How Much Did the 'Target Apocalypse' Really Cost?

What should have been a relaxing Father’s Day weekend shopping trip for many became extremely stressful June 15 when registers went down at Target Corp. stores across the country.

Lines wrapped around the stores and associates handed out free drinks and snacks in an attempt to calm angry customers as shoppers discarded filled carts and baskets, with some having flashbacks to the retailer’s 2013 data breach.

However, after two hours of mayhem, Target officials assured its shopper base that the holdup was a result of an internal technology issue, and “was not a data breach or security-related issue, and no guest information was compromised at any time.”

Hashtags such as #TargetApocalypse2019 and #TargetDown flooded social media, but many thought the worst was over until several reports came out the following day of problems with credit card processing at many stores—allegedly borne from an unrelated issue with the credit card processing vendor.

So how much did the "Target Apocalypse" really cost the retailer? Bryan Gildenberg, chief knowledge officer for Kantar Consulting, told Bloomberg that while we won’t know the damages for sure until Target discloses its quarterly revenue, two hours of business on a busy Saturday is likely worth about $50 million, not counting the 90 minutes of select outages on Sunday.

In addition to the loss of sales, NPR Business Correspondent Alina Selyukh pointed out that the incident was “really bad PR,” with Target’s biggest rivals, Amazon and Walmart, “constantly changing the rules of the game.”

“What Target has is crazy brand loyalty,” Selyukh said. “It's known for low prices for high design in clothes and housewares. But if you're someone who spent hours standing in line on a beautiful weekend day or, like me, three hours on what was supposed to be a quick run, that's not the kind of experience that instills loyalty."

On the other hand, Target has been winning over customers with its aggressive e-commerce and store fulfillment strategies over the past year, as well as with goodwill gestures such as dramatically expanding benefits and raising hourly wages for its employees, including part-time workers, and reducing emissions across its supply chain.