Target’s designer collaboration collections are known to fly off the shelves. Discount collections by designers like Zac Posen and Rodarte sold out within hours, so it’s no surprise that Target’s latest collection by Missoni sold out in stores almost immediately. What is surprising, however, is that the collection, which launched Tuesday morning, drew so many online shoppers that Target’s website buckled beneath the traffic.
The collection became available online at 6:00am and by 7:47am, the Target’s website was down and remained that way through the late afternoon. A spokeswoman for Target noted that, “The excitement for this limited-time designer collection is unprecendented.” The company added that demand for the collection was greater than that on Black Friday, which is known to be the biggest shopping day of the year.
There is speculation that the problems had something to do with Target’s recent platform switch; until adopting its own platform three weeks ago, the company’s website had been operated through Amazon’s back end. Target, however, insists that the problems were induced solely by the heavy demand for the collection.
The site is up and running now, and though many items are out of stock, there is still a healthy selection of Missoni for Target items available. By contrast, local the Targets in Timonium and Towson are sold out of nearly everything except a few children’s items and accessories. The Towson store reports that it may get more items next week.
Or, if you’re really desperate, you can purchase any item from the collection on eBay, where a search for “Missoni for Target,” returns 38,285 items with inflated prices.
