Global IT Outage Causing Challenges For Retailers

A global IT outage is causing intermittent and widespread challenges for retailers on Friday evening. The outage is a cybersecurity issue related to CrowdStrike, which began hitting Microsoft systems on Friday afternoon. This outage is currently impacting banks, radio stations, airports and retailers.

“We are hearing a number of technical payment issues with supermarkets who are still trading this evening. It appears that transactions via Eftpos are completing, however contactless and credit transactions are intermittent” reports Carolyn Young, Chief Executive at Retail NZ.

“This is a live issue that is developing as we speak where we only have visibility of what is happening in New Zealand. Our advice to retailers is to keep up to date with news on this global issue, advise customers of the current challenges being experienced at point of sale and not all transactions will process smoothly. Be vigilant on offering credit and ensure that online transactions have cleared prior to dispatch of goods. Get in touch with your terminal provider to obtain further information and advice regarding payments” added Ms Young.

“Our hope is that fast progress is made overnight to enable businesses to operate smoothly over the weekend.”

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