Yahoo's Cyber Monday blues

Though yesterday was Cyber Monday, the online equivalent of Black Friday, sales were slow at small businesses that use Yahoo's Merchant Solutions System because of technical difficulties. Yahoo acknowledged problems with the e-commerce transaction system around 8:30 am PST, and the glitch was solved around 11 pm PST time -- long after all but the most dedicated shoppers had probably gone to bed. According to the NY Times, Yahoo blamed the difficulties on increased holiday traffic and issued this predictable statement via e-mail:

“Yahoo’s relationship with our merchants is extremely important to us and we value their loyalty,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and we are continuing to put processes in place to prevent further disruptions.”

So far, the online community isn't taking very well to the company's attempts at damage control. As one angry user aptly posts on Webmasterworld.com:

How can Yahoo with over 10,000 merchants have [their] entire shopping cart system go down on the busiest day of the year? They should have been prepared for this--evidently they were trying to skimp/save on costs and were underprepared for this. This will cost them in the [long] run as many merchants will inevitably leave.

Based on the irate response from small business owners featured in the NY Times, and on Webmasterworld.com, Yahoo should get its crisis communications plan into action.