• by Bonnie Morris , September 16, 2011

Target's shocking website shutdown during the mad rush for Missoni merchandise came as a complete surprise to customers and industry monitors alike. The approachably hip brand should have been better prepared, right?

Marketing pros say the tarnish will be rubbed away quickly and the retailer's web blooper will become a mere blip. That's just not right. When customers are marketed to so aggressively, when the PR machine is executed with such exquisite perfection, when everyone -- even people who had never heard of Missoni before now -- covets the brand, frustrating customers is simply not acceptable.

Target should make amends to those shoppers who decided to skip the in-store frenzy and instead shop online only to have their zigzag dreams dashed by a virtual self-emptying shopping cart.

I wonder if this debacle had happened to a less lovable brand whether industry watchers would have been less forgiving? Do we give big brands -- whose light, when shined on us makes us look cool -- more of break when they miserably fail? And, did the e-tail fail make the Missoni line that much hipper? After all, owning a piece of the 400-item Missoni for Target line will now be a badge of honor for shoppers who got through in the initial 90 minutes that the website was actually up and running. If only the label on the outside said so.

Limited-edition, high-end fashion lines translated for the masses are old news by now. Generating desire by many for mass-produced exclusive goods is a marketer's gift that Target pioneered and mastered through pop-ups, special events and truly ground-breaking collaborations. (Proenza Schouler teamed up with Target when the fashion label was just up-and-coming).

But today's consumers expect that their demands be met anywhere and everywhere. They also expect that their experience with the brand they love be seamless online and off. Brands need to satisfy those demands because consumers will not always be so forgiving when there are so many other temptations to be had for a click that actually works.