Britain's M&S restores click and collect services 15 weeks after systems hacked
LONDON (Reuters) -British retailer Marks & Spencer has resumed taking click and collect orders for clothing after a 15-week hiatus following a cyber hack and data theft.
The 141-year-old M&S stopped taking orders through its website and app for clothing and home deliveries and collection from stores on April 25, three days after disclosing it was managing a "cyber incident".
It resumed taking online orders for delivery on June 10 but click and collect services, which allow customers to order items online and pick up in stores, had remained suspended.
M&S's website said on Monday that click and collect had resumed. The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
In May, M&S forecast the hacking of its systems 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.
As part of its management of the hack and data theft, M&S took other systems offline. That reduced both clothing and food availability in stores, further denting sales.
Rivals, such as Next in clothing and Sainsbury's in food, have been beneficiaries.
M&S CEO Stuart Machin told investors in early July the group would be over the worst of the fallout from the incident by August.
Shares in M&S are down 12% so far this year.
($1 = 0.7424 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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