Marks & Spencer has delayed the delivery of online orders following the deluge of orders it experienced over the Black Friday weekend.

Marks & Spencer's website

The retailer has doubled the delivery period for online orders from five days to up to 10 days in order to cope with demanded created by four days of promotions starting with Black Friday.

Customers who opted for standard delivery, which costs either £3.50 or is free for orders over £50, are affected, whereas next-day home delivery costing £3.99 remains unaffected.  

A spokesman said: “Our customer is always our top priority and that is why we’ve extended some of our delivery options.”

The pressure on the supply chain has been exacerbated by the bedding in of its distribution centre in Castle Donnington, which opened in May.

Marks & Spencer recorded an 8.1% slide in online sales in the first quarter after moving off its Amazon platform to a new website.

The retailer’s boss Marc Bolland denied there were problems with the website in July and pledged web growth in time for peak trading.

Other retailers affected

Argos has also experienced delivery problems after running Black Friday promotions and has delayed delivery times to ensure stock levels return to normal.

Currys PC World has had to push back next-day delivery on small items and will make the service available again from Wednesday.

A spokeswoman said that overall the retailer has been able to maintain a “great level” of delivery service since Black Friday and is offering 80% of customers delivery within 48 hours.