- J.Crew’s website crashed during Black Friday sales shopping.
- Customers are complaining on Twitter that they are unable to add items to their carts online.
- J.Crew issued an apology on Twitter, saying that the technical difficulties were due to high demand. Later on Friday afternoon, J.Crew took its website offline.
- Experts said on Friday afternoon that it could have cost the company over $700,000 in lost sales so far.
A broken website on one of the biggest shopping days of the year is any retailer’s worst nightmare, and unfortunately for J.Crew, it’s come true.
Irate customers took to social media to complain that they were unable to complete orders while shopping Black Friday sales at J.Crew.com.
Some said they were able to browse but unable to add items to their cart. Others said they could add items but couldn’t pay for them, and were finding themselves losing all the items in their basket.
“Can’t log in, then the shopping bag purges itself,” one shopper wrote on Twitter early Friday morning.
J.Crew's technical difficulties, which have lasted five hours, could have impacted around 323,000 shoppers and cost the company $775,000 in sales, according to retail aggregate LovetheSales.com.
"It is the worst time for this to happen - especially for a company that needs every sale it can make," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said.
He continued: "That said, I don't think it will have a detrimental impact over the longer term, but it will likely have cost J Crew money on one of the biggest shopping days of the year."
Several customers have messaged complaints to J.Crew's helpdesk on Twitter:
@Jcrew_help every time I go to checkout, having logged in and put several things in my basket, it states the basket is empty. 😡 what gives?!
— Swine and Wine (@SwineAndWine) November 23, 2018
@jcrew_help showing 9 things in my basket but then when I click on the basket to check out it says empty? pic.twitter.com/EbOomr9aXo
— Alyssa Nicole (@lifealawife) November 23, 2018
@jcrew_help Hey there. I’m shopping and when I go to checkout the message says my cart is empty. I tried a few times.
— Cole Harmonson (@coleharmonson) November 23, 2018
@jcrew_help I cannot place my order! Keep clicking on the button and i am sent back to the review page again
— RaghavT (@RaghavT2) November 23, 2018
The problems stretch back to late on Thanksgiving evening:
@jcrew_help can't sign up to the website. doesn't work. tried 10 times
— Eddie Kuhn (@EdUncensored) November 23, 2018
In response, J.Crew posted a message on its Twitter page apologizing for the technical difficulties, saying they are due to high demand. A spokesperson did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on when shoppers will see the website up and running properly again.
Happy Black Friday! Due to high demand, we’re experiencing some technical difficulties with our site right now. Apologies to anyone having a problem…we’re working to fix it ASAP!
— J.Crew (@jcrew) November 23, 2018
Later on Friday afternoon, J.Crew took its website offline.
J.Crew is among retailers such as Lululemon, Walmart, and Ulta who have experienced problems with their websites crashing as Black Friday sales are in full swing.
Read more: Black Friday is starting earlier than ever - and companies like Walmart and Lululemon weren't ready
Experts say these problems are likely due to stores not having the sufficient infrastructure to handle increased traffic online.
"If you have not load tested your site at five times normal traffic volumes, your site will probably fail," Bob Buffone, chief technology officer at web-optimization software company Yottaa, told Business Insider's Kate Taylor on Thursday.
According to Adobe Analytics, online shopping is booming this Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Online sales were up 28% on Thanksgiving Day this year and are on track to hit over $6.4 billion on Black Friday.
More on Black Friday 2018:
- Thanksgiving is killing Black Friday by replacing it
- Black Friday deals sold out at stores like Walmart and Target before Friday even began - and people are furious
- Macy's, Best Buy, Kohl's, and JCPenney are being slammed for being open on Thanksgiving - and some people are threatening not to shop with them this holiday season
- Walmart says it's offering thousands more deals than last year on Cyber Monday in a direct shot at Amazon's most valuable day
- Walmart shoppers are complaining that stores are running out of iPhones as Black Friday sales begin
