As retailers continue to attack in cyberattacks that affect their operations, some trademarks and Spencer stores are vacant food shelves.

Online orders have been suspended on the company’s website and apps since Friday after having had a contactless salary issue over the Easter weekend and clicked and collected.

It is not clear how common empty shelves are, but retailers have confirmed “limited availability pockets in some stores.”

The BBC has learned that by the end of this weekend, food availability should return to normal.

The supply disruption emerged because the company had to lower some of its food-related systems offline. It is using different processes to improve availability, so it can run properly as quickly as possible.

At the M&S Marble Arch store in central London, signs on food shelves that lack items say, “Please stand us, and we address some technical issues that affect product availability.”

Dot, 52, regularly shops at M&S, and he says some of the shelves are empty.

"I've been looking for my favorite cookies and can't find them," she said.

Ken, 76, also said the limited stock was "absolutely significant", although the staff were "very charming" considering the cyber attack.

The company also manages disruptions to a small portion of the products offered to Ocado, which offer M&S online orders and consists of M&S.

Although the contactless compensation problem has been resolved, click and collect and gift cards have been resolved, customers are still unable to place online orders.

According to its latest financial results, about one-third of M&S’ clothing and household goods sales in the UK are through its online platform, worth about £1.2 billion.

Although its shares rose slightly on Tuesday morning, it fell 4.6% in the past five days - it fell significantly when the company announced its suspension of online orders on Friday.

The problem arises during busy retail, as customers make good weather and buy outdoor garden equipment, barbecue items and party food.

Analysts told the BBC that the aftershocks of the cyberattack would weaken its profits as many customers go shopping elsewhere.

Nayna McIntosh, a former M&S executive committee member and founder of Hope Fashion, said stopping online orders “almost like cutting off one of your limbs.”

"The decision made on Friday will be a very difficult decision because it goes into week two and they will still feel very painful."

But she added that M&S ​​is a popular brand, so as long as transparency is, customers may give it some room.

M&S has not disclosed the nature of the cyber attack.

"As part of our active management of the incident, we decided to take some systems offline temporarily," a spokesperson said.

"So, we currently have limited availability in some stores. We are working to bring the availability of the entire estate back to normal."

Recently, M&S is not the only company that has suffered from disruptions to its online system. Supermarket Morrisons faces problems with Christmas orders in 2024, while banks Barclays and Lloyds were hit by power outages in early 2025.

Other reports by Shakira Abdi