Best Buy Cancels Orders, Overwhelmed by Holiday Demand

Expecting a new gadget from Best Buy? You might want to make other plans. Best Buy announced last night that it wouldn’t be able to fill all of its online orders due to overwhelming demand.

Best Buy said in a statement:

“Due to overwhelming demand of hot product offerings on BestBuy.com during the November and December time period, we have encountered a situation that has affected redemption of some of our customers’ online orders. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and we have notified the affected customers.”

Best Buy did not say how many orders would be cancelled. The Street reports that several customers have received emails over the last week saying that their order had been cancelled. Some had placed their orders close to a month ago on Black Friday.

One user wrote on Twitter:

“Never shop at Best Buy. Ordered TV on BlackFriday & they cancelled my order today, not in stock. Said not their problem. No present 4me!”

And customers aren’t the only ones who are disappointed. Industry experts say that this could be devastating for Best Buy.

Brennan, co-director of the Institute for Retailing Excellence, told Mercury News:

“Personal disappointment will go along with this, and it will be remembered. From a publicity standpoint, this is devastating. You have to ask yourself, ‘Are people likely to go back to the same source or go to other sources the next time?'”

Did you order anything from Best Buy? Did it come on time? Or are you going to have an empty stocking this year?