Nordstrom promised online shoppers early access to its annual anniversary sale on Thursday, but many folks found a frustrating experience rather than deals as the Seattle-based retailer’s website suffered technical difficulties for hours.
Shoppers with a Nordstrom credit card were given access to featured items eight days ahead of the sale, which starts July 21 and runs through Aug. 6. The Associated Press reported that some shoppers saw their virtual carts emptying at checkout.
Nordstrom apologized on Twitter:
We apologize for the site issues many of you are experiencing. Our teams are working hard to restore. Thank you for your patience.
— Nordstrom (@Nordstrom) July 13, 2017
Just before 1 p.m. PT, Nordstrom reported in a new tweet that the site issues had been resolved:
We're so sorry for the inconvenience experienced on https://t.co/1rB2EyMsNQ. The site issue has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.
— Nordstrom (@Nordstrom) July 13, 2017
But many shoppers displayed little patience for the retailer’s woes as folks complained that items in their carts would sell out while Nordstrom worked to fix the website and app issues:
@Nordstrom is there an estimate to how long the app and site will be down? I don't want my items to sell out ???? #firstworldproblems
— Shari Wilson (@CherBearBiz) July 13, 2017
#Nordstrom has been promoting #NordstromAnniversarySale like crazy but on day 1 site has been down more than 2 hours & phone just rings busy
— Kim Carroll (@kimmunicates) July 13, 2017
And now apparently the @Nordstrom website is down? Were yall unprepared for folks to actually shop yall site today?
— Married Feminist (@Jubilance1922) July 13, 2017
Nordstrom site and app being down preventing me from making #NSale purchases is incredibly frustrating.
— p a i g e (@paigeQ11) July 13, 2017
How is the #Nordstrom site still down?!! pic.twitter.com/WCgd1f4b0o
— Jennifer Wailes (@jenniferwailes) July 13, 2017
The glitch is especially distressing for Nordstrom in the wake of Amazon’s third annual Prime Day this week. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant, already a major thorn in the side of traditional retailers, reported the “biggest global shopping event” in its history as sales spiked 60 percent over last year during the 30-hour event.
GeekWire reached out to Nordstrom for further comment and details on what went wrong and will update when the company replies.
