The company's chairman, Sir Richard Greenbury, called it a "bloodbath" in the High Street, as clothing sales declined everywhere during September and October, especially in Marks.

Analysts cut profit expectations from about £1bn for this year to £825m (against last year's £1.2bn) and it knocked ten percent off M&S shares, plunging them to 404p.

That was last week. This week the shares are up to 436p as the company has admitted it will have to look again at its pricing and policy of sourcing only in the UK for its non-food goods.

That might be a financial wrangle but there's another problem closer to home. Is M&S trying to spread itself too thin? To be all things to all people and, in the process, pleasing no-one?

In short, has the spark gone out of Marks?

Two elderly ladies approached Marks & Spencer graduate trainee Penny Trotman in the Oxford store and asked her where the dresses were.

"This is our selection," she explained, gesturing to the dresses behind her on the ground floor.

"But you haven't got any day dresses. These are all evening ones," said one of the women.

Penny was left to apologise for the lack of day dresses for the more mature woman.

"It makes me so irate. No wonder your sales are down. I've always dressed, from head to toe, in Marks & Spencer. Now I can't," said the woman. Her friend chipped in with similar comments.

Penny could be as apologetic as she liked but the women were not to be comforted. M&S without the ladies' usual selection of dresses just wasn't good enough. M&S is getting a bad press at the moment. Trying to be all things to all people can be tough.

When you get it right for so long, getting it wrong becomes glaringly obvious and everyone has been quick to criticise. There are some fantastic clothes in the Queen Street store in Oxford - no-crease work suits, beautiful evening wear, fantastic, sexy underwear - but the older ladies have a point.

Trying to appeal to the younger market means the older, female customer has been missed out and she's not happy about it.

But despite the lack of the day dress, there are things to suit all age brackets. It just needs a slightly different approach.

Knitted separates, worn together or mixed and matched with the range of day skirts, would give both of these ladies outfits they'd be happy to wear. They were all there, if they'd looked.

But it is in the smart/casual and eveningwear selection that women of all ages can find their perfect outfit.

To prove the point, we took five women. Each was in a different decade, ranging in ages from 20 to 61, and different sizes. We selected an outfit for each of them to prove that Marks hadn't lost its sparks.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.