Target customers were sent into a frenzy on Saturday after a nationwide system glitch led to long checkout lines. Shoppers were unable to make purchases as a result of the issue, according to a tweet from Target.
The store tweeted that teams across the country were working to resolve the issue on Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the problem, or when it was expected to be fixed.
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Weโre aware that guests are currently unable to make purchases at Target stores. Our teams are troubleshooting now and we apologize for the inconvenience. We will provide an update as soon as possible.
โ Target (@Target) June 15, 2019
The Dallas Morning News reported that by 1:30 p.m. local lines at a Target in Dallas had begun moving. Workers reportedly started manually entering barcode numbers at registers. Maggie McLean, a local resident, told the outlet she entered a Northeast Dallas Target with her 6-year-old daughters when the store announced that scanners weren’t functioning.
She decided to “slow walk” around the store, looking at different things, in the hope that the problem would be fixed by the time they were ready to check out. The store was still recovering from a power outage following a major storm on Sunday, according to the newspaper.
“We looked at a lot of things and the girls got to get a toy, Barbie stuff,” McLean told the Dallas Morning News. “We’re going to go to another store for all our cold stuff.”
McLean said she was looking at Facebook while waiting in line at the Target. A friend from Pennsylvania posted that she was also waiting in a long line at Target.
“I messaged her,” she said.
Target employees were helping people checkout, while others walked around the store collecting carts that had been abandoned by shoppers deterred by the outage.
Social media was flooded with Target shoppers sharing their experiences. One said that employees started handing out snacks and coupons at her local Target to help customers with their wait.`
@Target I made it! The registers are taking several swipes to actually scan each item and it took 20 mins for seven things but we are all good now. I survived #TargetApocalypse2019 #Target pic.twitter.com/3YlDAPVYTh
โ Lionized ๐ฆ (@SirLionized) June 15, 2019
โI have two kids, now I have to go to a whole other store. I just want to buy this stuff. I HAVE TWO KIDS.โ -suburban mom at #target during #TargetApocalypse2019
โ Matthew Hayes (@matthewd23) June 15, 2019
Check on your female friends. We are not ok. #TargetApocalypse2019 pic.twitter.com/uyxrNP5JUF
โ Stephanie Cano (@CStephanieM) June 15, 2019
Dropped my wife off at Target, then opened my phone to see #TargetApocalypse2019. Didnโt realize Iโd never see her again. Oh well, 11 years and 1 day is a good run.
โ Michael Stanclift (@vmstan) June 15, 2019
This is serious stuff #TargetApocalypse2019 pic.twitter.com/9eYOzJ9irQ
โ Eric Hart (@ericbhart) June 15, 2019
Figured out how the apocalypse starts – all the registers at @Target checkout crashed 20 minutes ago, on a Saturday afternoon, and we are about 10 minutes away from The Hunger Games starting…. #TargetDown #Target
โ The 305 Pirate โฎ๐ ๐ดโโ ๏ธ (@305Pirate) June 15, 2019
Never forgot those we left behind. #TargetApocalypse2019 pic.twitter.com/foUm5dRgtR
โ Amber Elise (@dulivre) June 15, 2019
Weโre calmly choosing the juiciest among the line to eat first. #IDontHaveMuchTime #Target
โ Wonkaโs Driver (@TheWonkaTonka) June 15, 2019
The Target glitch appeared to involve the scanner system, and affected most โ if not all โ the chain’s 2,000 stores in the United States. A similar, but much more serious, issue occurred five years ago. It led to unauthorized access to the payment information of customers, and lowered Target’s fourth quarter sales.
Following the breach, 22 percent fewer households said they shopped at Target between January 2013 and January 2014, according to a KantarRetail survey.
“While the breach caused an immediate blow to sales and will affect traffic for some time to come, it also exposed the larger longstanding issue of Target’s fragile relationship with its less-engaged guests,”KantarRetail senior analyst Amy Koo said at the time. “While monthly guests demonstrated their commitment to Target since the breach, the same is not true for the less-engaged.”