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Yesterday, our sister site reported that Barneys had cancelled some of their online orders, due to a "technical glitch in their online order management system." The email sent out to customers offered an apology, and though they added that they'd be working "around the clock" to fix the problem, they "no longer have the inventory to fulfill the orders."
While doing some last minute holiday shopping last night, Madison Avenue Spy saw "dozens of 'corporate' employees scurrying throughout the store to pull product to fulfill online orders." She warns that this sort of online-order-cancellation problem has been an issue with Barneys in the past, and that the only way to 100% guarantee you get those $849 fur fingerless Lanvin gloves is to go there and buy them yourself.
She then spoke to an employee, who explained that all of Barneys' online merchandise is stocked in a warehouse, but the company only has one inventory system. When the warehouse is out of an item, it's snatched from the Madison Avenue Store to fulfill the order. However, many times a shopper at the actual store will purchase the desired item before those corporate folk can come and grab it, leaving your web orders big time cancelled. She also hears, however, that Barneys might be offering condolences in the form of $100 gift cards and personal shopping assistance.
So, what have we learned this year? Looks like it's do your shopping early, and do it in person.
· Barney's Scrambling to Fill Customer Orders [Madison Avenue Spy]
· Barneys Cancels Online Holiday Orders, Offers Sincere Apologies [Racked]