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...

OMG those trousers in the OP look like something Rod, Jane and Freddy would wear.

They do food really, really well. Everyone likes M&S food, and they rarely seem to put a foot wrong with it. I think they either need to just do that, or else get a seriously radicalizing team in for clothes. Just copy John Lewis ffs - how hard can it be?

My children are long past the children's clothing stage, but even when they were little I rarely bought clothes in there - horrible tacky crap. And even their school uniforms became bizarre - if I wanted a pinafore without a revolting huge metal flower on the zipper, or a plain gingham summer dress without stupid flounces, I ordered it from JL even then!

WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN, M&S???

The sizes are awful. The 'long' trousers are not long at all.

But the tops.........how short are they. I have forgotten how many times I have mentioned in store to the staff that the tops and t-shorts are just so short in the body.

I saw that 'Twiggy in a rubber pinafore' pic on the M&S Site and thought I'd happened upon an outfitter for abbatoir workers.

How on earth do these things get from idea to sketch, then through presumably leagues of designers and buyers, through production and onto the shop floor without anyone noticing the hideousness?

Yes to the click and collect hell stuffed at the back.
Always a queue, always hot and sticky.
I get click and collect so I know I will leave with that item of school uniform as it won't be in stock. I do click and collect as its better than battling with deliveries and there's always something else I need in town

As PP have said, M&S stocking is shocking It seems to be a complete surprise to them that the commonest sizes sell faster. And they take forever to re-stock. I understand that lines that you only stock for one season can sell better than expected so you run out, but many of their products are sold year-round, so there is no excuse. A big company should have the infrastructure to monitor and anticipate demand. Any small retailer who was as poor as M&S at stock control would have gone bust years ago.

Well seekevery I was a bit about the weird ingredients in their gluten free range !

Fair enough Ppeat - I've never bought from that range.

I will say, in fairness, every single item of clothing is fucking appalling, but their cheese scones are second to none - if you buy them from the bakery bit. The pre-packaged ones, and the ones in their godawful cafes, are actually not very nice, come to think of it.

The coffee they sell in their cafes is fantastic.

The food they do well because as others went cheap and value, m and s went up with quality. It became more indulgent and more of a 'treat'. They needed to do that with the clothes, quality up. Good cut, good fabric, well made clothes (made in Britain would be amazing).

I can't stop looking at those trousers I think that they have hypnotized me.

The same things have been said about M&S for years and nothing has ever changed. Terrible material, vomit patterns, odd sizing, and hit and miss stocking.

They want to be all things to everyone and are now nothing to anyone. You can imagine the stock buyers donning blindfolds to make their selections

NEXT, Zara and JL are better- even Sainsbury's TU has some good stuff.

I'm listening to a discussion of this on PM right now - the same phrase comes up as so many times on here: 'how hard can it be'?

They're talking about M&S on Radio 4 right now.

Radio 4 researchers walk among us.

Yep, they're saying the same thing as this thread.

I ventured into our local town's M&S the other day - it was like the place that style had gone to die ... tacky colours, cheap fabrics - just awful. I used to buy lots of basics from them every year - jeans, shirts, jumpers, etc (never patterned, always plain) but I can't remember the last time I bought anything from them.

It's viewers comments in response to the resignation story and previous analyse on what's wrong with M&S.

To give credit where it's due, I have bought some good-value mens suits there for my 17 yearold ds, who is very skinny, and which wash well & look smart.

But can't actually remember the last time I bought some clothing for myself.

Although I do have a £50 xmas voucher to spend - may need to blow it all on food!

"Yep, they're saying the same thing as this thread."

It's only when they quote a post word for word that we can know for sure....

But it ought to be easy. There are a lot of people who still want to like M&S, and because they go in there for other reasons, they keep looking and hoping.

It really is simple. Do what they do with the (yummy but expensive, but very successful) food range.
Good quality material. Classic pieces. Limited but well designed range. Limited colours. V necked jumpers, blouses, coats, dresses, trousers and jeans - but in nice material.

I agree with all of this, but how do we tell them??

Or, Feck get the beautiful jumper and the hard-wearing well-cut long enough Tshirt that both wash well, and then sell in ithem in lots of colours. And do so year after year, keeping the classic colours every year and swopping a couple of fashion ones.

*"Yep, they're saying the same thing as this thread."

It's only when they quote a post word for word that we can know for sure....*

I wasn't saying they were quoting from mumsnet, the readership of this forum isn't that powerful. Just that they were expressing the same grievances as we are here and Sali Hughes was doing the same in the article linked to earlier.

So, commonly held views and opinions heard from variety of sources thatdon't seem to have made it to the M&S Marketing Dept

They became huge and conceited in the 1990s (remember the days when they never advertised and would not accept credit cards, only their storecard?)
Then George Davies came along, walloped them completely at their own game with Next and George & Asda which led to all the supermarkets getting in on the game. Also the New Looks and Primarnis emerged to take on the bottom end whereas the higher end went to Boden, White Company, Whistles etc. Ergo ditch the polyester Per Una tat, narrow the ranges and just get back to good quality basics. Basically they need to do what they have done with food - higher quality at a good price!!

M&s need to walk into the beautiful simplicity that is jigsaw (compared to their stores) and then rethink their womenswear along those lines but current m&s prices.