Latest news with #CatherineShuttleworth
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Major supermarket to give shoppers bonus £10 off after cyber attack - but customers aren't happy
Co-op is set to offer its members a discount on its shop after a cyber attack which saw customer data being stolen. The grocery chain said it is offering £10 off a minimum £40 shopping bill after the attack. The one-time offer starts Wednesday and runs for a week and is available to current Co-op members and new sign-ups, but excludes staff. A source at Co-op told the BBC sales have picked up strongly in recent weeks as stock levels have returned to normal. The source added the deal was intended to show that Co-op was 'on the front foot' ahead of the busy summer trading period. But customers are not happy with this offer with one saying: 'This isn't compensation, it's marketing.' Earlier this year, Co-op faced a major cyber attack that disrupted its operations and exposed customer data. In May 2025, hackers broke into the supermarket's IT systems, stealing past and present member information. The criminal group calling itself DragonForce, said it had infiltrated the company's IT network and stolen both customer and employee data in its cyber attack. This incident was part of a wider wave of attacks hitting other UK retailers like Harrods and M&S. Now, the brand is offering this discount in a bid to woo its customers but retail consultant Catherine Shuttleworth said the offer showed that members may have already decided to go elsewhere for their shopping. The brand said if members spend £40 or more in store, they will get £10 off their shop. But Ms Shuttleworth said the £40 minimum spend is too high for Co-op shoppers, who usually spend around £10 to £15. Customers have also echoed this sentiment, with one taking to social media, saying: 'What a joke, a £40 shop at the co-op is basically a £30 shop anywhere else 'Don't think I've ever spent more than £20, there's a reason I only pop in for a few bits that the weekly shop didn't cover 'This isn't compensation, it's marketing.' Another shopper said: 'So that would bring a £30 shop elsewhere down to £35 at the Co-op.' The retail giant initially downplayed the attack by saying it had 'pre-emptively' shut down parts of its IT network after detecting an attempted breach. But the anonymous hackers behind DragonForce contacted the BBC with evidence of databases they had accessed, containing the user names and passwords of all employees, as well as customer membership card numbers, their names, home and email addresses and phone numbers. The BBC said hackers sent the first extortion message to Co-op's head of cyber security in an internal Microsoft Teams chat on April 25. The message read: 'Hello, we exfiltrated the data from your company. We have customer database, and Co-op member card data.' The chain conceded 'personal data such as names and contact details' had been taken from its membership scheme after the devastating scale of the attack was revealed. Cop-Op has been approached for comment.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Co-op offers members discount on shopping after cyber attack
Retailer Co-op is to offer its members £10 off a minimum shop of £40 following disruption caused by a recent cyber grocery chain said it had not yet completely recovered from being targeted by hackers last month, which resulted in a significant amount of customer data being the offer appears generous, one analysts said the majority of customers do not spend £40 or more per shop, so it would not appeal to many one-off deal, which runs from Wednesday for a week, is open to existing Co-op members, and a shoppers wanting to sign up, but not to staff. A Co-op source said since stock levels had returned to normal over the past few weeks, there had been a strong pick-up in offer was to show that the Co-op was "on the front foot" ahead of summer trading, the source told the retail consultant Catherine Shuttleworth said the offer indicated that members may have started to shop elsewhere and was an effort from Co-op to try to get them said if members spend £40 or more in store, they will get £10 off their shop. Easy to redeem? "You'd be pushed to spend that in a Co-op - the average shop would be between £10 and £15. It's a very high threshold for a convenience business," added Ms said the chain was trying to show commitment to its frequent shoppers, but suggested the business was "not going to be huge redemptions on that offer".Ms Shuttleworth said members would probably appreciate practical help on securing their data some rural areas such as Skye in Scotland, the Co-op is the main shop - albeit with a choice of other smaller the majority of Co-op stores are in urban areas with more competition. 'Near to full recovery' The retailer said it was "very near to making a full and complete recovery" from the recent cyber attack and added its 2,300 stores were returning to usual the attack, which came to light in May, hackers got into Co-op's technology networks and stole past and present member retailer shut down its systems to restrict the damage, and managed to continue to trade, but there is still some behind-the-scenes disruption, the source complained of empty shelves as the incident disrupted deliveries of fresh said its offer was a "gesture of appreciation" to its 6.5 million BBC understands that Co-op is not planning to offer any fraud prevention or identity Shuttleworth estimated that the cyber-attack would have cost Co-op "millions of pounds" in lost said the offer was "a call to customers to come back", and for Co-op to show that it was open for business."If you can't manage to get what you want, you go elsewhere," she added.
