Last week, Target‘s website crashed under the weight of thousands of eager shoppers, all trying to snag the retailer’s exclusive line created by designer Missoni. This has left business analysts cautioning against assuming the web can nimbly adjust as consumers have taken to social media to complain. Target built tremendous buzz for the campaign by slowly releasing glimpses of the line’s items. In the end though, it all came down quickly when it come to the crowd crunch. “The lessons here are to plan and forecast these events very carefully, and not go for the big bang,” said Brian Walker, a Forrester Research analyst. “The big bang may be great to generate marketing hype and buzz, but can be a nightmare in serving customers, both online and offline.”
And Target is learning that a brand can get tarnished quicker than ever these days. Customers have Tweeted about their Missoni woes, and posted complaints to Facebook, too. “Wow Target, you really failed. Not only is your execution poor, but it just keeps getting worse. I’ve received 3 partial shipments of my orders, and all were equally screwed up,” said one customers on the Target Style Facebook page. This ability for customers to post negative feedback and poor reviews quickly across social media further proves that a business must prepare well in advance for any contingency.
Read more at The Boston Globe.
