|
Amazon suffers outage
|
 |
November 24, 2000: 3:51 p.m. ET
Web retailer's site temporarily fails on one of busiest U.S. shopping days
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Internet retailer Amazon.com's shopping Web site briefly seized up mid-morning Friday, leaving would-be click-shoppers in the lurch on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
|
|
VIDEO
|
|
 Bill Curry, spokesman for Amazon.com, comments on temporary Web site shutdown. |
|
Real
|
28K
|
80K
|
|
Windows Media
|
28K
|
80K
|
|
Shoppers and perusers were greeted with a temporary message shortly after 11:45 a.m. ET that read: "We're sorry, but our Books, Music, DVD & Video, Toys & Games, Electronics & Software and Home Improvement stores are closed temporarily. We expect to be back soon."
The site was back up and running at about 12:30.
The glitch came on what is traditionally one of the busiest holiday shopping days of the year -- and at a time when many on Wall Street are scrutinizing Amazon and other Internet retailers to determine how well they hold up in both sales and service during the crucial holiday season.
| |
 SHOPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS
|
|
| |
|
Click on the link below to read CNNfn.com's special report on the holiday shopping season.
Shopping for the Holidays
|
|
|
Amazon spokesman Bill Curry on Friday said the crash was an inevitable glitch that was not prompted by heavy traffic to the Web site.
"These are large, complex systems, and on rare occasions they hiccup," he said. "There is nothing systematically wrong that we can foresee. It is a great site with few interruptions, but these things can occur. In the long sweep of the history of mankind it will inevitably happen again."
Shares of Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates) gained $3.75, or 14.89 percent, Friday to close at $28.94. The stock is down more than 70 percent from its 52-week high of $113.
Curry said he saw little impact on Amazon's business from the outage, noting that the day after Thanksgiving was typically a busy day for the online store and he was confident that shoppers would return to the site.
Toysrus.com, which in August teamed up with Amazon, handing over all its order fulfillment, customer service and Web site operations to the Seattle-based firm, also shrugged off Friday's glitch.
Toysrus.com, the online unit of brick-and-mortar retailer Toys "R" Us (TOY: Research, Estimates) experienced widely publicized problems filling orders last December after it was overwhelmed by a crush of last-minute holiday shoppers.
"There are stores across the nation that are so busy today that people are lining up to get inside," said Toysrus.com spokeswoman Jeanne Meyer. "We think that any shopper today, whether they're surfing or driving, has to approach it with a modicum of patience."
"In our case, we make it a little bit easier and convenient," Meyer added. "For example, we anticipate there might be a couple of items that are popular that won't be in stock today. If you find that, you can sign up to be notified by e-mail when we replenish that item."
Toys "R" Us shares rose 31 cents to $19.56 in Friday's abbreviated trading session.
eBay joins the fray
Separately, online auctioneer eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) on Friday threw its hat into the holiday e-shopping ring.
The San Jose, Calif., outfit has launched a holiday section of its site where it will feature popular holiday gift items such as Sony's PlayStation2 game console.
At its "Priceless Gifts" section, eBay provides links to online auctions of hard-to-find holiday items such as the Harry Potter children's books, Pokemon game cards and other merchandise; classic gift items such as diamond jewelry and Waterford crystal; as well as extravagant items such as backstage passes to hit TV shows, makeovers with celebrity stylists and training lessons with some of the world's top athletes.
eBay's new holiday section also features a search service that notifies users when a specific item they are looking for has been put up for bid. It also offers gift cards that can be used for eBay purchases or wherever Visa credit cards are accepted.
eBay shares ended Friday's session $4.06 higher at $36.94. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
