M&S online shopping ad blitz 'adding insult to injury'

Marks & Spencer is still running a major advertising campaign for its online shopping service despite continuing to struggle with the fallout from a cyber-attack which has caused mayhem in shops and left online orders suspended.

The compound the matter, due to programmatic buying techniques, many of the ads are appearing next to media reports about the huge disruption to the retailer’s services.

One industry source told Decision Marketing: “When it works well, remarketing can be a very powerful tool. Sadly, all this is doing is reminding customers that M&S is unable to take their online orders.

“You would think that at the very least the retailer would remove these ads and replace them will something more generic. This activity is simply adding insult to injury for shoppers.”

The company, which is estimated to be losing more than £3m a day as it grapples with the cyber breach, has also been forced to pause deliveries of some packaged food items to the online grocery site Ocado, which it co-owns.

M&S has not confirmed the number of items affected but said it had worked with Ocado and its suppliers “to minimise any disruption to the small proportion of the range delivered through our network to Ocado”.

Shoppers are still able to browse online and shop in M&S’s physical stores using cash or cards, but some difficulties continue in stores with gift cards not currently being accepted and Sparks loyalty card offers not available. Returning goods is only possible at tills in clothing and homeware stores or via post. Food stores are not currently able to accept returns.

Yesterday it emerged that M&S has been forced to block hundreds of staff who work from home from its network – as well as resort to pen and paper for some transactions.

According to reports, some programs that remote employees use in the internal system have been shut down to help prevent more damage being caused. It is understood employees can still work from home, but certain systems are not accessible.

Meanwhile some shoppers are facing empty shelves as the attack hits the company’s logistics operation.

The company says it is “working extremely hard” to restore its online operations. However, many customers have felt in the dark about what has happened and when things will return to normal.

One Decision Marketing reader who had an online order cancelled due to the incident said: “They accepted my order, and my money, and there was no problem. Then by Friday everything was gone. They should just be honest rather than try to kid people.”