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High Traffic Disrupts Walmart's Website on Busy Shopping Day

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The day after a brief disruption on Amazon's site due to a Microsoft Xbox sale, Walmart's website suffered high traffic issues on Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The problems began at around 3:30 a.m. CST and lasted throughout the morning, with many users encountering blank pages, delays, or other problems when attempting to access the site. By early afternoon, the site's users were informed to come back later. According to Keynote Systems, the site's troubles were likely caused by a higher-than-anticipated traffic surge.

Key Takeaways:

  • Walmart's website, Walmart.com, experienced high traffic issues on Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, due to a larger-than-expected number of visitors.
  • The problems began at around 3:30 a.m. CST and lasted throughout the morning, with users encountering issues such as blank pages, delays, or other problems when attempting to access the site.
  • Keynote Systems, which monitors website performance, reported that its probes detected issues with Walmart's site starting at 3:30 a.m. CST.
  • Walmart's site appeared to be back to normal by mid-afternoon on Friday, after various users encountered frustration.
  • The issues at Walmart's site were the only notable disruptions reported by retailers, with other online retailers performing well.
  • The Xbox 360 sale on Amazon's site was interrupted for 15 minutes on Thanksgiving Day, with the first 1,000 customers purchasing the item at a discounted price of $100.
  • The sale generated a significant surge in traffic, with Amazon also selling out of discounted items such as Mongoose mountain bikes, Barbie dolls, and Amazon Prime memberships.

Statistics:

  • Walmart's website was the 21st most popular site in the U.S. in September, with 22.8 million unique visitors.

Sources:

  • The Associated Press, quoted in "High Traffic Disrupts Walmart's Website on Busy Shopping Day" by Anick Jesdanun.
  • comScore Media Metrix, cited in The Associated Press article.
  • Keynote Systems Inc., mentioned in The Associated Press article.
  • National Retail Federation, quoted in The Associated Press article.

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