A week-long Myer website crash due to ‘communication breakdown’: IBM

The website of major Australian retailer Myer was brought down for over a week during the post-Christmas sales due to a “communication breakdown”.

“An IBM team of local and global experts worked around the clock with Myer to resolve the issue with its online store. The technical issue was caused by a communication breakdown between internet servers and a software application,” according to an IBM spokesperson.

“IBM and Myer will work together to conduct a thorough review to ensure this issue does not reoccur. IBM is committed to supporting Myer to continue to provide high-quality service to its customers.”

After advertising “Australia’s biggest stocktake sale” in the lead up to Boxing Day, visitors to its website on December 26 discovered that the website had been taken down, with the company saying on its Facebook page that it was “experiencing some technical difficulties” on its site.

It wasn’t until January 2, a full week later, that the website was back up and running. The retail giant said it would be monitoring the site and offering free shipping as compensation for failing to fulfil its advertised availability during the Christmas period.

However, many customers have continued to be unable to shop online, with Myer stating as late as Sunday that people were “still experiencing difficulties with the site”.

Brookes placed the monetary loss on the sales at “less than 1 percent of our business, which translates to AU$31 million”.

Resources:

http://www.zdnet.com/myer-website-crash-due-to-communication-breakdown-ibm-7000024799/