Some M&S stores left with empty shelves after cyber attack
Some Marks & Spencer stores have been left with empty food shelves as the retailer continues to struggle with a cyber attack affecting its operations.
Over the Easter weekend, customers reported problems using contactless pay and Click & Collect, and online orders have been paused on the company’s website and app since Friday.
It is not clear how widespread the empty shelves are but the retailer confirmed “pockets of limited availability in some stores”.
The BBC understands stock on the shelves will be back to normal within a couple of days.
The firm is also managing disruption to a small proportion of products that it supplies to Ocado, which delivers M&S online orders and which is part-owned by M&S.
Although issues with contactless pay, Click & Collect and gift cards have since been resolved, customers can still not place online orders.
About a third of M&S’s clothing and household goods sales in the UK are through its online platforms and were worth some £1.2bn, according to its latest financial results.
Although its share price was up slightly on Tuesday morning, it has fallen 4.6% over the last five days – with a notable dip on Friday when the firm announced it was stopping online orders.
The problems come during a busy retailing period, as customers prepare for the good weather and purchase outdoor garden equipment, barbecue items and party food.
The aftershocks of the cyber attack will dent its profits, analysts have told the BBC, as many customers go elsewhere to shop instead.
M&S has not disclosed the nature of the cyber attack.
“As part of our proactive management of the incident, we took a decision to take some of our systems temporarily offline,” a spokesperson said.
“As a result, we currently have pockets of limited availability in some stores. We are working hard to get availability back to normal across the estate. “
“I think they are in what I would describe as an unenviable position,” said Nayna McIntosh, former executive committee member of M&S and founder & chief executive of Hope Fashion.
“There will be some very, very difficult conversations taking place in Paddington [M&S HQ].
She said that stopping online orders was “almost like cutting off one of your limbs”, although she added that M&S was a popular brand so customers will give it some leeway as long as they have transparency.
M&S is not the only firm to suffer disruption to its online systems in recent times. Supermarket Morrisons faced problems with its Christmas order in 2024, while banks Barclays and Lloyds were hit by outages earlier in 2025.
