Will Marks and Spencer survive?

[MerryPortas]

It’s hard to imagine the full scale of the cyber attack and the impact on their business.

yes, annoying for the shoppers, but they must be losing millions in daily revenue online, and I doubt that’s being backfilled by increased physical footfall.

stock levels are unpredictable - understandably - so confidence is low.

shoppers are creatures of habit, and change is habit forming.

So my question is, do you think M and S is at risk?

Yes, actually quite reasonable stock levels for mid year. I was pleasantly surprised. But just as well really, since my Plan B had been order online if there was nothing in DCs size!

I rarely get anything from M&S but when I do it’s nice. They sell yummy things

They’ll survive. But they won’t have the same value. This one mistake, leaving a backdoor open, has lost them £1bn market cap, 9.4 million customers potentially breached over the period, and god knows what else.

I didn’t shop there much before this, now I doubt I will again.

There is a world of difference in women’s clothing between 5’7” and 5’11”. At 5’11” I’m well beyond “making it fit”, often by having waisted trousers hanging off my hips and tolerating tops which just keep coming untucked due to being a bit too short. They are simply too short.

Even their long length simply don’t fit and even worse - the proportions are wrong. The longer trousers for instance are literally just longer in the leg without it being reflected in the body proportions. Tops don’t even come in a tall option IME. The only way to get even a few millimetres on the length of a top is to go up in sizes which then are too loose for the style.

I’m genuinely interested to know what tall women on this thread are buying because its such a strong brand that I have periodically revisited and this has not improved over the years.

Incidentally "short and stout” might not be the precise phrase I’d have used but when M&S used to publish their “standard customer” it was shorter than the national average and a bit rounder. I’ve no idea if they still publish it but their designs are still constructed for their standard customer with little adjustments in proportions for length in the way that eg proportions for petite ranges are typically adjusted.

Pay the ransom and cyber attacks will proliferate. Every retailer will be at risk from hackers who think they can get easy money.
The hackers need to be caught and jailed for years and years.

I don’t care. I truly don’t. They have the money to absorb it. My personal data, address, name, etc., has been compromised and is now on the dark web. It’ll be up for sale. What’s going to happen with that? How will I be compensated for that?

I can pretty much guarantee that your name and address has been available to anyone who wanted it for many years.

How so? It doesn’t matter. My data was stolen because M&S didn’t bother to take care with their IT. How will they be fixing it?

We've got a good M&S food withon walking distance and a large city centre branch 10 miles away which is excellent, I know they aren't all as good (a pp mentioned a down at heel one in an affluent city which out me in mind of the Guildford branch). Ours is much better, I've just been in and spent £100 on underwear, a top, food, sunscreen. You wouldn't have known anything was amiss, it was well stocked as always, full of people, staff being friendly and helpful. It has been though bad patches for both fashion and quality but has improved massively in recent years. I prefer to shop in person so it hasn't really affected me much (I do have an account but rarely use it). I think it will survive.

I’ve got a £500 voucher to spend and local stores stock is low so just waiting it out to spend online.

Yeah because the uk economy could do with the collapse of a major employer right now. 🙄

You are right. I made a flippant comment. I have far too often seen companies who were proud to be cheap on their infra also haven't seen the value of robust BC. Nevertheless correlation doesn't equal causation. mea culpa.

I went into the shop to buy some knickers, they didn’t have my size, couldn’t check if they would have my size or when.

The cyber attack isn’t just online. Much like co op it’s wiped out in store stock as well.

M&S will survive, but this has all been handled rather poorly.

All companies will push it to the limit of notifying when customer data has been stolen. There is a time limit for informing the ICO, but these companies deliberately push it to limit, Not sure if there is a time scale for informing customers, potentially not.

Why on earth was most of M&S's IT together? Why is the timesheet system with customer websites?

I really hope they do survive. I use them all the time and am really missing online ordering. In recent years their clothes have really improved and their food halls are always excellent. With regards to comments from a PP, I am neither short, nor stout. I am quite tall and fucking enormous, and delighted to shop at a place that accommodates my needs.

Yes, but your order history with M&S won't be.

Now hackers won't care about what you've bought, but will use the information to scam you.

In a couple of years you will receive a phone call about a bed you bought a few years ago and that will be how the scam starts.

10 years ago I had a phone call from an obvious scammer doing a survey, I give ridiculous answers and a stupid name. 8 years later someone called asking for that stupid name about council renter compensation (I deliberately said I lived in a council house and not the home-owner that I am).

Cyber security is a decent career choice. Interesting, impactful and in demand.

If nothing else, it might encourage some kids to move towards this type of role...(Oh and to be hackers too.... which is the flip side...)

If you haven’t shopped there how do you know any of those things?

I’m sure M&S will bounce back. It’s hilarious how many cyber experts there are on this thread. Get angry with the hackers not M&S. Just take responsibility for your own online safety. Don’t use one password for everything and stay alert if you get a phone call.

Even using a different password for every website doesn’t stop the fact that my address and order history is now available for purchase on the dark web.

My DH works for them (in a depot). He received a letter from the CEO thanking him and his colleagues for all their support in the last few weeks...he (DH, not CEO) has been off sick over the last 6 months.

I'm wondering if branches that were due for closure or refitting will have the date brought forward.

Stock levels are low in my branch. Still can’t find a suitable pairing for my steak.

Should have just paid the bloody ransom. I heard it was about £4m. They are losing that in online sales EVERY DAY and then some.

Paying a ransom just means that the blackmailer will come back for even more.

They were only “victims” as they had poor IT security.

This is largely the fault of the management.

I don’t buy all the PR bullshit that they could not have prevented an attack.

Can you imagine if this happened at a Bank ? The CEO would have been sacked by now.

I feel sorry for the staff who are having to manage the fallout.

In answer to the question posed by the OP, I think they will. Particularly because of how much of their business is the food halls.

As for paying the ransom, those who argued to pay it I hope take basic IT security precautions. Such as not having simple passwords or sharing them.