Target Responds Immediately To Check-Out Glitch
By Hannah Ash, contributing writer
Target Corp, which has suffered its fair share of omni-channel issues in the past 12 months, announced a recent check-up hiccup was nothing more than that. Shoppers had been experiencing significant delays at check-outs and an alarm amongst consumers that Target had been hacked again; word of the possible hack spread quickly on Sunday the 15th via customers turning to social media to share the possible security breach with their online networks. The corporation quickly responded to assure and engage customers with both free bonuses and engagement via social media.
The official word from Target is that the delay at checkout some shoppers experienced was not in any way, shape, or form a security breach. A spokeswoman with the company, Molly Snyder, stated, “earlier this evening, Target experienced a glitch that impacted the speed of checkout at some of our U.S. stores. Since that time, we’ve been able to restore our check-out process. Once again, we sincerely apologize to anyone inconvenienced by this issue.” Target has still been in recovery mode since the significant data breach that occurred during the 2013 holiday sales season; millions of customers’ credit card data was compromised and the retailer has endured a public relations mess ever since.
Most recently, its chief executive officer Gregg Steinhafel, who had been with the company for more than 35 years in various capacities, resigned at the beginning of May, citing the breach as one of the driving causes behind his resignation. In March, chief information officer Beth Jacobs resigned as a result of fallout from the breach. It has been widely reported that Target had information that hackers could possibly steal information a week before any credit card data was lifted; headquarters in Minneapolis was alerted that consumer data was in jeopardy and the executive branch failed to act.
Target reacted quickly to this most recent check-out glitch, which apparently resulted in many full shopping-carts being abandoned as customers opted out of waiting in long lines by instituting as much customer-engagement as possible with coupons, free popcorn, cookies and beverages. Target also made itself immediately available via social media to concerned customers with its @AskTarget campaign on Twitter, responding individually to questions directed at the corporation about the Glitch.