Marks & Spencer has resumed online orders after more than six weeks of disruption caused by a damaging cyber attack, marking a major milestone in its digital recovery.
The retail giant began restoring its best-selling fashion ranges for home delivery to England, Scotland, and Wales on Tuesday, with further items from its fashion, home, and beauty lines being added daily.
The breach, first acknowledged on April 22, disabled key IT systems and halted all online orders. M&S confirmed that delivery services to Northern Ireland and click-and-collect options are expected to resume in the coming weeks.
The attack has had significant financial repercussions, erasing more than £1.3 billion from M&S’s market valuation as shares plummeted by up to 15% in the aftermath.
Investor confidence appeared to rally somewhat this week, with shares rising 1.5% in early trading, temporarily making M&S the top performer on the FTSE 100.
The cyber incident has been attributed to a hacker group known as Scattered Spider, a collective of suspected British and American teenagers also linked to attacks on the Co-op and other global businesses.
In its aftermath, shelves were left bare due to logistical disruptions, and the company admitted that some customer data might have been compromised.
M&S chairman Archie Norman warned in the company’s annual report that the consequences of the breach could “endure for some weeks, or even months,” though he remained optimistic about the company’s long-term outlook.
