I have worked with many university convenience stores, with both known brands and internally run stores, each wanting to improve their sales and profit performance. Somewhere along the line they have forgotten how to focus their business to drive sales. In some case they have never really known what was working so they are not sure what to do to put it right.

Mary Queen of Shops on BBC2 had us all hooked – retailers and laymen alike. Many of my friends and family who are not retailers liked to raise their eyebrows and gasp at the terrible retailing sins committed, adding “gosh even I could see why they weren’t taking money!”

I wanted to write something this morning for all those retailers who are struggling to keep their heads above water to let them know that even the best retailers, those with comparatively huge teams and budgets at their disposal, get it wrong sometimes.

Marks and Spencer have introduced a range of our favourite brands. I had been receiving feedback from all corners of the UK on what loyal customers thought. So last week I went to check it out for myself.

My first reaction: What a mess!

My next: What are they doing?

And finally: What were they thinking? This is M&S, but not as I know it.

Sandwiched between cards and gifts and fresh fruit and salads there was a shelving display of ambient, branded products unceremoniously dumped on shelves. Not only was the positioning out of kilter with the rest of the food hall, the display standards were the poorest I have seen anywhere for a while. Further feedback reveals a similar story across the UK.

As a customer, if you want washing powder you will go to the household section of a supermarket; if you want a deodorant you will go to the toiletries department not to the ‘branded aisle’ just in case one of “our favourite brands” happens to be a deodorant.

This amateur display sent a very clear message: We have these new products, but we are not quite sure what to do with them. We are in a panic to get them onto the sales floor to display and sell them.

The stores I have had feedback about could well be part of a test to establish the best position for the products, or they may be temporary displays to let customers know they are ‘new’ in store. However the overwhelming customer response to the handling of new arrivals is not a positive one.

The brands are alien to the food hall but the product categories are not. Instead of using tried and tested layout and display formulas, these products were treated like foreign objects.

So whilst we all sit in armchairs despairing at independent retailers getting it so wrong, let’s not forget – even the best can take their eye off the ball.