LONDON :British retailer Marks & Spencer resumed taking online orders for clothing lines on Tuesday after a 46-day hiatus following a cyberattack.
Shares in M&S, one of the best-known names in British business, were up 3.5 per cent after it restarted standard home delivery in England, Scotland and Wales for the majority of its clothing range.
“It’s not the full range at the moment. We’ve focused on best sellers and newness,” an M&S spokesperson said.
“We’ll be bringing product online everyday so customers will see that grow over the coming days.”
M&S said delivery to Northern Ireland will resume in the “coming weeks”, as will click and collect services, next-day delivery, nominated-day delivery and international ordering.
The 141-year-old M&S stopped taking clothing and home orders through its website and app on April 25 following problems with contactless pay and click and collect services over the Easter holiday weekend.
It first disclosed it had been managing a “cyber incident” on April 22.
M&S said last month it expected online disruption to continue into July and forecast the attack would cost it about 300 million pounds ($404 million) in lost operating profit in its 2025/26 financial year, though it hopes to halve the impact through insurance and cost control.
The disruption to systems also affected M&S’ ability to get food and clothing into stores, which meant it lost out on demand boosted by warm and sunny weather.
Analysts have predicted the end of season clothing sale will be larger than normal and with deeper discounts.
Taking account of Tuesday’s rise, M&S shares are down 9.5 per cent since it disclosed the attack.
M&S said hackers broke into its systems by tricking employees at a third-party contractor, skirting its digital defences to launch a cyberattack.
The group has said it will use the crisis to accelerate improvements to its technology.
In recent weeks, several other major retailers across the globe have disclosed cyber incidents, including UK grocer the Co-op Group, German sportswear group Adidas, luxury jeweller Cartier and U.S. lingerie company Victoria’s Secret.
($1 = 0.7429 pounds)
