Amazon Prime Day starts with some hiccups

Online checkout problems are indicative of heavy e-commerce traffic, but still were not what Amazon.com hoped to see in the first hours of Prime Day.



According to multiple media reports, a glitch was causing problems for some U.S. and U.K. consumers attempting to check out their Amazon purchases the morning of Tuesday, July 12. Numerous shoppers tweeted their frustrations using hashtags such as #PrimeDay and #PrimeDayFail. A sampling of tweet complaints includes:



I removed my two #PrimeDay items from cart. Now I can't re-add them. "You have claimed this deal". Get it together, @Amazon. #PrimeDayFail (Pat George @pcg79)



My time is more valuable than hitting the add to my cart over and over again #PrimeDay is a #PrimeDayFail (Carol Stout White @beachingmom)



I'm no expert, but I think #PrimeDay would be more successful if items actually loaded in my cart. #PrimeDayFail Steve Stauning (@SteveStauning)



Amazon tweeted it was working on the problem. However, in a repeat of negative sentiment expressed in 2015, many consumers also turned to Twitter to vent their frustration about what they perceived as a lack of quality deals. For example:



#PrimeDay is basically like shopping in the clearance section of Marshalls... #PrimeDayFail (Lisa Santacruz, @Lisa_Santacruz)



#PrimeDay is great if you like buying worthless crap that has little to no discount. #PrimeDayFail (Totes Wild, @TotesWild)



Actually surprised by how mediocre all of the #PrimeDay deals are. #PrimeDayFail (Danny Stauffer @dlsking)



If site problems and customer dissatisfaction continue, a number of other retailers are running rival online sales events today. The most prominent is Walmart, but others include Toys ‘R Us, Newegg.com, J.C. Penney, and Gap.



Check ChainStoreAge.com for updates and a wrap-up article later today.