The Guardian
14-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
M&S ‘praying for sun' but full recovery from cyber-attack unlikely this summer
The bosses at Marks & Spencer will surely be praying for sun. As UK temperatures rise over the coming week, M&S will be hoping it prompts shoppers to fill their virtual baskets with shorts, swimwear and sandals to get its summer sales back on track. After six weeks of costly disruption as the result of a cyber-attack, the retailer started taking internet orders again on Tuesday, making a selection of its fashion ranges available for standard home delivery in England, Scotland and Wales. However, the partial resumption of online services does not mark the end of the website woes. Shoppers in Northern Ireland were told they would have to wait a little while longer before theycould place orders, while click-and-collect and next-day-delivery services would only become available again in the coming weeks. Retail analysts were unsurprised that the UK's biggest clothing retailer had prioritised getting fashion back online before beauty and homeware, given the limited time M&S has to sell seasonal stock. 'They will be praying for a hot summer so people keep buying summer clothes,' said Catherine Shuttleworth, a retail commentator and the chief executive of Savvy Marketing. 'Now they have got to get their operation up and running, but things are in the wrong place. I think the challenge is that not a lot is online in the right sizes.' There was clearly pent-up demand for M&S clothing among loyal customers, judging by excited comments shared on social media and among friends in Whatsapp groups when the retailer announced it had restarted online orders. However, that delight soon turned to disappointment, as shoppers were informed they would have to wait up to 10 days to receive their order. Others discovered the items they had been coveting were out of stock. 'I attempted to order some jeans last night, but by the time I finished adding things to my basket, my size was gone,' said Kirsten Jones, a customer. 'Stock is pretty low, I think I'm just going to wait until business is back to normal.' M&S has already said its six weeks of lost sales will prove costly – and has estimated it will take a £300m hit to profits this year as a result of the cyber-attack. The incident began over the Easter weekend – too late in the year for the retailer to cancel orders for its spring and summer clothing ranges with its suppliers. M&S could have lost up to £130m in online clothing sales during the period its website was down, according to an estimate by the data firm GlobalData. Some customers may have heeded the chief executive Stuart Machin's plea to visit its physical stores during the online switch-off, but it is unclear how much of the spend shifted to shops or how much was lost to competitors, given that not all customers would have been able to visit a branch or may have found insufficient stock on the shelves. With its supply chain thrown into disarray by the attack, lack of availability continues to dog M&S in store. Clare (who did not want to share her last name) was looking through the racks of summery outfits at M&S's Stratford branch in east London on a weekday morning. Eyeing a new pair of shorts for an upcoming holiday to Mallorca, she said she could not find many in her size. 'I usually browse online, but tend to shop in store if I'm nearby. I've not been able to find my size in store for a few weeks, and even now I'm struggling,' she said. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion M&S's stores play a crucial role in its online operations, and are involved in two-thirds of online orders, through customers either picking up or returning purchases. As a result, getting all services working again is a key milestone for the retailer, according to Clive Black, the head of consumer research at M&S's broker, Shore Capital. 'They need to get click and collect back up. They need to get [their hi-tech distribution centre] Castle Donington working. They need to get the full assortment online,' said Black. 'It may be August before you actually see a normalised M&S clothing offer in store and online.' Tuesday's online restart came just as many rival retailers were launching their summer sales, giving shoppers the chance to pick up bargains elsewhere at a time when retail sales and spending data suggests consumers are watching their wallets and cutting back on purchases. Analysts say M&S will need to hold its nerve to try to recoup some of its lost earnings. 'They will probably try and stay at full price initially, at least, to get that money back. But I'm assuming they have a lot of excess stock, so they will eventually need to start discounting more to get through some of that, as they won't be able to keep selling more seasonal summer items,' said Pippa Stephens, a senior apparel analyst at GlobalData. M&S was hit by the cyber-attack just as its bosses were seeing the fruits of their turnaround plan, having gained market share in both food and clothing last year, while the company's shares hit an almost nine-year high in April. It may take the high street stalwart some time to rebuild trust with shoppers after the attack, which involved some personal information relating to thousands of customers being taken. However, M&S shares are moving upwards again and its clothes are winning plaudits from fashion commentators. 'I think M&S's summer was already damaged, and they will want to see the back of it,' said Shuttleworth. 'What they are doing now is to get the business right so that back to school means back to normal
