Marks & Spencer’s boss has stated that the company expects to have its online shopping fully operational within four weeks as it recovers from a cyber attack. Despite restarting online orders in June, Stuart Machin, CEO of M&S, revealed that half of its online operations, including click and collect, are still not functioning at the retailer’s annual general meeting (AGM).
The next focus for M&S will be to restore operations at its Castle Donington distribution center, with the goal of having everything resolved by August, according to Mr Machin.
The cyber attack in April caused significant disruptions, including a six-week period of decreased sales and the theft of customer data. M&S has estimated that the attack will result in a £300m decrease in profits for the year, which will only be partially covered by insurance.
While online orders have resumed in England, Scotland, and Wales, customers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are still waiting for service to resume. Mr Machin told shareholders at the AGM that within the next four weeks, the entire online platform should be fully operational, including click and collect services.
M&S had previously announced that disruptions would continue throughout June and July. As a gesture of goodwill, the retailer sent out e-gift cards to customers who had their online orders cancelled or click and collect orders delayed.
There have been reports that M&S’s competitors have benefited from the disruption. On Tuesday, Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts stated that the supermarket chain had seen a slight increase in sales due to M&S’s stock being low as a result of the cyber attack.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, believes that while M&S is in a strong position, there is still a lot of work to be done before the company can fully recover from the cyber attack. However, there are signs of pent-up demand for M&S’s summer fashion styles, with many popular products already sold out online. Streeter also noted that the company had strong annual results before the attack, indicating that it is in a resilient position moving forward.