Target must feel like it’s been living in a Dickens novel for the past few weeks: the best of times and the worst of times all rolled into a twenty-one day package. First, it launched its brand new non-Amazon hosted web site on August 24. The site was two years in the making, and expectations in the pundit community were high. Reactions from said pundit community were muted at best. Personally, I thought the site was serviceable. Two years or no two years, with tens of thousands of products to load up to the site and tens of thousands of associated digital assets (photos, descriptions, prices, availability, zoom-in-close-ups and cross-sells and up-sells) this was a huge job, regardless of the technology used. Then it launched its eagerly awaited Missoni line on September 14 both in stores and on-line, and that’s when things got really out of hand.

Ironically, I was participating in a RetailWire discussion about Target’s site on the morning of September 14, when one of the Braintrust panelists reported the site was down at 9:43 am. None of the available panelists knew that this was the date of the Missoni launch, and locked down at our computers, we were unaware of stampedes happening at terrestrial stores. Finally, I checked in on the Twittersphere and found out about the launch, the stampedes, and the fact that stores were already running out of product. By noon EDT, the site was back on-line and stable, but I think the Missoni product was pretty much sold out anyway.

So, on to the Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times:

Target launched a new line that was a runaway success. The Missoni partnership yielded wildly successful results, selling out by the end of the first day.

It was the worst of times: This is a two-parter.

Worst of Times Part One:

With two years to bring the site on-line, didn’t anyone do a stress test on the thing? I mean, I get that the Missoni launch was a big deal, but will Black Friday be any less? Or Cyber-Monday? As much as I dislike this artificial holiday created for no particular reason, it seems to drive a lot of web promotions and consequent traffic. I can forgive not being able to zoom in on products – a feature that has pretty much become standard on most other websites, including Walmart’s – as I said, there was a lot to be done in a relatively short period time, but stress tests were common practices even a decade ago, when I was a CIO. Leads me to ask the question – how many of us are in the same boat? Have we lost track of basic IT testing practices in the age of Facebook (where bugs are familiar and tolerated by the user community)? I sure hope not.

Worst of Times Part Two:

Just how much money did Target leave on the table by underbuilding/buying the Missoni product? Selling out in 4 hours is not a victory – it’s a mistake. Back in 1999 I was still a CIO, working for a party supply company as we approached the ultimate singularity – the rolling of a millennium. How much New Years Eve 2000 product to buy? Certainly an overbuy would be unforgiveable, impossible to liquidate and apparently a gross margin catastrophe. By mid-day on December 31, 1999, the New Years Eve product was long gone, and the everyday, solid color partyware was also gone. Basically our stores were sold out to the walls. On January 2, 2000, our seasonal product buyer was oh-so-proud that she sold out, while the rest of us wondered just how many high margin sales dollars we’d left on the table…never to be regained. We could restock our solid color product, but 2000 was gone forever.

I don’t think Target is alone in this problem, by the way. In our recently released annual Merchandising Benchmark, Twenty-first Century Merchandising Takes Hold, Retailers reported far less concern about being under bought than they reported in 2010. Only 9% were concerned that uncertain economic conditions were driving them to underbuy, vs. 26% of last year’s respondents. And we know for sure that port traffic is flat vs. last year. How many of us are going to find ourselves in the same position? And what can we do to respond if it turns out we are?

In a twist on the words of William Shakespeare, I have not come to bury Target, nor have I come to praise it. Instead I have come to ask the question: How many of us are in the same boat? And how much will it cost us if we are?