Tesco has experienced a two-day IT outage, preventing customers from ordering goods or tracking deliveries on its website or app.

The reasons behind the outage, which began at 7am on Saturday, are still undisclosed.

The Big Four supermarket receives 1.3 million online orders every week according to its own statistics.

This not the first time Tesco has fallen victim to cybercrime. In 2014, Tesco was forced to deactivate some online customer accounts after over 2,000 login details were leaked online.

Retailers have fallen victim of several highly disruptive cyberattacks globally in 2021. In July, a ransomware attack forced Swedish grocery chain Coop to shut almost all its 800 stores.

Online grocery shopping continues to large part of supermarkets’ revenues; the proportion of retail sales happening online increased to 28.1 per cent in September, compared to 27.9 per cent recorded in the previous month according to Kantar Media.

The news comes as Tesco is rolling out new technology. It launched its first “just walk out” store in Holborn in central London last week, enabling customers to buy groceries without having to scan items or visit a till.

“Since yesterday, we’ve been experiencing disruption to our online grocery website and app,” said a Tesco spokesperson. “An attempt was made to interfere with our systems, which has caused problems with the search function on the site.”
“We’re working hard to fully restore all services and apologise for the inconvenience.”

He added: “There is no reason to believe that this issue impacts customer data and we continue to take ongoing action to make sure all data stays safe.”

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