I used to like M&S but I'm not surprised they are struggling to sell womens clothes, WARNING MAY BE UPSETTING

[Behooven]

Says it all...

PatricianOfAnkh I used to be 'in fashion' and that complaint about shops stocking the summer clothes in winter (it's spring clothes actually) etc. has been around probably as long as fashion has been formalised.

That's why going to the sales is useful because they're selling off the old season's clothes to clear stocks for the next season. Shame you were a bit late for your thermals .

Somewhere like M & S could try to break that ridiculous straitjacket but they don't seem to have the bottle.

ppeatfruit It never used to be as bad as this though, you could still buy winter woollies in January even as recently as 5 years ago. As it happened I wasn't late for my thermals - M&S are still stocking all of those at full price!

I was lucky though over the last few months in that I managed to find 2 pairs of nice merino/silk blend trousers in Autograph and a fab sequin biker jacket (which was rarer than unicorn shit from the trouble I had getting it).

I'd love to know where those PPs that seem to have stores that only sell size 16s are as certainly round me (London/Essex) you are hard pressed to find them at all.

Anyone else having trouble with their tights? I've been buying the Bodyshaper ones for more years than I care to think about but they keep coming up short in the torso. Not all the time but annoyingly frequently.

I signed up for market research which I do online - they email me items for sale - I comment on them.

So far I've hated everything and I tell them why, crazy patterns, horrible colours, shirts/blouses too short etc etc.....

Maybe one day they'll listen to me!

It's true, Notnowbono and Patrician one of the main problems with M & S is that they've decided to follow catwalk fashion regardless of their customer base.

IT'S STUPID AND THEY SHOULD LISTEN TO US!!!!!!!!

Gruach How have your complaints been handled by them? Sorry I know you posted recently but I can't remember what you said

M & S have always thought they were far too popular to be bothered about what their customers think Well I think that will be their downfall in the end.

I do find the market research emails a bit - get your customers to provide a lot of free feedback ("How much would you pay for these sandals? Or these ones? Or these ones?" - NOTHING, BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL AWFUL), so they think you're trying to connect with the customer base, but never ever feed information back, or give any impression that the communication is valued, or listened to.

Do you tell them that NotNow? Do they respond to real criticism?

Have you had one of their market research feedback emails? you get a link to a series of different blouses/shoes/dresses/whatever, and have to say how much you like it, on a scale of 'love it' to 'hate it', or sometimes how much you'd pay. You're also encouraged to add comments. My comments always start polite - 'Not sure how this would look in a size 16?' but by the time I've seen 15 horrible synthetic shirts, none of which I'd buy, they're veering towards 'Who is this aimed at?' and 'I am sweating just looking at that.'

I can see why they're doing it, but it really does come across as a bit clueless - asking the customers how much they'd pay for a pair of sandals gives the impression that they don't know themselves. And also suggests they think that the M&S customer goes purely on price point, which so many S&B threads have proved is exactly not the case.

No because only dh can find anything to buy online from them, I haven't asked him, do they send them to all their online customers? He would 've said no anyway, he works from home and has enough to do

Oooh Shudders. They're ghastly. No wonder indeed.

To be fair Iliveinalight I would call Primark ghastly. M & S used to be ok, they're slipping though, if they actually listened to their ex customers and us moaners, given good management it could improve. I don't reckon Primark could.

I never said M and S were ghastly. I said those trousers were. They're awful. The stuff of nightmares

Oh sorry, I got the wrong leg of the trouser.

Holly Hobbie? Is that you?

Please, please, please stock the Tao collection in your Rituals range. You seem to stock all their other collections.
Tao is their relaxing range- soo good- and you'd need something to relax you after seeing the clothes photo the OP posted at the very start of this thread.

I had another market research email from M & S today asking what I thought of the piece of paper that is in a picture frame...the bit that tells you how big the frame is and probably the bit we all throw away.

I should have pasted a link to this thread in each of my responses and said you've got more to be worrying about than a bit of bloody paper!

Paperblank - I wonder if they even read the responses on the surveys or just count them with success being judged on how many replied?

So, even if everyone hates it, its the customer engagement that matters and a 100% response rate all saying it was awful would be counted as an unprecedented success???

I have a horrible feeling that given M&S's size, it has turned into a dinosaur of a business where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and no one has the power to actually steer the business in the right direction, even when they can see what's going wrong..

I would like M and S to be like a cross between Cos and the White Company -offering good design, but with excellent fabrics and cut for their clientele instead of endlessly chasing the latest trends. Much fewer items and ranges.

There are enough stores catering for crap fast fashion.

I want all leather shoes in classic colours.
I want all leather bags, again quality design and understated.
Jumpers made of natural fibres
Real silver jewellery instead of rows of tat
Silk scarves in muted tones
Coats with different sleeve lengths that are pure wool.
Collections made for body types in mind.
Good, basic layering items
I want the stuff in store to be reflective of the season.

It's not rocket science.

Var I think you've hit the nail on the head - M & S should not be the dinosaur of the high street.

They stopped calling it Marks and Spencer and rebranded it "Your M & S" except it wasn't.

The problem is that they would never employ people like you or I to go into say womenswear and say "enough is enough - it's time to start again so let's just cut the crap and start afresh"

Episode 3 of Think the Unthinkable is on the iPlayer. (Sorry, can't link to it.) All the problems with M& S on this thread seem to be in it - and it was made in 2001! It's not high comedy, but the observation seems to be about right to me.

Yes, Paperblank - I also had that weird Photo frame survey - just no logic to it. I mean why are people going to pay more because the design of the paper insert is very slightly different. I was suitably scathing.

Here's the link to the odd Photo frame survey if anyone fancies completing it themselves (and maybe inserting some appropriate comments to the current state of the company).