Amazon.com Inc was hit with a technical issue that had prevented some shoppers from placing orders during the first few minutes of company's biggest summer marketing event, Prime Day.
The company's shares were down more than 1 percent in after-hours trading.
In a statement, the world's largest online retailer said many shoppers were ordering items successfully despite the glitch.
One Million Deals
This year, Amazon is offering more than one million deals worldwide for Prime Day, up from more than 100,000 just two years ago.
As well as limited-edition Lightning Deals, Amazon users in the US will also be able to avail of 140 curated Spotlight Deals, which offer deep discounts on some of the online retailer's most popular products.
In addition, members can explore bespoke Prime Day deals organised by more than 40 of their most-shopped-for interests – from style and fashion to electronics, cooking, travel, and more.
A Rare Occurrence
Commenting on the glitch that beset Amazon, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said, "The failure of Amazon's systems and sites is rare: the online behemoth is one of the most advanced digital retailers and is usually able to cope with even extremely high levels of demand.
"There is no doubt that this will erode sales and deter some customers from buying. The outage is especially problematic as many of Amazon's Prime deals are promoted for a set window of time - something that could cause a great deal of frustration for potential customers."
Saunders added that despite the issues, the marketing around Amazon's Prime Day is now at an all-time high, "maybe even more than it anticipated. Fortunately, that means the day will likely be a financial success even with the various system problems. That this year's event is longer than in previous years will also play to Amazon's advantage."
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Additional reporting by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
