As Cyber Monday passes and retailers feel the affect of the start of the online holiday shopping season, Kohl’s corporate management should learn a valuable lesson and perhaps reconsider their online tactics - at least until their IT staff can facilitate what their eMarketing department promises their customers. Kohl’s web site crashed on Black Friday according to Julie Gardner, Kohl's executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. She stated "Due to a significant increase of online traffic, Kohls.com has been unavailable for intervals throughout the day." More accurately, according to many of Kohl’s 875,154 Facebook fans, the “11:45 early shopping option” they gave some of their customers rendered the entire web site useless by 11:50 p.m. CST.
While Kohl’s does not use social media to the effect of Virgin or Starbucks, Kohl’s does have a large Facebook presence, along with about 1,180 followers on Twitter. They offer many coupons through these online avenues that they do not offer their brick and motor customers, such as the aforementioned “early shopping option.” These additional coupons may offer their online customers great additional deals, but they also provide their IT department more hurdles due to their complexity in nature.
According to Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, one of its recent surveys indicates more businesses will be taking advantage of the free advertising that Facebook and Twitter pages offer. They state, “47 percent of retailers surveyed say they will be increasing their use of social media this holiday season.” As special online offers increase, retailers must make sure their legacy IT systems are prepared to handle messages their eMarketing departments are offering. Offering the coupon and promoting the brand on social media outlets is only the beginning. They must also remember that converting the shopper is the ultimate goal, and evaluate any risk that may affect that goal before taking it on as an endeavor.
Based on Friday’s occurrence, the assumption is that Kohl’s did not prepare for the effect of their social media efforts. Kohl’s management in the past has stated that a good portion of their business comes from online. As shoppers’ online buying habits morph from the traditional Cyber Monday model, and more consumers take advantage of online sales while online at home instead of work, retailers like Kohl’s need to adapt with them. Their ill preparedness cost the company significant downtime of their online store, and ultimately countless dollars of revenue.
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