takealot website. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)

UPDATE: Takealot.com sees downtime again at 10:45. Fin24 will provide further updates.

Johannesburg - South African retailer Takealot.com has reminded customers that its sale will last for five days, after erratic behaviour.

Shortly after midnight the website experienced downtime with irate customers trashing the company on social media. The site was back online at around 10:15.

Takealot.com chief marketing officer Julie-Anne Walsh told Fin24 earlier on Friday that the company had taken down its website and apps due to the failure of a fundamental service within the platform, which has caused site-wide problems. 

“We seem to have found the problem and are now busy working through a backlog of orders. We hope to be back online as soon as the site has been stabilised,” she said. 

“Customers can rest assured that thousands of Blue Dot Sale deals are still available and the sale only closes at midnight on Tuesday 28 November. Please see our social channels for regular updates,” Walsh said.

Takealot apologised for disappointing any customers who were busy shopping this Black Friday, and said that services would be back up and running as soon as possible.