Due to shortages, Best Buy has had to cancel many online orders just before Christmas.
December 23, 2011- Some customers of Best Buy have received bad news just days before Christmas. Best Buy has had to cancel some online orders only days prior to the big holiday. The largest retailer in the U.S. for specialty electronics said on Wednesday it had been overwhelmed with purchases of certain products on its website. This has caused the retailer to cancel some of those orders.
The electronics retailer based in Minneapolis would not say the number of orders that had been cancelled nor what products were no longer in stock. The shortages have created a negative image for the company, which has recently increased its campaign for shopping online. They did so to try to fight off competition from other retailers. The holiday season can represent 40% of the year’s sales in just 30 to 45 days.
Glitches usually happen and should not be too unexpected because of the huge surge on shopping online this holiday season. Nevertheless, there is a risk of customer backlash. The orders being cancelled will probably not have much effect on holiday sales this season but could cause some customers to look elsewhere the next time they shop for electronics.
Total sales are only up 2.5% overall but online sales have increased by over 15% to top the $32 billion mark for the holiday season. With that increase in sales, many retailers are finding it hard to stay up with the demand.
