Target Encounters Significant System Disruption Before Holiday Shopping Peak

During the frantic final week before Christmas, the last thing consumers need is for a shopping app to malfunction.

Target has reported that its digital platforms, both the app and the website, are currently experiencing technical issues, affecting their capacity to manage and track online orders efficiently.

A representative of the company conveyed to Business Insider that they are conscious of occasional performance problems impacting their digital systems and are actively working on a resolution. Meanwhile, their physical store locations remain operational and welcoming holiday shoppers, with apologies extended for any inconvenience caused.

Reports of these disruptions have been climbing steadily over three hours, as shown by Downdetector. At 10:16 a.m. ET, the company's social media profile recommended that users retry their transactions after a brief waiting period of one to two hours.

The company's customer support, responding to inquiries via the @AskTarget handle, expressed regret over the inconvenience this issue has created and stressed the urgency of resolving the problem related to viewing and processing orders. They confirmed that a team is diligently working to fix the service issue.

This technical difficulty also seems to be interfering with the processing of some gift cards.

With less than a week remaining in the high-pressure holiday shopping season, retailers are encountering a surge in online transactions.

According to Adobe, American consumers have already spent in excess of $187 billion this holiday season, marking a 6.1% increase over the same time last year. Adobe predicts that e-commerce expenditure will surpass $253 billion by the conclusion of December.