How can Target's website be so terribly slow?

[Bernadine]

I don't understand how a company as huge as Target has such a crappy website.

[Chirp]

It actually ran fine before they did their big website overhaul about a year ago.

My guess is that they upgraded the website, but didn't bother to update the servers. So now their servers are overloaded and can't keep up, making the whole damn thing run like molasses in January.


::shakes fist at Target corporate::
Upgrade your servers!

[fuckyourcouch]

i agree. and almost every time i go there, it's not only slow, but sometimes entire sections of the page won't load/let me click on things.

[RBL]

Last time I tried to go to their website the page wouldn't even load.

[textbookcase]

Their website is the worst.

[Deleted]

Have you tried the Target app? In comparison to the website it's not bad.

[pantsparty]

I remember reading an article about this. They used to run their website from Amazon's web services, but then decided to build their own site from scratch.

[Bernadine]

But how can they have not fixed it by now?

[sawyerthedestroyer]

Maybe it's a psychology thing.

Customer: "oh well the site's not working, I'll just go to the store instead."

*goes to store, breathes in the magical shopping endorphines Target pumps through their airvents, and spends 4X as much money because everything is so cute.*

[pantsparty]

Aug 27, 2012 10:32:04 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

But how can they have not fixed it by now?

My guess is they outsourced the entire build to a team in India, for instance. So they're project managing the build, but did not actually do the work. Which makes resolving the issues that much more difficult for such a complicated website.

They probably started this whole thing because it would be cheaper, too. Just think of the business they've lost!

[adhdfashion]

I've always wondered why Target's website was a pile of crap. Maybe they want you to get flustered? So we all will go to the store. It's way harder to get someone to make impulse purchases online.

[Deleted]

Their site is awful. We had a wedding registry at Target, and their website added random crap to our list all the time.

[VeryViolet]

Why has no one made a "the site that shall not be named IT Department" joke?! Come on a bunch of you are way funnier than me!!

[pantsparty]

Aug 27, 2012 11:01:45 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

Aug 27, 2012 10:55:47 GMT -5 pantsparty said:

My guess is they outsourced the entire build to a team in India, for instance. So they're project managing the build, but did not actually do the work. Which makes resolving the issues that much more difficult for such a complicated website.

They probably started this whole thing because it would be cheaper, too. Just think of the business they've lost!

The way it's been explained to me is they announced the partnership break with Amazon too quickly and had to build and migrate to their new site on a shorter timeline using internal design teams and partnering with outsourced vendors. After the Missoni clusterfuck they hired an ad agency to fix it but they weren't happy with that agency so they added a second agency and now it's a big mess.

Yes, I read they fit a 3 year build in a 2 year timeframe. Whoops.

[lemondrop]

Because they keep hiring contractors to avoid paying benefits and karma's a bitch?

[lemondrop]

Aug 27, 2012 10:56:35 GMT -5 @bettyhomewrecker33 said:

Their site is awful. We had a wedding registry at Target, and their website added random crap to our list all the time.

Yeah, our baby registry almost three years ago was completely messed up and I couldn't use it. Customer service was also zero help.