Should M&S give up on clothes and focus on food? Given that M&S has said it plans to open no new clothing space in the UK, with investment increasingly focused on the internet, this is a significant commitment. However, you can't help thinking that M&S could go further. When the company announces its half-year results on November 5, the general merchandise division, which is primarily clothing, is again likely to post underwhelming results. Analysts at Nomura have forecast that like-for-like clothing sales will have fallen by 0.4pc in the second quarter. This compares with a 3pc increase for food. The decline in clothing sales is not necessarily a reflection that M&S's new range of autumn and winter fashion has been a failure. The new clothing did not go on sale until late in the period and Bolland has always insisted the turnaround will be a long-term project. However, this performance will again highlight the tough battle that M&S faces to re-establish its identity in clothing amid fierce competition on the high street. The attempt by John Dixon and Belinda Earl, who head M&S clothing, to drive a step-up in quality and style looks sensible. But M&S is trying to fight back from a position where its clothing has become lost in the middle ground. M&S is not as cheap as Primark nor as fashionable as Zara. In contrast, M&S food has a clear identity. Customers believe its fresh meat, cakes and sandwiches are of a higher quality - and price - than the main supermarkets. Industry data from Kantar show that 43pc of food shoppers at M&S are buying food "for tonight," with just 1.4pc conducting their weekly shop at the retailer. In contrast, 24pc of Asda's customers conduct their weekly shop at the supermarket, with just 10.6pc buying food for that evening. This shows M&S has become the destination of choice for special holiday occasions such as Christmas, or personal celebrations such as birthdays. One-in-four turkey crowns bought for Christmas dinners this year will be from M&S. It is probably a fair assumption that many readers of this column will have eaten some M&S food recently, but have not bought any M&S clothing. This is a powerful position for M&S. As the cost of food in the leading supermarkets has converged - driven by commodity inflation and price-matching schemes - differentiation has become even more important in the grocery industry. This may be down to provenance, own-label food or price. In the past few years, the "big four" supermarkets - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons - have seen their market share squeezed, while the retailers at either end of the market have grown at the quickest rate. Aldi, the leading discounter, is growing sales at more than 30pc a year, while upmarket chain Waitrose is growing at 8pc. It is tempting to look at Waitrose and wonder whether M&S is missing an opportunity to grow its food business faster. Mark Price, Waitrose's managing director, said last weekend that it wants to triple in size over the next 10 years to become a £15bn-a-year business. Like M&S, Waitrose was seen as too expensive for a weekly shop. However, it has attracted more customers by introducing a discount own-brand range called essential Waitrose and by pledging to match Tesco on the price of branded products. M&S wants to encourage more customers to do their weekly food shop at it stores by building sites with car parks and expanding its range of products to include frozen ready meals. But this potential could be exploited further. At present, 80pc of M&S customers contribute just 20pc of sales, while the 20pc of customers who shop with the retailer once a week or more contribute 80pc. The price of M&S food, of course, will remain a barrier for some customers. However, M&S insists its own-brand products are competitively priced compared with its rivals given their quality, partly because it has avoided a price war on brands by stocking a limited range. At some point in the future, M&S could also choose to start selling food online, which is the fastest growing part of the market. At present, however, M&S insists it has no plans to start an online grocery business. It is worth remembering that M&S's heritage is in food and it has always evolved with the market. M&S started as a penny bazaar in Leeds in 1884 and only began selling clothing between the First and Second World Wars as it tried to stand out from cut-price variety stores. M&S is also behind innovations in food that families now take for granted at home, including sell-by dates, Indian and Chinese ready meals, fresh chicken, and the chicken Kiev. The first M&S Simply Food stores were only opened in 2001 in Surbiton and Twickenham. Today, however, more than half of M&S's 736 stores are dedicated to food, including 249 Simply Food franchise stores at BP petrol stations and transport hubs. Of course, the truth is that Marc Bolland is highly unlikely to announce on November 5, or at any stage, that he is to scrap investment in M&S's clothing business and instead attempt to rapidly grow the food business. Not only is the clothing business still hugely profitable and capable of delivering higher margins than food, but it attracts footfall to the food aisles. Also, much of the present success of the food division is down to measures introduced by Bolland, such as in-store delis. Indeed, Bolland, whose background is in food and drink at Morrisons and Heineken, is always keen to remind analysts that when he took over in 2010 there were calls that M&S should spin off the food business because it was a drag on clothing. Nonetheless, given that M&S's capital expenditure this year is £800m, it is tempting to wonder what could be achieved if all that investment was focused on the food business. As the 129-year-old retailer's clothing business struggles to catch up, Britain still has an appetite for M&S food.