Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    +1.76 (+2.16%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +42.10 (+1.90%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    56,107.87
    +1,299.78 (+2.37%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,338.05
    +12.12 (+0.28%)
     

Hundreds of thousands of Debenhams customers stuck in huge virtual queue as store offers 70% ‘fire sale’

<p>A woman walks past a Debenhams store in Manchester</p> (PA)

A woman walks past a Debenhams store in Manchester

(PA)

The Debenhams website has been overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of shoppers searching for bargains after the chain collapsed.

More than 925,000 people were forced to wait to enter the website after a queue system was triggered due to “exceptional demand,” the department store said.

The chain is launching a 70 per cent off pre-Christmas “fire sale” clearance in what is expected to be the last ever sale across its remaining 124 stores.

It comes after last ditch attempts to save the chain collapsed on Tuesday morning.

JD Sports, which was tipped to rescue the 242-year-old department store, said was no longer interested after Arcadia, which is worth £75million a year to Debenhams, collapsed.

ADVERTISEMENT

A notice on Tuesday night told shoppers attempting to get on the website: "You are in a virtual queue.

"Sorry for the wait, we are currently using a virtual queue due to exceptional demand.

"We will get you onto the site as soon as possible.

"Thank you for your patience.”

Some customers complained that the website crashed completely while they were in the virtual queue when reached the checkout page.

All of Debenhams' 124 UK stores are set to close following its collapse.

This means all 12,000 employees likely stand to to lose their jobs when the shops cease trading, unless administrators strike an agreement for all of parts of the business.