TOKYO -- Japan's immense consumer appetite for masks amid the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted or taken down e-commerce sites run by major companies, raising questions about how to balance customer satisfaction with costs.
Sharp, Mizuno and Fast Retailing brand Uniqlo were all overwhelmed with traffic during much-awaited product launches. Customers assumed that these businesses were ready for the extra traffic. That sites ended up crashing anyway illustrates the difficulty of predicting the magnitude of such surges.
