Supermarket giant Woolworths has issued an apology after “technical issues” left its online ordering system on its website and mobile apps offline on Monday morning.
The online ordering system went down at 7.30am AEST and was back up and running by 10.30am AEST, which left customers unable to place any new online orders between that time.
“Our website and apps are now back up and running for our customers to place online orders,” a Woolworths spokesperson said a statement.
“We know our online services are playing a key role supporting the essential needs of many customers across the country right now. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience the outage caused our customers this morning and thank them for their patience as we worked to resolve it as quickly as possible.”
Woolworths is still currently investigating the cause behind the glitch. But while the system is now back online, some afternoon and evening deliveries are expected to be delayed.
The outage comes as millions living in some of Australia’s major cities are currently locked down due to state government-enforced COVID-19 restrictions.
Woolworths reported online sales grew 92% from July to December 2020.
During that half of the year, Woolworths established three new dedicated ecommerce fulfilment centres in Notting Hill, Lidcombe, and Carrum Downs. Carrum Downs was also the first estore to deploy Takeoff microfulfilment technology, which the supermarket touted was the first time in Australia.
In April, Woolworths also announced plans to build its first automated fulfilment centre to further speed up home delivery orders. Subject to state government approval, the plans will see Woolworths construct a 22,000-square metre centre in Sydney’s west at Auburn.
Last month, the company lodged development plans with the Sutherland Shire Council to build a new online customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in Caringbah, New South Wales to service the growth in online grocery orders.
If Woolworths gets the green light to build the centre, construction is expected to commence this year ahead of plans to launch the centre by 2024.
Related Coverage
Woolworths pays AU$223m to bump up stake in analytics firm Quantium
Woolworths plans to stand up an analytics business unit called Q-Retail once its deal with Quantium is completed.
Woolworths to invest AU$50m into upskilling staff with tech skills
Staff will be trained in digital, data analytics, machine learning, and robotics.
Woolworths inks hybrid cloud strategy deal with Dell Technologies
Adopting a hybrid cloud strategy will help the grocery giant scale applications based on demands.
Woolworths starts FY21 on a high by recording an 87% jump in total e-commerce sales
A focus on improving the customer digital experience and an increase in network capacity during the quarter are the reasons behind the uplift, the company said.
