacks aren't all one colour. There are five pairs in there, a mixture of black, white and skintone. l'd rather be able to buy packs of all one colour.
l worked at M & S briefly six years ago. Even then, when l was working on the changing room counter, l had one lady come up to me, she was shopping with her mum, and she said that "it's all for younger women". To be honest l don't know what she was looking at, because 99.9% of it, l wouldn't have been seen dead in. And l'm 60 this year. They need to stop faffing about trying to be trendy and get back to the decent, good quality basics, in a good selection of colours, like they used to years ago. That's why it's all gone pear shaped.

Another tired of "modal" and "viscose" and polyester-mix. I'd like some more cotton and wool. I'd pay more for decent quality e.g. decent quality leggings (fine rather than rough cotton).

Also the short tops someone mentioned - some women are over 5 ft 2 inches!

I've always had a soft spot for M&S - I like the way their stores are set out - so something can catch your eye easily etc. I bought a beautiful coat there last year - would not have been able to get something similar elsewhere for the price.

But this summer has been fairly dire at M&S. I don't really like the small little stores (Gap etc) but am shopping there more and more. Bought 2 lovely cardies in Gap in their sale - quality way above M&S.

Sparks card does my head in and annoys me every time I'm asked for it . Its like they think we're fools and don't notice we get nothing for giving them all our buying habit information.

The food is still good - fruit and nuts and veg and cheese etc.

To be honest I think the clothing market is so crowded now its hard to see how M&S can remain in its present form - its not easy to try and please everyone.

They had racks and racks of sale clothing in my local M & S recently. This is a flagship store and for the first time they arranged it by colour rather than size or sub brand. It was great and I picked up some pieces that I wouldn't normally have considered to be honest it was a bit of a revalation

Having not bought anything from M&S for a long time I found out last week there is still the odd gem. The Cotton Rich Striped Tunic midi dress is fantastic. Classic timeless design and thick cotton (97%). Washes so well too. £29.50 but it’s good

They should sack their design team and either go for cheap basics or ( and this would be much better) a smaller selection of clothes in good quality natural materials . Their cashmere is often lovely for eg but still spoiled by frumpy designs. Pick a target group and stick to it . Basically go back to being a store that has a real identity again .
I love their food though but agree they should do online delivery .

I’ve noticed that their cashmere is much thinner and not as soft as it used to be.

Went in yesterday to buy knickers. Walked out and went to Tesco. I just want proper knickers that are made of a reasonable cotton fabric and cover my arse.

Stop making horrible trendy clothing for older girls.
The baby/younger stuff is great. Older stuff is grim.
They should look to Lands Ends for ideas.

It would be nice to see M&S doing better. The clothing used to be basics in a range of sizes; black stretchy work trousers in short, medium, long. A range of tops with buttons / cowl / V neck that were all basic and good. Gap but smarter. Now I still struggle to find basics; but they should stick to basics only until they're in profit.

The food is great, but our local shop is always running out of standard stuff because there isn't enough space for the stock they need; I couldn't buy tomatoes on three different visits so that's a problem. The hot food for work lunch looks good, but there's too big a range for it to be easily profitable; just do the basics well.

Also the layout of shops can be challenging; I forgot to look in.M&S for baby clothes and although I ended up getting some great bits online I couldn't tell you where it is in the shop to look now even though I actually want to see their range. I tried their parents room and it's a glorified disabled toilet that smells, so that could be improved too.

The men's basics needs looking at as well. I couldn't find a cotton v-neck black jumper in last autumn's collection, only wool or round neck.

@Eggzandbacon I agree. I have dds 5 and 8 I can't shop for dd1 in there any more which is a shame as we have had beautiful clothes from marks over the years it used to be a yearly ritual getting the marks party dress

Queen I LOVED their younger stuff - so many nice fabrics, classic designs.
I get nicer things in Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s seem to have really got the kids market sussed.

Yup, kids here too. About 2 t shirt designs in my local m+s for 9ur old ds. Loads for girls.
Another one wanting to pay more for decent design classics not fads!

I hardly ever go in M&S. I cook most of my own stuff and it seems that Marksies is for buying fancy stuff and chucking it in the oven. I wouldn't buy wine there. The underwear is awful, the clothes are awful and the accessories are frumpy. Once in a blue moon I will look at the shoes and I did buy a pair there in the summer half the price to something very similar in Mint Velvet. They need to do less things better.

Thanks for resurrecting this 6 month old thread to tell us where you won't shop.

Nakedavenger74 this thread appeared in my trending box and when I looked at it Nearlyhaveahouse 's comment was the most recent one, so for some reason MN's trending algorithm resurrected the thread, not SilkenTofu. I almost commented on it myself until I realised it was a glitch of some sort.

The quality of some of their cheaper coats was appalling this year.
I was gobsmacked that they got through M& S quality control.
They were about €80/ €90 so not expensive for a coat but the fabric was awful.
They don't do nude midi knickers in cotton so I've jumped ship to Debenhams. But I'd prefer M&S ones which do come in black and white but not nude colour.

I'd like to see them do a range similar top H&M basic range for women, but slightly better quality, slightly more expensive i accept, and in a wider range of colours .. so a basic Tshirt dress, top, tunic, etc.

They need to decide what age range they are targeting.

Get rid of all the frills.

The question that keeps getting repeated is "Why don't they listen?" Could it be as they have never had a female CEO? I often see the 'men in suits' strutting about in various branches, never the 'women in suits'.

Get your sizing right. I love M&S sales and there are tons and tons of size 22s while the average size 12 - 14 are always out of stock really fast.

And yes Sparks is a useless piece of shit of a card.

1.Divide the clothes into sub-brands. No 30 year old wants to shop at the same section as a 70 year old. I thought that Per Una was supposed to be for younger women and Classics for older but they are both really jumbled up.

1. M&S Kidswear should be split 0-3 years old, 3-11 years old and 11-16 years old. It's great that the teens go up to 16 but loads of the pyjama ranges are 1-16 years old which is illogical. 3 year old in dinosaur pjs is cute, teens aren't going to wear them though! If M&S want teen customers then they need to stock other brands (like Next) It might be worth the only stocking nightwear and school clothes after age 11. I'd be surprised if they sell much out of those categories.

Please make sure school uniform is available all year round. We don't just buy it in the summer holidays! Children grow faster than expected, people move house ...

What is the point of your Sparks card? I don't get vouchers anymore . Can't you have a reward scheme like other shops ?

The food is lush. Especially gluten free range. Could do with more lactose free products, i.e cheese, yoghurts, and much more vegetarian products.

More attractive bras in bigger sizes, including non padded ones please! We don't necessarily want to look even bigger ...

I haven't bought clothes in m&s for years apart from jeggings ... tops are too fussy - I'm not my mum!