by High street pastry chain Greggs became the latest victim of an IT glitch this week, which left stores unable to accept payments and forced some to close or tell customers to order via Uber Eats.
Greggs is the latest big name on the British high street to succumb to IT glitches in recent days, following high-profile incidents involving Sainsbury’s, Tesco and McDonalds.
Greggs has since resolved the issue and says all stores will soon be able to accept cash and card payments again.
In a statement, a Greggs spokesman said: “We have resolved the technical issue which affected tills in some of our stores earlier this morning.
“Most of the affected shops are now able to accept card and cash payments again and we expect the issue to be fully resolved soon.
What happened at Tesco, McDonald’s and Sainsbury’s?
Tesco, McDonald’s and Sainsbury’s have struggled with IT glitches that have left shoppers unable to shop in recent days.
On Saturday, Sainsbury’s customers were unable to make contactless payments and the company was unable to fulfill online orders.
Sainsbury’s blamed an overnight software update for the problem.
A technical issue disrupted orders at Tesco on Saturday, with some customers canceling orders due to a technical glitch.
Tesco customers received an email if their order was affected, and if it was refunded, but in-store shopping and apps were not affected.
Tesco said: “We are working to resolve a technical issue which has meant we have had to cancel some online orders due for delivery today. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Sainsbury’s said: “We can confirm that contactless payments are now up and running in all stores, along with all other forms of payment. Our Online Grocery ordering system is working as normal and can customers order delivery anytime from tomorrow.
On Friday, McDonald’s restaurants in multiple countries including the UK experienced software issues that left staff unable to take and process orders.
There were also outages in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, which the burger giant blamed on a software issue.
McDonald’s Global Chief Information Officer Brian Rice said in a statement on Friday: “Many markets are back online, and the rest are in the process of coming back online. We are working closely with those markets that are still experiencing problems .”
What about Greggs?
An IT glitch affected shops in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff, with some shops putting up ‘Closed’ signs.
Others asked customers to place orders via the Greggs mobile app and then delivered food or asked customers to order via click and collect or Uber Eats.
Greggs has more than 2,450 bakeries across the UK.
The glitch lasted between two and three hours, and at one point wiped out 1.3% of the bakery chain’s value on the London Stock Exchange.
Are they linked?
The IT glitches are not directly linked, but the problems are similar – and companies have moved quickly to digital shopping channels in the wake of the pandemic, says Max Watson, Head of Retail Technology at Mindera.
Watson has led software development including at retailers such as Dunelm, and says he knows the problems faced by Greggs, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and McDonalds from upgrading systems at other companies.
Watson says the issues are likely to do with connecting new technology to older ‘legacy’ systems.
Watson told Yahoo News: “This morning Greggs became the fourth major retailer to be hit with a technical issue in the past week, following in the footsteps of the likes of Sainsbury’s and Tesco. The IT outage is the latest example of the challenges before retailers if they fail to adequately address legacy issues within their operational and payments systems.
“While the reason for the disruption at Greggs is currently unknown, it highlights the need for a stronger approach to digital transformation from retailers, particularly in the payments space.
“As the UK moves towards a more cashless society where card payments are the norm, avoiding this type of disruption should be a key focus for companies when upgrading their technology infrastructure, or risk they will get frustrated and even lose customers.”
Retailers need to increase attention to testing during software updates or when adding automated approaches to order and supply management.
This means organizations may have to spend more on IT, says Watson.
Watson said: “To avoid losing customer goodwill in one of the UK’s most competitive markets, companies need to double down on investment in IT infrastructure and adopt more agile processes now to ensure they don’t fall victim similar issues in the future. .”
“This is even more important for companies adopting more modern technologies like AI where many risks and potential pain points are still unknown.”
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