M And S plans £140 million digital spend after cyberattack
M and s plans to spend around £140 million on digital and technology in the year ahead after a 2025 cyberattack disrupted its online operation. The money is aimed at rebuilding and modernizing the systems that were hit, with search, checkout, payment, planning and SAP work all in scope. For customers, that means the retailer is still paying to repair the damage while trying to make its website and app easier to use.
£140 million after 2025 attack
£140 million is the planned digital and technology budget Stuart Machin set out for the year ahead, mostly in Fashion, Home and Beauty. The spending comes after the cyberattack over Easter weekend in 2025 forced the company to restore normal service over months, while online sales were down 18.4% at fiscal 2026 year end.
£131 million was the cost of the attack in resource augmentation to replace remote outsourced technology teams and in corporate advisory costs. That bill shows why the recovery phase is still influencing this year's capital and operating priorities, rather than letting the company move straight into a clean modernization cycle.
Stuart Machin's recovery push
34 million customers used the business last year, and Machin said the company remains the most trusted brand in the UK according to YouGov. He also said, "The first half was dominated by operational disruption..." and added, "In digital and technology (D&T), our priority over the last 12 months has, of course, been recovery, and that was the right thing to do."
10 years or more is how long Sparks had been on the to-do list, according to Machin, who said it was in the top three customer complaints in recent years. The program has now been relaunched with a digital wallet and real money rewards, laying the groundwork for greater personalization and engagement as the retailer pushes deeper into its customer systems.
Online systems and SAP
Search, imagery, checkout and payment are the near-term priorities for the website and app. Machin said the company is also rolling out its planning platform and continuing an SAP upgrade and replacement, which he described as a "multi-year, very complex program on technology".
"Despite a challenging year last year, our strategy and our ambition remains unchanged. We don't underestimate the scale of change ahead. Our job, though, is to protect the magic of M&S while modernizing the rest....Now our focus is on accelerating the D&T transformation," he said. If the retailer hits that plan, the next test will be whether the rebuilt systems start showing up in online sales and customer experience rather than just in a larger technology bill.
