It wasn’t the best weekend for Target. The retail chain suffered through a register outage, but things apparently were getting back to normal as of Sunday evening (June 16). As well, there was no indication that the problem was due to hacking or a security breach.
According to a report from CNBC, the chain’s customers on Sunday “reported issues checking out at stores across the country, after registers were down for nearly two hours Saturday due to a system outage that created long lines.” As for Target, the “retailer said Saturday that registers were fully back online and said the outage was due to an ‘internal technology issue”’ and was not security related.
Twitter was populated with ancedotes and complaints from Target customers about card readers not working, and purchases being paid for in cash — during a time when many shoppers were seeking last-minute gifts for Father’s Day.
Target was most recently in the news for digital advertising. News emerged that the retail chain was reportedly in discussions with Triad Retail Media, the retail advertiser owned by WPP PLC, to acquire it.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported the deal is aimed at increasing Target’s digital advertising efforts. Triad’s main business is selling advertising space on the websites of retailers and helping brands create digital advertising campaigns. According to the report, talks are in the early stage and could break down. WPP had purchased Triad for about $300 million in 2016 from Rockbridge Growth Equity, the private equity firm.
Target and Walmart are trying to take a page from Amazon, which has morphed into a huge seller of ad space and is now the third largest online seller of ad space in the U.S. It is now only behind Google and Facebook. Citing eMarketer, the paper said Amazon’s ad business is expected to generate $11.3 billion this year.
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