News: Disney Store Site Crashes at Height of Merchandise Sale

[*NikkiBell*]

This morning, the five remaining dolls from the Disney Designer Doll Collection were to be released on DisneyStore.com. However, site traffic exceeded the company's expectations causing a fatal crash. Many guests were unable to purchase the dolls to complete their collection. Complaints poured into Disney Store's customer service line as well as on their social networking forums like Facebook. Brief responses from the company were released as a result with the most current below.

From Disney Store's Facebook Wall:

We know that every time you visit DisneyStore.com and shop for your children, family and friends, or for yourself you expect to find quality products matched by a quality online experience. On Tuesday, October 18 our site experienced technical difficulties as thousands of guests simultaneously attempted to purchase our limited edition doll collection. Due to the unprecedented traffic to our site, many guests visiting us online were disappointed by the shopping experience.

The Designer Doll Collection has been the fastest selling limited edition doll collection in Disney Store’s history. We have learned many lessons with the release of this collection, and are implementing new systems to manage limited edition product sales more effectively in the future. We understand that we are viewed by our guests as more than a retail destination; we are representatives of Disney where exceptional guest service is always expected.

To apologize and thank you for your continued loyalty we would like to give you a special 1-day gift. The discount code, THANKYOU25, allows you to shop online merchandise at 25% off* on Thursday, October 20. We value our guests and we will continue to strive to deliver a magical shopping experience at DisneyStore.com every day.

Thank you,
Disney Store

What is your take on the situation? Did Disney underestimate the popularity of a collectible item? Was the 25% discount code enough to remedy what happened? Should more dolls be produced and sold?

 

[MelissaFromRI]

I didn't even know about these dolls
Thanks for the coupon code though

 

[elainesj]

UGH! I JUST spent $100 on Disneystore.com today after spending all morning trying to get the site to load.

25% off would have been nice. I should have waited

Ah well, I got what I wanted and was reasonably content with what I got. No dolls though!

 

[WaltD4Me]

I tried to order one of the dolls today...never could get on the site it was totally crashed. I wasn't surprised, the site doesn't work well on a normal day, plus besides the Designer dolls, the 2013 cruise itineraries came out...WAY too much for a site that doesn't handle normal traffic well. It used to make me mad, but anymore it's so pathetic all you can do is roll your eyes and keep your money.

 

[WaltD4Me]

On Tuesday, October 18 our site experienced technical difficulties as thousands of guests simultaneously attempted to purchase our limited edition doll collection. Due to the unprecedented traffic to our site, many guests visiting us online were disappointed by the shopping experience.

The Designer Doll Collection has been the fastest selling limited edition doll collection in Disney Store’s history. We have learned many lessons with the release of this collection, and are implementing new systems to manage limited edition product sales more effectively in the future. We understand that we are viewed by our guests as more than a retail destination; we are representatives of Disney where exceptional guest service is always expected.

A couple observations.......

First, they had to have SOME expection of what was going to happen. When the first set of dolls were released in Disney Stores, people were waiting outside for them to open, they sold out in minutes. They got alot of complaints because there was no limit on the number of dolls someone could buy and the early birds bought up all the dolls (many of which wound up on ebay)...because of the complaints the next release was to be online with a purchase limit.

Did Disney fire their "internet monitoring" department? There has been alot of talk about the dolls on-line, there were even release count downs on some Disney sites and on Facebook. I don't see how they could have been surprised by the site traffic.

They learned many lessons from this??? Seriously? Like they are some new start up company that was caught off guard when their product suddenly took off due to internet buzz? ... Geez.

 

[cherokeemamma]

I wish I had known the dolls were going to be so popular. When I went in to the Disney Store in N. Atlanta to pre-order my copy of the Lion King they had quite a few of those dolls. As a matter of fact, the CM pointed them out to me. I just ignored her suggestion.

 

[jpeka65844]

If it's not cupcakes, it's dolls.

Does Disney think that NO ONE wants to buy their merchandise???? How dumb can they be to so grossly underestimate their fan base/desire for product?

Oh wait....apparently everyone wants the cheap, homogenized CRAP they sell everywhere....just not the good stuff.

Right?

 

[LMO429]

On a positive note at least disneystore.com is finally starting to sell better merchandise

 

[*NikkiBell*]

You can say that again. I'm glad that they are starting to get better merchandise for collectors.