Have we fallen out of love with M&S?

Marks and Spencer's profits fell dramatically following a difficult year for the company that saw a complete management overhaul.

The high street giant's annual pre-tax profits fell by 19% to £618.5m.

M&S blamed the drop in profits on price cuts needed to shift excess stock. Chief executive Stuart Rose said it had been a tough year but the company was now "on track".

Do you shop at M&S? If not why not? What would it take to get you into the store?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

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The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

SUGGEST A DEBATE This topic was suggested by Malcolm Blackmore, UK What's gone wrong at M&S? As a 40-year-old, I do not want to dress like a 20 or 70-year-old. What is your view? Send us your suggestions for Have Your Say debates

The problem with M&S is that it's considered to be an older person's shop and so that puts us younger shoppers off. Shame really as they do have some lovely clothes in there and their home ware department in wonderful
Karen F, Farnborough

Well, they decided to stop using UK manufacturers and suppliers, so it's their own fault. The management seem to be relying on the old image which sadly is not working.
Neil Small, Scotland

I have always loved Markies, probably due to my mum being an avid shopper there. I have recently rediscovered how good they are, but due to my student status can't afford much of what they sell, however, the minute I get a proper job and need proper clothes I'll be buying them from Markies!
Lesley Clarkson, Aberdeen

I am an avid M & S shopper, always have been. Further I worked for the Company for four years. In the time I worked there I can honestly say that their food quality is second to none in what it sells. Today I still buy the food. However I hardly buy the clothes, except for the core items which it has always been known to be good at. My Wife despairs at the Company which in recent years has tried to compete with other companies, who have just steam rollered over M & S. Frankly the whole organisation should restructure in size and focus at what it is good at- which are Classics. They are in a field of excellence of their own.
CK, Milton Keynes, UK

I was so worried at hearing about their falling profits that I was motivated to help by stocking up on new knickers.
Sylvie, Lincoln, UK

I am still waiting for the return of good quality clothes that can be relied on to keep their shape and colour unlike the ones now on display, that are no different from those at the local cheap market for less than half the prices. The service where has it gone?
Mary Snowden, Truro, Cornwall

Well ten years ago you could buy a piece of clothing in Marks and it was quality you knew it would last but now well they just stock normal clothes at expensive prices. Food is nice though.
James Clarke, UK

Please M&S, listen to these comments. Over and over again people are saying you need to get back to basics. Your main clothes shoppers were (and still can be) the 40+ who want the basic clothes in good quality, and in larger sizes, for which you are best known for. You are unique in that area. Don't try and compete with the hundreds of cheap retail shops which already exist for the younger, trendier people.
Sue Woollard, Westcliff-on-Sea, England

I must be boring but everything I wear every day, including shoes, handbags and accessories are M&S Judy, Wales

I've always loved Marks and Sparks. I must be boring but everything I wear every day, including shoes, handbags and accessories are M&S. Because the sizing is so good for the past few years I've bought online. I hate shopping with a passion so twice a year I do a massive M&S shop, and within a few days it's here! Only problem is the clothes never wear out.
Judy, Wales

Say what you like about M&S, but they still do the best prawn sandwiches on the high street...
Sue, UK

They make great chocolate!
Andy, Bath

Their underwear selection is great and their staff are always so helpful. When I was looking for a strapless bra, and for a bigger chested lady this is no easy task, the lady who helped me was so helpful running around for me I couldn't have had a better shopping experience. They do seem to have lost their identity recently but I hope they continue to offer good quality underwear and mouth watering food!
Anon, Nottingham

I still shop there for some things. Talk of Marks and Spencer's fall from grace has been going on for years, and it's true they have. All their troubles started when they no longer had a little label in each of their items saying Made in England. They can try to deny it but it's been downhill since then.
Mick, Slough, Berks

The food is wonderful - the best anywhere. If you want to try a new taste, then start here. Start making clothes in the UK again - bring back St Michael. Concentrate on 16+ for both men and women. Forget teeny styles - they have their own shops and lastly don't be a Jack Of All Trades.
Rebecca, Wakefield, England

They don't sell what you want when you want it. I last went in February, when there was snow on the ground outside, and yet 90% of their shirts were short-sleeved. Madness!
Alex, UK

