M&S: FTSE 100 retail giant resumes online orders after cyber attack
Marks and Spencer has resumed online orders six weeks after a cyber attack forced it to pause e-commerce operations.
On its website, M&S said that customers “can now place online orders for home delivery to England, Scotland and Wales”, while deliveries to Northern Ireland will restart in the coming weeks.
In a Linkedin post, managing director John Lyttle said that “more of [its] fashion, home and beauty products will be added every day” and it will resume click and collect in the coming weeks.
“Thank you sincerely for your supper and for shopping with us”, Lyttle added.
It’s a key development for the retailer, which has been working night and day to get services back on track after being locked out of its systems in a ransomware attack.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the company was taking a”step-by-step” approach to “getting its website back into full transactional mode”.
“The retailer will want to make sure everything is functioning smoothly before turning all the lights back on, as it cannot risk any further disruption to customers. It’s already having to work hard to regain their trust,” Mould said.
Stock shock
Share in the FTSE 100 giant, which were battered when it first disclosed the cyber attack on April 22, rose more than three per cent in early trades.
M&S has estimated the fallout from the cyber attack, thought to be related to the hacking group Scattered Spider, to cost £300m.
The lack of online orders has “heavily impacted” trading profit, the company said, as have costs associated with reduced food availability and waste.
Earlier this month, the company said that some its customers’ personal data was stolen in the attack, although it said the data does not include useable payment or card details, nor does it include account passwords.
M&S was one of a raft of cyber attacks to hit the retailer sector this spring, with Dior, Victoria’s Secret, and the Co-op all reporting incidents.