North Wales Live
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
Sign up to our newsletter The Bookish Drop
Have you ever wished that there was a one-stop shop for all things book recommendations and book news? Well, wish no more because The Bookish Drop is here to satisfy all your bookish cravings (specific books and sweet treats are not included, sadly). Journalists Catherine Shuttleworth, Danielle Kate Wroe, Talya Honebeek and Zoe Delaney will send you the latest book-related news straight to your inbox once a week. What will be in The Bookish Drop each week? If you want to know the gossip about new releases months before they're available on shelves, or want exclusive interviews with authors, or to find your new favourite indie writer who you can tell all your friends about, The Bookish Drop is perfect for you. We're curating bookish news into one easily digestible newsletter so you don't have to trawl the internet looking at different sources, because we've already done it for you. Books that you may be avoiding because of their Goodreads rating - we'll convince you to read. We'll find social media posts that you're going to be interested in and love, helping you build your bookish communities. Free of charge, we'll curate book news from around the world that you'll be interested in. Book nooks of your dreams, genres you've never even thought to pick up before, and so much more directly to your inbox. And, what's more, you can participate in polls, tell us where you read from to feature in our 'Book Nook of the Week' section, and let us know about book clubs you want to shout about, your favourite places in the UK to grab a coffee and read, or even just let us know what sort of things you want to see from us in the future. We're building a bookish community, and we want you to be a part of it. How do I sign up to The Bookish Drop? The Bookish Drop will be published on Substack, an independent platform with no ads, making for a clean reading experience. You can read the newsletter there on desktop or the app, or simply from your email inbox. So not only do you not have to go searching for the news itself – or wait for the algorithm to decide this is what you might like to see – you don't even have to search for the newsletter. Once it's live it's sent directly to you to read at your leisure. No doomscrolling, no ads, no clutter, just the book news and reviews that matter to you. Sign up below for The Bookish Drop newsletter.
Wales Online
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Sign up to our newsletter The Bookish Drop
Sign up to our newsletter The Bookish Drop Introducing our free newsletter the Bookish Drop and why if you love books you need to subscribe Our free Bookish Drop newsletter has launched. (Image: Getty ) Have you ever wished that there was a one-stop shop for all things book recommendations and book news? Well, wish no more because The Bookish Drop is here to satisfy all your bookish cravings (specific books and sweet treats are not included, sadly). Journalists Catherine Shuttleworth , Danielle Kate Wroe, Talya Honebeek and Zoe Delaney will send you the latest book-related news straight to your inbox once a week. What will be in The Bookish Drop each week? If you want to know the gossip about new releases months before they're available on shelves, or want exclusive interviews with authors, or to find your new favourite indie writer who you can tell all your friends about, The Bookish Drop is perfect for you. We're curating bookish news into one easily digestible newsletter so you don't have to trawl the internet looking at different sources, because we've already done it for you. Books that you may be avoiding because of their Goodreads rating - we'll convince you to read. We'll find social media posts that you're going to be interested in and love, helping you build your bookish communities. Article continues below Free of charge, we'll curate book news from around the world that you'll be interested in. Book nooks of your dreams, genres you've never even thought to pick up before, and so much more directly to your inbox. And, what's more, you can participate in polls, tell us where you read from to feature in our 'Book Nook of the Week' section, and let us know about book clubs you want to shout about, your favourite places in the UK to grab a coffee and read, or even just let us know what sort of things you want to see from us in the future. We're building a bookish community, and we want you to be a part of it. How do I sign up to The Bookish Drop? The Bookish Drop will be published on Substack, an independent platform with no ads, making for a clean reading experience. You can read the newsletter there on desktop or the app, or simply from your email inbox. So not only do you not have to go searching for the news itself – or wait for the algorithm to decide this is what you might like to see – you don't even have to search for the newsletter. Once it's live it's sent directly to you to read at your leisure. No doomscrolling, no ads, no clutter, just the book news and reviews that matter to you. Sign up below for The Bookish Drop newsletter. Article continues below