The demise of M&S began with its kick in the teeth to the British textile industry. Some of us were prepared to pay a little more for quality goods knowing they were also made in Great Britain, but no, the greedy M&S went for low cost manufacture.
Gerry, UK

Concentrate on high quality basics Anonymous

Marks and Spencer should try to become a UK version of Banana Republic in the US; a place for high quality basics. Never mind the fashion side of things, concentrate on high quality basics. People only make a fuss about M&S because up until 10 years ago it was the place that everyone who could afford to went to shop for clothes, before throw away fashion that now dominates the high street.
Anonymous

Marks and Spencer have moved too far away from the classics they used to offer. Nobody buys M&S clothes for high fashion - there are other high street shops for that. M&S should be clothes of high quality, good cuts in proper sizes for all ages. That is what made M&S such a success in the past.
Foteni Georgiou, London

Marks and Spencer have gone downhill ever since I saw about 500 pairs of snake skin print leggings in their sale selling at £5 each in Leicester's Fosse Park store about eight years ago. The only things I get now are shoes as they are the only place in the high street that fit me as I have size 8.5 feet and I can squeeze into their 8s. Food is another only for treats and that chocolate pudding they had on their recent adverts looks tempting.
Helen, Wakefield

Can anyone explain why I should shop in M&S (or any other high street store for that matter), where I pay an extortionate amount for a parking space (if I am lucky enough to find one), have to deal with rude employees and yobs bugging me on the street when the same products are available to me for less and just a mouse click away?
Matt, Plymouth

M&S has neatly managed to fall between two stools. Is it after the young or the oldies (like me at 57)?
Barry, Bromley, Kent

I am an over 50-year-old male and I shop exclusively at M&S because they can provide a good range of bog standard clothing in a variety of sizes. The quality is also good.
Chris, Hastings, UK

So, I'm now officially within M&S target demographic! I feel really old, despite being just 24 years of age. I think I can speak on behalf of many of my peers when I say that I see no need to shop in M&S, Next, Tesco or Asda, when the internet puts me in touch with many designer brand clothes at much cheaper prices than the home brands of department stores.
Jamie, Staffordshire

I am very disappointed in the BBC for the spin on this Have Your Say subject. M&S are still a massively successful organisation and made a significant profit this year. I notice you don't mention anything about the huge investment of funds this year into improving stores, opening new ones and developing new lines to suit a new generation of customer.
Ian Davies, London, England

Some years ago M&S made a bid for the younger market and failed to look after its existing generation of customers. That generation found satisfaction elsewhere and is unlikely to return to M&S. M&S will now have to make sure that it retains the younger market, that it gained, as it gets older.
J Westerman, Leeds, UK

The problem with M&S is the total loss of quality and continuity Jane Black, Isle of Man

The problem with M&S is the total loss of quality and continuity. The sizing is rubbish; I once bought two pairs of identical trousers in different colours. One fitted, the other didn't! Same with bras - two identical, but different fitting items.
Jane Black, Isle of Man

Stop kidding yourselves! M&S should just face facts: prices are too high, and whilst quality might be good, it's not what drives consumers any more. Ours is now the buy it cheap, wear it for a month, buy a new one culture, where H&M and New Look are king.
Sarah, Oxford, UK

M&S has no idea who they want as customers. They often pick up on a fashion two years past its sell by date (e.g. bootlegs) and then offer it in every shape, colour and material from children's wear to 70-year-olds.
Dave, Reading

They need to sharpen up their act Pippa Stone, Derbyshire, UK

I like M&S but find it frustrating to see the same clothes rolled out year after year. They need to modernise their thinking and do some more customer research. I also think removing the clothes line for people up to size 28 was a mistake. The food is consistently good quality but they need to sharpen up their act, before rivals take the competitive edge and they start making no profit at all!
Pippa Stone, Derbyshire, UK

I used buy lots of clothes from M&S, you could always rely on the quality, you could wash the clothes over and over again and they still looked good. Over the past ten years the quality has changed, the colours run, the stitching comes undone, the cut and cloth isn't as good. As a 40-something the clothes seem to be for younger people and they aren't very smart. It's a shame as there aren't many shops that do sell nice clothes (not designer) so most of us make do with the ones we bought years ago! Bring back the old M&S.
Heather, Preston

