Annoyed shoppers threaten to ditch Kmart over 'insulting' online fail

Kmart’s online shopping system has left shoppers fuming, with some even threatening to take their business elsewhere as unprecedented demand sees long waiting times, orders suddenly cancelled and accounts incapacitated.

In a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus, many fans of the shop have turned to online ordering to keep their shopping safer, though stores remain open as essential services under Australia’s social distancing laws.

It seems, however, the store’s online shopping service is struggling under the weight of thousands of online orders, leaving many customers outraged.

Customers vent about online system

After introducing an online queue system to steady the orders, shoppers took to social media to vent their frustrations, and demand better service from one of the coutnry’s most popular retail chains.

Some reported placing orders only to have them refunded with no explanation days later, others couldn’t access their accounts, and many were fed up with longer and longer online wait times.

One man shared a screengrab of the site’s waiting time message along with a scathing review.

“So Kmart this should not be a thing!” he wrote. “You should have the infrastructure to handle ‘high volumes’ pffttt what a joke.”

Another was slightly more understanding but notably ticked off.

“I understand why the website is so slow but I can't even reset my password,” she wrote, tagging the store. “The password page bugs out every time I do it.”

“I've been trying to buy products for a week now and I still can't.”

“This is bullsh*t Kmart,” a slightly more furious customer ranted. “You are not a small scale startup that you can't handle web traffic.”

Some tried to bring a little perspective to the situation pointing out the store, like every business, was adapting to an unforeseen global event, and that if ever there was a time we could afford to wait, it would be right now.

“People complaining about [Kmart’s] waiting times online,” one person wrote. “What does it matter - is there somewhere you need to be? Maybe in a different room in your house?”

“People are dying - get some perspective!”

At least one did point out that other shops in a similar situation did not seem to be facing the same delays, and said they would be relocating their budget business elsewhere.

“Big W Australia doesn't seem to have this problem,” they pointed out. “Guess [where] I'm shopping, now and when this is over.”

“What an insult.”

The dramatic response to the online shopping fail sparked a response from a Kmart spokesperson who told news.com.au they have been ‘overwhelmed’ by the volume and stock availability has been impacted.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with the volume of orders over the past few weeks and stock availability has been impacted, making it difficult to keep up with our customer needs,” they said, adding a ‘sincere apology’ to customers impacted.

“We’ve made the decision to temporarily convert three of our 240 stores into order fulfilment sites to help support the growing demand for our online home delivery services,” they added.

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