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.

Someone should post this thread onto their Twitter page!

But honestly some of the girls' clothes are ok but recently gone a bit inappropriate (too grown up looking) for tweenagers and under. I've not bought a single piece of clothing from marks for myself, except pjs and knickers for a long time. I agree good quality staples - silk camis, shirts in natural materials and well fitting and cut jeans and trousers. Flattering simple summer dresses. And if they sorted their bras out they'd make loads of cash. I'm a 32g and tried one of their 32g bras on a while back to remind myself how bad they were. Oh my god!!!! Barely covered my nipples and had 72 extra boobs. I actually knew someone who was a buyer for their underwear department a while ago. I told her all this. She said everyone said the same!! It still hasn't improved though....

Surf I wouldn't hold Whole Foods up as a model. Ridiculously expensive. Ours closed last year.

I would be very sad to see Per Una go as for the past ten years it has been a source of constant amusement to me and my friends. Some of my favourite photos are taken from the inside of an M&S changing room with a 'would you fucking look at THIS!' caption. However, as to my knowledge none of us has actually bought anything in that time, financially it's probably a wise decision to scrap it. Thanks for the laughs though.

I used to love the Autograph range for work clothes. Lined wool suits at a reasonable price. Gone, gone, gone. Please do that range better. I would probably buy my entire work wardrobe there if you did.

Plain T shirts and vest tops in Fairtrade cotton. In sensible cuts with different necklines/sleeve lengths etc. Bring them back. And YY to the PP who keeps finding pointless detailing on otherwise nice clothes. The ruffles and sequins used to be confined to Per Una but no longer.

I don't have a Sparks card. They sound insane. Have a proper loyalty card.

Agree on children's clothes. There is a giant gap in the market (which John Lewis is partly filling to be fair) for classic, sensible clothes for girls 6+. I also have a tall girl and spend a lot of time trying to find her clothes that are made of decent fabric, good for running about, not covered in sequins or cut out bits etc.

Ooh also - they used to do really lovely candles and hand washes, now they smell vile.

There was a 'fresh cut grass' hand wash I used to love when I was at university but it was discontinued

There was a lovely floral candle that I adored but it was discontinued

They used to do lovely wool 'cricket' jumpers that were an amazing cut but not anymore

Hey @MNHQ - why don't you see about getting some head honcho from M&S to do a webchat thing on here, so we can all tell them that we all really WANT to shop with them, and here's what they need to do to get us back?

Make your tops longer! I hate them up my back when i bend over.

I've thought of another lost sale. Same big new store in Banbury.

I went in for 40 denier tights. I wanted black and navy and fancied maybe a nice wine colour or dark green or something. Not too much to ask in winter surely? Hmm.

They had black or navy in 40d but not in Large.
They had Large in black and navy but not in 40d.
Nice colours were in multi packs with grungy grey.

I went to Waitrose and got them in there instead.

Again - this store is huge.

Definitely bring back quality and durability.. plain well cut classic style.. t shirts, neat wool cardigans, skirts, etc. I traipse around shops looking for what I want, thinking at least Marks will have it but nope. End up shopping online.

Train your staff to help. For e.g. For my sister's funeral, we had to buy my teenage son a suit. Had no idea of his size, we were backwards and forwards to changing rooms with 2 staff stood around doing little at changing room. Other staff walked by us in aisle. It was obvious we had no idea what we were doing, picking up jackets 4 sizes too big for him.... He kept coming out of changing room saying does this fit?, I don't know mum and I was saying ooh i don't know either..what size shall I get then? ...
Not once did the trendy young men manning the changing rooms offer to help. I ended up having to beg one staff member to give us some guidance, he was ok but not overly keen to help, but eventually we bought a nice suit... (We spent over £300 that day in m&s on my son's shoes, shirt, tie, suit etc..) m&S staff used to be so helpful)

Natural fabrics (and as much Made In Britain as they can)
Wardrobe staples, simple cuts, all hung together
Less 'choice', but more sizes
Properly trained bra fitters (can vary so much from store to store).

Shatners I meant more in terms of store layout and design - they're a delight to shop in (I agree the prices are ridiculous)

Yy to getting rid of sparks card and bring back the simple cafe loyalty card where you get a free drink after every 6 paid drinks.

The trouble with M&S is that it is M&S. It has a place in the nation's hearts but it has had it's day and good food and knickers don't seem able to change that. Brands come and go in retailing, they always have that's the nature of it.

Look at a colour chart and find NAVY BLUE.

Then use it properly for the shirts and cardigans.

Stop treating Boys as an after thought, their Parents have money to spend on them looking nice just like the girls parents do

Good basics in all stores. Things that my local (smaller M&S) hasn't had when I wanted them:
black leggings
a black cardigan
cotton vests
a dressing gown to fit my grandma

Totally agree the clothes are rubbish. I have not bought anything there for years.

I think they need to accept they can't do patterns or colours. The patterns are always horrible and they seem to choose the harshest shades of colours possible - tip no-one wants fuchsia or bight green!

The high street is desperately missing a really classic range of women's clothes with one eye on workwear. So excellent quality cotton shirts shaped and with darts so they actually fit women and don't gape over the bust or have tons of material to tuck in. Make them long enough.