I used to shop at M&S and did not mind paying that bit extra for goods produced in the UK. As M&S now purchase nearly all their products from abroad I object to the extra cost so I shop elsewhere.
Mark, Southport, UK

M&S should have stuck to their guns and continued making quality products. They have been influenced by hostile bidders and the incorrect PR that they have generated. Go back to basics M&S before somebody buys you at a rock bottom price and carves you into small securitised pieces. There is still time but not much.
RC Robjohn, UK

I love M&S - I live off their food which is fantastic. I've tried going elsewhere and found the alternatives to be cheaper - yes but also tasteless and thoroughly inedible. Their choice is fantastic, there are many many healthy options. Am off now to enjoy a pasta salad with cherry tomatoes, spinach and pine nuts. Yum yum!
CP, Manchester, UK

As I sit at work every item I am wearing, apart from my shoes, comes form M&S. Unfortunately my clothes shopping habits will not keep them in profit as I treat it as a necessity to be done as little as possible. What is more to the point is what would drive me away which is expensive designer type suits rather than simple quality so that I can go out at lunchtime and buy a suit in 15 minutes max.
Roger, Stockport, England

Nix & Sox? Sorry M&S, I now buy these on my reasonably priced jaunts to Asda and Tesco. They've overtaken you on quality and beat you hands down on price. M&S has nothing to offer me now, not even convenience.
Pete, Dorking, UK

I like Marks. All their clothes, as well as being well made, fit the same so once you know your measurements, there is no need to visit the changing room!
Paul, London, England

I don't think we have fallen out of love with Marks but more that the terribly media publicity has encouraged shoppers to abandon it.
Maxine Husbands, London, UK

M&S seems so out of touch with what modern consumers want M Munro, Bristol

M&S seems so out of touch with what modern consumers want. As a bloke in my 30s the only thing I occasionally buy in there is underwear. For anything else I use small, specialist shops or the internet. The prices M&S charge are above average for what are very average clothes, and the layout of the stores forces you to try things on in full view of anyone walking down the aisles. If I were them I'd drop the name and start again from scratch.
M Munro, Bristol, UK

M&S makes £618.5m profit. Many companies make no profit at all. Lazy financial journalists cut and paste the remarks of twentysomething analysts working for Merchant Banks who have rafts of ulterior motives. Can we ever hope to get back to the media producing facts and not comment so that we can make our own minds up.
Richard Fuller, Exeter

M&S stores continue to be uninspiring; they look a mess, are devoid of any particular style and continue to stock products of inferior quality on offer at premium prices. Contrast them with a branch of Gap and witness the difference. Considering his track record I find it remarkable that, after a year in the job, Stuart Rose has spectacularly failed to understand this vital point. Improving the efficiency of the back-office of the company is of no consequence if customers do not enter your store in the first place. How the shareholders must wish they'd taken Philip Green's offer of £4 a share! I fear that it may never see that level again under Mr Rose's leadership.
James Whistler, Cirencester, UK

Knickers! It's (almost) summer and we will soon start wearing light trousers and thin skirts but can one find neutral-coloured knickers anywhere in M&S? If it would return to good quality basics then the customers would come flocking back
Susan, Dundee

I used to work for M&S Money (now part of HSBC I believe!). The problem there and at the shops wasn't the products, the staff or the public's opinion of them... it was the management. To many attempts to reinvent the wheel, silly ideas and exercises in 'restructuring'. All they actually achieved was to alienate the public and annoy the staff.
Anon, Chester

Last week, when Sainsbury's recorded a profit of only £15 million, nobody suggested we'd fallen out of love with them. Probably M&S's poor sales are mainly due to the general high-street/economic downturn.
J, UK

Their food is very nice, their home ware is good but as for their clothes, they seem very staid and boring. I and I would imagine many others wouldn't dream of buying clothes from there.
Matt F, Bristol, UK

