In the age of fast shipping and one-click ordering, a single technical glitch can be detrimental to retail sales. A server outage during the holiday season could be a critical issue.
Target is a prime example, considering the brand experienced multiple technical outages in 2019. The retail giant’s in-store registers and online services were down for a few hours as recently as September. Target’s payment-processing system was down for more than a day in June.
The June outage cost Target an estimated US$100 million in sales, and left customers feeling frustrated with their shopping experience. Shares fell 2 percent after the incident.
Target’s blackout was nothing new for consumers and retailers alike: Almost 96 percent of IT decision makers worldwide experienced at least one customer-impacting outage in the last three years. Just last Thanksgiving, J.Crew, Ulta, and Walmart experienced outages lasting from as little as a few minutes to several… E-Commerce Times