YOUR SHOUT

This week, because there were so many, is all about your views on Marks & Spencer:

Fiona, I am an M&S employee and have been for the past 10 years. Hearing the news of more store closures I want M&S to understand that moving with the times is not always the right thing to do. I appreciate the problem of stores that are not making headway in some areas, but managers need to listen to the consumer more. Surely rows and rows of the same autumn brown/ orange baggy-sleeved top on the sale rail shouts volumes as to how wrong the design was! Name withheld

Fiona, while walking through my local store recently I saw a model with a dress on that I thought was particularly bad – I just couldn’t think who would buy it. They have lost out on sales over the last few years because they are targeting the wrong sort of customer and forgetting their core clients. Doris Chubb, via email

Fiona, the reason M&S is not doing well is because it has forgotten who its most devoted customers are. I always bought most of my clothes there, but in the last six years very little – same with nearly everybody in my age group the 50s/early 60s. The sizing, designs and materials have not been right for several years. Gone are the classic blouses and dresses. People of my age have been singing from the same song sheet: “There is nothing here for me”. A shame when we have been such good customers for so long.