The click and collect service at Marks & Spencer has finally been restored almost four months after the brand was hit by a major cyberattack.
Online ordering on the company’s website and mobile app was suspended on 25 April, when contactless payments and click and collect systems stopped working in stores.
The retail giant resumed online orders to addresses after six weeks but the click and collect service, which allows customers to order online and pick up the items in an M&S shop, was the last to be restored.
The M&S website now states on a page about the cyber incident: “Our fashion, home and beauty range is now available for home delivery to the UK, and flowers and gifting are now available for home delivery to England, Scotland and Wales.
“Click & Collect is now available for online orders.”
The retailer has not yet commented on the cause of the delay.
Click and collect depends on integration between online ordering platforms, inventory management, payment systems and in-store logistics, The Times reported. It is thought the cyberattack disrupted these systems, making it harder for M&S to get click and collect secure again.
The attack, which began in late April, left M&S unable to take online orders for over six weeks.
M&S estimates the attack will cost around £300 million in lost profits, but expects to recover up to half through cost management, insurance, and other measures.
The incident led to the theft of personal customer data, potentially including names, email addresses, postal addresses, and dates of birth.
Hacking groups called DragonForce and Scattered Spider have been connected to the attack.
Marks & Spencer’s chair Archie Norman, speaking at a business and trade select committee in July, said it was “not an overstatement to describe it as traumatic”. He added: “We’re still in the rebuild mode and will be for some time to come.”
He said the ordeal was “like an out-of-body experience” and that he had not experienced “anything quite like this” before in his extensive time working in the corporate world.
“It’s fair to say that everybody at M&S experienced it, like our ordinary shop colleagues working in ways they hadn’t worked for 30 years, working extra hours just to try and keep the show on the road,” he said.
“For a week probably the cyber team had no sleep, or three hours a night.”