Well cut women's trousers and skirts in neutrals, again actually shaped to fit and flatter your average woman with boobs and a bum. Get the lengths right too. Lined dresses for work in neutral shades with short sleeves. Proper fitted T shirts instead of the ubiquitous M&S sack which flatters no-one. Proper woollen neutral coloured cardigans in various lengths. Use natural fabrics as much as possible and burn anything made of polyester crepe.

Their aim should be that everyone has a few items of M&S ladies wear in their wardrobes as the staples.

Oh and lose the M&S high rounded neckline - the most unflattering neckline known to womenkind and found on 90% of their outfits.

TBH I think they need to sit down with a section of real women and their designers and really work on the practicalities and on achieving a flattering look that is not aspiring to be teen fashion or have silly cheap looking frills. I think they have committed the cardinal sin of retail by not knowing their customer.

Totally agree with you regarding the clothing range. It’s pants. Actually the underwear is fine. It is the ridiculous amount of tops with daft frills on them. I like the food and wouldn’t mind seeing our local expand their food hall. Never really got the point of the Sparks card, so yes dump that.

I should be a typical m n s shopper but shop there less and less
Natural fabrics are a big must for me
Leather shoes - too many wide fit ranges - what about those of us with narrow feet
T shirts that don’t shrink
Look at brands like jaeger Hobbs whistles and do similar to their basics but cheaper
I still buy most of my underwear at m n s but ignore their sizing and avoid bra fitters
I do buy some food but mostly just slightly too expensive
Homewear only when on an offer
Ditch sparks card - you can only get me to allow you to track my spending if there’s enough incentive for me

I think one of the main things M&S fails to grasp about their attempts at high fashion is that such things need to be individual. Going back to the legendary fuchsia pink frilly dress ... IF by some chance that had been a hit, it would have totally negated its own point.

Who on earth wants to wear something SO 'individual' and stand-out, and yet run the chance that they could turn up at a wedding and see three other people in the same thing. Items like that need to stay within smaller stores with a niche market.

Oh and the website, dear God. If they could start by having any one pair of trousers actually meet the model's ankles, that would be good.

And not just M&S here, it seems a universal struggle - PLEASE make the perfect white t-shirt, with different necklines to suit different people, in nice cotton with a bit of drape and some shape to it. After you've done the white one, you can branch out in to some other colours. I would buy 10 a year. Everything I see in M&S now either looks like it was designed for a dustman, or has the usual embellishments.

Go back to the old leg lengths - regular used to be an inch shorter ie fits 5 ft 3 person - I hate turning up trousers

I would back a capsule basics wardrobe.

Black trousers - dear God how many do they have and in how many awful materials. I am larger and struggle to find my size in stock EVER I end up finding what I like having to order several pairs and pay up front, try on and take what I want - not a pleasant shopping experience

Make the classics younger in style - just cos you are over 60 doesn't mean you want to look 80

One colour knicker packs please I don't want the awful nude ones

Bring back more cotton in bras please

Might just be a personal thing but my advice would be, don't make and display the same cardigan / t-shirt / vest in EVERY colour under the sun. It just makes it look cheap. People want to buy things that don't look mass produced, and it makes M and S look like Primark (even if the cardis do contain cashmere).

They do have some good things— I bought a pair of light cotton khaki trousers a month ago, lovely colour and texture. Huge waist, of course, though!

And the skincare is great

Sort the sizing and lengths out - they're all over the place.
Ditch the Sparks card or simplify it: All those silly offers lasting a week on specifics like kiwi fruits and sourdough bread rolls are pointless and annoying.
If something works well, people are giving it good reviews it and keep buying it, don't bloody change it or discontinue it! (thinking of the basic leggings and petite straight jeans)

I’m struggling at the moment to find a black lightweight linen cardigan - have bought similar in m n s before - nothing any more
Lightweight black ankle grazers (ended up buying from John Lewis)
Good quality black t shirt (bought in tkmaxx in end)

There was a good comment on FB about their hideous summer dress - M&S should start designing and selling for the customer base they have rather than the customer base they want.

I'm a middle aged woman - I have money to spend - I don't want to see Alexa Chung designed/inspired fashion or polyester pink monstrosities. I want stylish, British made, natural fabric clothing. I'm even prepared to pay a bit more for it as I can't get that anywhere else.

Yes to basics. Every year I try to buy plain cotton sweatshirts, jumpers, cardigans etc in nice colours but struggle to find one without stupid glitter, frills, embroidery.

Kids’ clothes used to be great but the same thing has happened to them. Ditch all ‘character’ clothing. Same for bedding. In fact forget trying to do bedding as it’s mostly polycotton and horrible.

Do plain leather handbags not plastic.

A few years ago I bought some lovely kids pull on leather boots in grey for my 9 year old and navy for my 4 year old. Beautiful. I went back and bought them both a red pair too. Everyone I know asked where they were from and I could have sold 100 pairs to friends alone. I would buy 4 pairs a year. Did I see them again in store? No but they had some glitter boots...

Workwear used to be great and I would spend thousands a year if they did well made shift/bodycon LINED knee or just below knee dresses in good fabric and plain colours. And plain jackets to match. Not brass buttons or stuff that looks like you’re on the front of the sergeant pepper’s album.

I still go back as I keep thinking they’ll stop the frilly crap but every year it gets harder.

Hobbs is a bit pricey, next is naff but M&S could do amazing workwear if they tried.

Simple classics in natural fibres and a range of colours.

I don't want embroidery or sparkly bits on my jeans. I just want them to fit well.