Retail websites crash on Black Friday: What to expect today

Several retail websites crashed on Black Friday, as holiday sales started earlier than ever.

Online sales on Wednesday hit $2.4 billion, a nearly 31 percent increase from 2017. As of 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, shoppers had spent another $1.75 billion online, up 28.6 percent from last year, according to Adobe Analytics data.

Shoppers on Walmart's website complained about technical difficulties while people on Twitter also complained about GameStop's malfunctioning website. Bob Buffone, chief technology officer at web-optimization software company Yottaa, told Business Insider that some of these companies don't have the site infrastructure to handle increased traffic.

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Fashion retailer J.Crew’s website also crashed on Black Friday, and experts say it could have cost the company $775,000 in sales, according to retail aggregate LovetheSales.com. Lowe’s saw similar issues, temporarily shutting down the site. The e-commerce website was back up around 2:30 p.m.

Customers also complained about glitches on Lululemon’s and Brooks Running’s websites on Black Friday. This news organization is monitoring any issues on retail sites for Cyber Monday.

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