IKEA Philippines website crashes as people sign up for loyalty club

The Philippine portal of IKEA crashed at midnight on July 7, just as it opened the registration of members for its loyalty club.

The Swedish furniture giant apologized for the "technical problems" on Facebook, explaining there was a surge of visitors on the platform.

“We feel your excitement, Philippines. Hang in there, the IKEA Family website will be back very soon!” 

“Our hardworking server is trying to let everybody in. Just refresh the page after a few minutes to get started again. Don’t worry, we’ll be back very soon!”

IKEA Philippines store manager Georg Platzer also issued an apology on Wednesday morning, saying more than 100,000 people tried signing up for IKEA Family at the first minute.

"We were prepared to anticipate a 120,000 sign ups in the first hour but, to all our surprise, we got a 100,000 people who tried to sign up already in the very first minute," he said in a video posted on FB.

The manager assured membership applicants that their teams were hard at work to resolve the issue, and that the site would be back up soon.

"In the mean time, we ask for your patience and we cannot wait to welcome everyone to the IKEA family soon," he said.

Platzer emphasized that Philippine customers will still be able to apply for IKEA Family membership for free even after the early registration period.

"I would also like to emphasize that the IKEA Family membership will remain to be free from today, moving forward to forever, and it's a lifetime membership for free. It's not only today. So please stay with us..."

IKEA is expected to open its first store in the Philippines later this year.

Ahead of the grand opening, the store announced that the first 100,000 members who sign up for their loyalty club IKEA Family will be entitled to special benefits including rewards, experiences, and design consultations. — LA, GMA News