Shopping with Marks & Spencer
What M&S is good for
The website covers fashion, home, beauty, kids and baby, furniture, flowers and plants, hampers and wine, gifts, and a corporate gifting service. Food is mostly an in-store business, but cake and sandwich platter orders can be collected from the store on the day they arrive. If you shop there regularly, the Sparks scheme is the thing to sort out before you pay.
My honest take: M&S is not a discount shop. The value comes from the quality of the basics, the free store collection and easy returns, so use delivery and collection smartly rather than chasing a code.
Sparks
Sparks is the free rewards programme. It gives personalised offers that put money into your digital Sparks wallet, a free birthday treat, free hot drinks and a donation to your chosen charity each time you shop. You can join through the M&S app or on the website, and it works on the website, in the app and in store. It does not apply at BP or Applegreen petrol stations, stores outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland, or on Ocado.
Delivery and collection
- **Store collection** is free on all fashion, home and beauty orders, and stores hold your order for five days.
- **Standard delivery** is £3.99 and free over £75 (excluding furniture).
- **Next Day and Nominated Day** delivery is £5.99, excluding furniture and Northern Ireland.
- **Flowers, hampers and wine** have free Nominated Day delivery, and flowers also have free Next Day.
- **Furniture** has Nominated Day delivery at £5.99, or £15 for mattress delivery.
Returns
The standard returns policy is 28 days for online and in-store purchases. Sale items bought online are different: you have 14 days to notify M&S, then a further 14 days to return them. The quickest return is to a fashion, home and beauty store, where the return is processed within a day, then the refund takes three to five working days. Returns by post via Evri or Royal Mail are free, but are processed within ten days. Clothing and homeware bought in main stores must go back to main stores, and outlet items must go back to outlet stores.