Target.com Stumbles

Nearly two months after launching its new website, Target is still facing growing pains.The company’s aim to capture “the much-loved Target in-store experience in a convenient, digital platform” started going awry as early as launch day, when site links such as “learn all about what’s new” didn’t work.Clearly apparent, however, was a clean layout design featuring bold graphics and images. The rotating leaderboards and most banner ads were gone; links were moved and consolidated; borders were minimized; and colors were streamlined. (See image at right.)Target also boasted of the new site's more personalized options — including product recommendations, enhanced registries and lists, and social networking integration — along with improved search and navigation, consistent and clear product information, improved security, and streamlined cart and checkout procedures. However, not all of those features have come to pass yet.The retailer first announced plans in 2009 to build and manage its own platform for Target.com, which had been operated by Amazon.com since its inception in 2001. (See "Target.com Heads Home" in Related Articles.) After years of development, it unveiled the redesigned and reengineered site on Aug. 23. “Establishing a new platform for Target.com allows Target to reinvent our guests’ online environment and create a more user-friendly, reliable experience,” said Target.com president Steve Eastman, who resigned abruptly last week. (See “Target.com's Eastman Resigns.")Thus far, the experience has not been as user-friendly as the company had hoped. The entire website crashed only three weeks after launch, unable to handle an unexpected and unprecedented demand for the just-launched Missoni for Target collection. (See "Target Hits and Misses with Missoni.") Adding to consumer ire, many site visitors who were able to place orders before the line sold out were later informed that their orders had been delayed or cancelled.Target.com went down again for several hours on Oct. 6. Meanwhile, complaints ranging from inability to zoom in on photos, to nonsensical search results, to missing or dysfunctional registries, to actually being unable to complete checkouts continue to accumulate, with the TargetStyle Facebook page collecting much of the criticism.Target has created a “SWAT team” to work on fixes for the site, according to an article in Advertising Age.

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