Shoppers thrilled as Marks & Spencer confirm return of 'popular feature'

Celebrating your birthday isn’t just about getting presents and cards from family and friends. Signing up to loyalty schemes and newsletters can give you access to a variety of freebies, deals and discounts from retailers to mark the big day.

In order to help celebrate their customers, a lot of brands and stores offer people a birthday gift during their birthdays. This can range from a free sweet treat, to makeup, skincare or exclusive discounts. One of the many companies that used to offer their customers birthday treats is Marks and Spencer. However, this perk was stopped after the company was the victim of a cyber security attack.

However, one excited shopper named Jo, known online as This Mum Cooks, recently took to TikTok to help spread the message that the supermarket chain is offering their customers the treat once more.

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"Marks and Spencer relaunched the free birthday gift," she excitedly revealed.

She went on to explain that several membership perks, including the free birthday gift, were stopped following the shopping chain's cyber attack that happened during Easter weekend in April. The attack involved ransomware and impacted online ordering, click-and-collect and contactless payments.

A Marks & Spencer online letter revealed that the compromised data comprises customer names, birth dates, residential and email addresses, phone numbers, household details and online purchase histories.

In order to protect themselves and its members, several services were quickly stopped. However, while the cyber attack isn't completely resolved yet, the shopping giant hasbrought back some of the most missed servicesand perks after having restored some of its systems. This includes the popular birthday gift perk, where members get a free gift on their birthdays every year.

"But what if your birthday was between the cyber attack and now?" Jo said. "Don't worry, Marks and Spencer are giving free birthday gifts to everybody in May, June and July. So if you birthday falls in one of those months, go and check your Marks and Spencer Sparks app."

In a press release from 17 July,Marks and Spencer revealedthat their Sparks loyalty scheme is now fully back online and will feature a range of "thank you" treats and rewards.

It read: "Customers will be surprised with a range of rewards across Fashion & Home appearing in their Sparks hub. Plus, M&S’ popular Coffee Stamp scheme will soon be reinstated across M&S Café’s across the UK – giving customers who have collected their six stamps a free coffee in their Sparks Hub to redeem during their next visit.

"In addition, M&S will be giving out over 1.8 million birthday treats to those celebrating their birthday this month, as well as a belated birthday treat for customers who had celebrations in May or June."

How to get a free birthday gift from Marks and Spencer

But what if your birthday gift perk isn't in the app? There are a few things you can do. The first thing that Jo recommends is to refresh the app and make sure you have the most up to date version.

Secondly, she urged people to make sure that they've entered their birthdays into the app. "Because, if your date of birth isn't there, then they don't know when to give you your birthday gift," she said.

To do this, she explained: "So go into your account, into your personal details, and in there, you should have a section where you put your date of birth.

"If all of those things are correct, and you are set up to receive communications from Marks and Spencer, you should be getting a free birthday gift. Anything from Percy Pigs all the way to a bottle of champagne.

"So if your birthday has been recent, go take a look and let me know what you get."