M&S has been forced to halt online orders for a fourth day as it continues to struggle with the aftermath of a cyber attack.
Visitors to its website are currently being met with a message telling them that online shopping has been ‘paused … as part of our proactive management of a cyber incident’.
Customers can still browse the online range and buy products in shops, but click and collect orders have been disrupted.
The freeze has led to a slump in activity at M&S’s vast clothing and homeware logistics centre at Castle Donington in the East Midlands.
Roughly 200 agency staff – representing around 20 per cent of the site’s workforce – were due to undertake a shift there today but have reportedly been told not to come in.
However, the company’s own employees who work at the site have been told to come in as usual.
‘There is work for them to do,’ a source told Sky News.
It is not known who is behind the attack but last night a source close to the situation dismissed suggestions that Russian agents could be to blame, with ‘criminals’ suggested to be the most likely option.
Visitors to the M&S website are currently being met with a message telling them that online shopping has been ‘paused… as part of our proactive management of a cyber incident’
The freeze has led to a slump in activity at M&S’s vast clothing and homeware logistics centre at Castle Donington in the East Midlands
In such attacks, criminals typically infiltrate an IT system, freeze it and demand payment from companies.
M&S has not provided an expected time frame for the problem to be resolved but the attack comes amid a busy period for retailers, as stores head into the summer season.
The retailer’s online presence a key driver of its crucial clothing and homeware business, and investors are concerned about the ramifications for sales as the fallout heads into its second week.
M&S shares were down 2.7 per cent to 375p in early trading, taking losses since M&S revealed the attack on 22 April to around 8 per cent.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the ongoing suspension of online orders ‘will be hugely damaging for sales’.
Online orders accounted for around a third of the retailer’s first half sales in clothing in homeware, which generated an adjusted operating profit £242.2million compared to £213.1million in food.
Some shoppers have accused M&S of a lack of communication.
One man , who visited a store to collect an order, said: ‘They need to do a better job communicating about click and collect. ‘May be some disruption,’ does not equal ‘Don’t travel to store, you can’t collect your order’.’
Stores have remained open but the company has entirely paused orders on its website and apps, including for food deliveries and clothes, while pledging to refund orders
Another added: ‘Communication is non-existent. Got my email to collect my order, went into store, no one around click and collect area, screens were black, but the scanner was still working. Had to go to the checkout at the other side of the store to find staff to ask.’
M&S has called in cyber experts to help tackle the system meltdown including CrowdStrike, the US cyber security giant.
It follows a remarkable run for M&S, which has seen sales balloon in recent years as its online ‘click and collect’ service and food offering revamp have proved popular.
Its shares are still up by more than 300 per cent over the last five years, though they have come under recent pressure amid an emerging supermarket price war and the growing strength of discounters.
And the group has been pursuing an ambitious agenda for its next stage of growth.
Clive Black, equity analyst at Shore Capital Markets, wrote last month of M&S: ‘Food sales are still going very well, still gaining market share, whilst for [clothing and home] it is the same story, albeit we sense that the UK apparel market has been quite sluggish.
He also highlighted the retailer’s ‘strong’ balance sheet and said M&S has the capacity to invest in processes to further improve productivity.
Marks & Spencer shoppers were unable to buy goods online for a second consecutive day yesterday, as the retailer continued to fight the fallout from a cyber attack
Black said: ‘M&S is in good shape, to us, reflected in the narrative of management.
‘That said, it is not a case of job done, with self-help needing to be seen through, competitive priorities having to be addressed as necessary, and growth opportunities ceased.
‘The firm does so with a strong financial constitution with scope for building optionality around shareholder friendliness in time.’
Nicholas Found, from consultancy Retail Economics, said the incident was ‘a stark reminder that no retailer, no matter how established or digitally sophisticated, is immune from the escalating threat of cyber crime’.
