5am on Black Friday -- are you up for it?

Posted Nov 24th 2006 6:03AM by Brian White
Filed under: Before the Bell, Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Internet, Competitive Strategy, Wal-Mart (WMT), Target Corp. (TGT), Black Friday

Well, it's just now 5am CST Friday morning -- Black Friday morning. Before I head to some daily chores, I wanted to look at some storefronts on the web -- since there is no way I am going to brave the messes that are surely stacking up outside retail stores all over the place -- and see what bargains were being flashed at the likes of Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon.com and others.

The first bad news of the morning happened when I tried to hit www.walmart.com -- the image to the right is the message I was greeted with when trying to access the website of the world's largest retailer.

This is *not* a good sign for those that were probably wanting to shop from their PJs in the comfort of their own homes rather than drive to a store in the dark *hoping* to get a special bargain by throwing elbows and being pushy (maybe).

Hope this "temporarily available" message doesn't last for long -- because right now, woe is Wal-Mart. Or, at least, its website.

Tags: Black Friday, BlackFriday, Target, TGT, Wal-mart, WMT

Print this

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-24-2006 @ 6:30AM

Jack Schneider said...

In a few hours we will find out how stupid it was to stop layaways on Nov 19. The deals are good on blitz day but the lower middle class cannot afford a Plasma TV without some help from the merchant.

11-24-2006 @ 8:18AM

Vince said...

Nice comment on the "honesty" level of Wal-Mart's communications; I tend to doubt that this is really a SCHEDULED maintenance event.

11-24-2006 @ 11:07AM

gordon said...

Here is the response I got from them...

Thank you for contacting us, we appreciate your feedback about our site.

We sincerely apologize that our website and systems were not available
during your recent visit to Walmart.com. We strive to provide our
customers with the best online experience possible. With that in mind,
please be assured that we are presently working as quickly as possible
to update our website and customer service systems.

Again, we thank you for taking the time to send us your suggestions and
comments to help improve our Web site. We value your input in
continually improving your online shopping experience. Your satisfaction
is our number one priority!

If we may be of further assistance, please email us at help@walmart.com,
or call us at 1-800-966-6546. We're here to serve you from 7:00 AM EST
to 2:00 AM EST, 7 days a week!