I am a life-long fan of M&S Chris, Belgium

I am a life-long fan of M&S, and have continued to shop there since moving to Belgium. Following their very unwise decision to close their hugely-profitable Brussels store, this now means I have to take advantage of business trips to the UK to continue shopping there. The clothes are still very good quality for the price but some of the recent designs are frankly odd: they don't appeal to established customers and cutting-edge trendies wouldn't be seen dead in their stores, so they hang about and eventually get sold off cheap. M&S also seem to have got rid of a lot of their older, expert and friendly staff, replacing them with unhelpful youths who stand chatting to each other rather than offering to help customers.
Chris, Brussels, Belgium

It's down to bad management. They want to trade on their reputation for quality but then change from good homeland suppliers to cheaper alternatives from abroad. The public are not fooled by this and have shunned M & S accordingly.
Lee, Castleford

This is what happens when you abandon your staunchest supporters - the over 30s - in pursuit of younger clients (most of whom would not be caught dead shopping in M&S). One look at the tee shirt racks in any Marks store confirms it - tight fits, tiny unflattering, cut off sleeves.
Mrs G Mitchell, Southampton

Alas, M&S do not provide the quality or style of clothing for middle-aged men like myself, that they did 15 years ago. Also, their food, though of good quality, is overpriced. For those reasons I do not shop there at all.
John B, Milton Keynes, UK

I don't know about in the UK, but here in continental Europe M&S were doing a roaring trade, at least in the food halls. The Amsterdam store closed more than three years ago and still people say how much they miss it. When we've been back to the UK recently we've also visited M&S, probably for things we could have bought elsewhere but we go there because we know we will find what we want at the quality we are looking for.
Jennifer, Netherlands (ex-UK)

While you can't beat M&S for delicious, good quality food, I never buy my clothes there. The menswear at least is frumpy and staid and nothing there really appeals to me, a 19-year-old.
Jon Harrison, York University, England

I go clothes shopping a fair bit, as do many of my friends. As fashionable twentysomethings who love going out, I can't see any of us buying clothes in M&S.
Richard, Reading, UK

Marks and Spencer's used to be the high street name for quality and choice. It is now overpriced and at times offers poor quality - I include their clothes and food.
Lisa Hall, Cheltenham, UK

M&S and other high street stores are suffering because of the anti-car stance taken by local authorities Alan Smalley, Preston

It's pretty obvious that M&S and other high street stores are suffering because of the anti-car stance taken by local authorities. Why should the motorists be fleeced for parking fines, when they can conveniently park at a large supermarket with everything under one roof.
Alan Smalley, Preston

I love Marks and Spencer's. I don't earn enough to be able to buy my weekly groceries from there, but if I win the lottery then I shall be in there every week buying their lovely food. Their clothes aren't bad either.
Steve Fricker, Horndean, UK

I think the problem M&S has is that it doesn't have a really distinctive children's brand, and therefore kids grow up thinking its a frumpy store for mum.
Jane Wilkinson, Coventry

Perhaps M&S need to work out what they are good at selling and stick to that Steve Brereton, York

Perhaps M&S need to work out what they are good at selling and stick to that. Mixing home furnishings, food and clothes is a fairly half-hearted stab at the same market that Sainsbury's, Tescos and Asda have cornered.
Steve Brereton, York, UK

I used to be a devoted M&S shopper with a charge card. I now rarely buy anything since most of the clothes are no longer produced in the UK. The fit has suffered because of this and the sizing is too variable. The quality of their staffing seems to have taken a knock as well. Back to basics M&S and quick.
Mary Breading, Hornchurch, Essex

Could somebody please explain to me how a company that has made £618.5 million pounds in profit is a failure? If that is failure please can I borrow enough money to start such a venture? It is very sad that maybe decent hard working people may lose their jobs because of this "tiny" profit.
Chris Hewitt, Nottm, UK

I've not fallen out of love with M&S, I was never in love with it in the first place. Part of the issue is that M&S appealed to a generation that are starting to die off. Also, at the moment prices are too high for the quality of the clothing. I'd pay more for better or less for what they sell.
Tim, Fareham, UK

Marks and Spencer started to go downhill when they entered the 99 syndrome on pricing and, upped their prices beyond a reasonable level. I was looking for a drinking mug recently, in their Leeds store, and, was amazed to be asked to pay £5. The same thing cost only £1 in the local market.
Thomas Lowry, Leeds, UK