Amazon’s Labor Day sale was hit by checkout issues, frustrating customers and having potential sales impact.
TakeAway Points:
- Technological difficulties with Amazon’s checkout procedure prevented shoppers from completing orders during its Labour Day sale.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported no technical issues in spite of the outage, limiting the problem to Amazon’s e-commerce platform.
- The interruption could have a detrimental effect on investor perception and sales performance as it occurred during a significant sales event.
- Amazon experienced a significant website outage on Friday, affecting checkout processes and potentially impacting its $148 billion quarterly sales.
Amazon checkout difficulties
On Friday, Amazon’s checkout function experienced technical difficulties, preventing customers from completing their purchases. Users attempting to proceed to checkout encountered error pages featuring photos of dogs, a common error message on Amazon’s platform. The issue was reported on both Amazon’s e-commerce website and its mobile app. According to Downdetector, a site that tracks online service complaints, there was a noticeable spike in issues with Amazon.com starting around 4 p.m. New York time.
Despite the checkout problems, Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides the data center infrastructure for Amazon’s website, did not report any technical issues. AWS downtime can often lead to widespread internet problems due to its extensive use by various companies, but this was not the case during the checkout malfunction.
Impact on Sales
The timing of the checkout issues coincided with Amazon’s Labor Day sale promotions, which offered discounts on various products. Customers took to social media, particularly the X platform, to express their frustrations about being unable to purchase discounted items due to the glitch. The Amazon Help account on X responded to some of these complaints, recommending that users contact the company for assistance.
Amazon has previously warned investors that technical incidents can negatively impact sales and the perception of its products and services. The company reported robust sales of nearly $148 billion in the second quarter, but outages like this can be costly for the largest online retailer.
Amazon spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the checkout issues. The technology news site GeekWire was among the first to report the outage. The absence of a prompt response from Amazon has left many customers and investors in the dark about the cause and expected resolution time for the technical difficulties.
Amazon Website Outage
On Friday, Amazon.com Inc. experienced a significant issue on its retail website, preventing some shoppers from completing their purchases. Users attempting to click “Proceed to Checkout” encountered error pages, affecting both the e-commerce website and the mobile app. According to Downdetector, a service that tracks online complaints, the problems began around 4 p.m. New York time.
The error pages displayed a message indicating that something went wrong, accompanied by photos of Amazon employees’ dogs. Outages like this can be costly for Amazon, which reported sales of approximately $148 billion for the three months ending in June. Amazon spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The technology news site GeekWire was among the first to report the outage.
