M&S has begun taking click & collect clothing and home orders again for the first since a cyberattack on the retailer caused major disruption to its operations in April.
Click & collect was among the first services to be suspended in the week following M&S’s discovery of hackers in its systems on 19 April.
It is also among the last of its online services to resume, after delivery of some clothing ranges to some regions returned in June.
“Click & collect is back,” M&S told customers this morning in an update posted on Instagram from its fashion, home and beauty MD John Lyttle.
“Our full online delivery offer is back – including click & collect – across fashion, home and beauty on M&S.com.
“You can now order online for collection from any M&S store across the UK or choose next day or nominated day delivery.
“You can also now return your online order to any M&S store.”
Additional information on M&S’s Sparks loyalty app advises shoppers to return items to stores rather than by post to avoid delays to refunds.
“Due to high volumes of parcels on our post and home collection routes, we’re experiencing processing delays,” a cyber incident update on the app says.
“The quickest way to return an item is at one of our fashion, home & beauty stores.”
M&S chairman Archie Norman told a Business & Trade Select Sub-Committee on 8 July that each week of not trading online had cost roughly £10m in lost profit, and the retailer would “still be in a form of rebuilding in months to come”.
Norman also refused to discuss whether or not M&S had paid the attackers a ransom. “We’ve said that we are not discussing any of the details of our interaction with the threat actor, including that subject,” he told MPs on the sub-committee, in an inquiry into threats to the nation’s cybersecurity. “But that subject is fully shared with the NCA [National Crime Agency] and the relevant authorities.”
Days later, on 10 July, four people were arrested as part of an NCA investigation into cyberattacks that targeted M&S, Co-op and Harrods in April.
A 17-year-old British male from the West Midlands, a 19-year-old British male from London, a 19-year-old Latvian male from the West Midlands and a 20-year-old British woman from Staffordshire were arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences, blackmail, money laundering and participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
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