The best time to shop at M&S for yellow sticker discounts is early morning, not closing time. According to shopping expert Jordon Cox, known as Britain's Coupon King, yellow stickers are put on items overnight, meaning shoppers should visit as soon as the store opens at 9am to get first pick of reduced stock.
Why early morning beats closing time
Jordon said: "This is the time of day you should shop at M&S to get the best deals. Go at 9am for store opening. Yellow sticker discounts get put out overnight, so if you're there at the crack of dawn, you'll get first dibs [on] all the good stuff."
This applies to most regular supermarket items. However, freshly baked products like doughnuts and bread rolls follow a different schedule. These are reduced later in the day, around 4pm, because they cannot be sold the next day and need to be shifted before closing to reduce food waste.
Further discounts and reader experiences
Jordon elaborated in his post: "Yellow stickers - the holy grail at M&S Food - tend to get put out overnight by overnight staff. That means, if you go to an M&S first thing in the morning (9am), you'd often have first dibs on the reductions! Items are further discounted around 4-6pm, but it may be a smaller selection (if the good stuff has been snapped up)."
Commenters shared their own experiences. One said: "The best discounts are 4 or 4.30pm. I accidentally had to keep going in there late in the day, and turns out it's the best time." Another added: "I've started to go Saturday mornings and just last week saved £15!" A third wrote: "I find 5pm is usually good for my store to get reductions, but I disagree about the fresh bakery; they never ever reduce the price of any of the bakery items! I've been late before closing several times, and never any reductions on the doughnuts!"
