Millions of Walmart customers faced disruptions Tuesday as the retailer’s website and mobile app experienced a widespread outage, preventing users from completing purchases, accessing accounts, or using key digital services, according to multiple reports.
The disruption, which began early Tuesday morning, affected Walmart’s online operations nationwide during a period of heightened demand following the holiday season.
Downdetector showed more than six thousand problem reports in the past 24 hours, highlighting the scale of the outage.
Walmart, one of the largest retail chains in the United States, relies heavily on its digital platforms for both e-commerce and supporting services, including grocery pickup and home delivery.
The outage also impacted Sam’s Club and Walmart’s Spark Driver service, which coordinates drivers for delivery operations, raising concerns about potential delays in customer orders.
“Customers rely on our platform for essentials and holiday preparations,” said John Harris, a retail technology analyst based in Chicago.
“An outage of this magnitude, even for a few hours, can ripple through supply chains and affect both sales and delivery schedules.”
Technology experts suggest that large scale outages at major retailers often stem from server failures, software glitches, or third party service disruptions.
“Retailers must ensure redundancy and robust monitoring systems to minimize downtime,” said Linda Chen, a cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure consultant.
“Even minor errors can escalate quickly when millions of users attempt access simultaneously.”
Historically, Walmart’s digital platforms have experienced isolated outages during peak shopping periods, such as Black Friday, but Tuesday’s disruption appears unusually widespread.
In comparison, similar outages at other major retailers like Target and Amazon have triggered significant public frustration, highlighting the increasing dependence on online retail infrastructure. Shoppers across multiple states reported encountering error messages, app crashes, and checkout failures.
“I was trying to order groceries for my family and the app kept closing,” said Maria Lopez, a customer from Houston. “It’s frustrating when you plan around online orders and can’t access the services you rely on.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Walmart had not provided a public timeline for restoring full service. Analysts expect the company to issue updates soon and implement measures to prevent similar disruptions in the future.
The outage underscored the growing reliance on digital retail platforms and the potential impact of technical failures on customer experience.
Walmart’s efforts to restore services and address the underlying issues remain closely watched by both consumers and industry observers.
