Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

That last problem is also troublesome, and it illustrates one of the biggest challenges Target faces. This is indeed an entirely new site, but it also has to jump into tens of millions of in-process transactions from the nation’s third-largest retailer.

The site, which launched about 1:30 AM New York time on Tuesday (Aug. 23), featured a Daily Deals countdown clock on the homepage. When it launched, the clock was working but the link just generated an error if someone clicked. On Wednesday, the link worked fine but the countdown clock stopped showing the days and times of its countdown.

The new launch seems to be relying heavily on security-by-obscurity, but the obscurity isn’t all that obscure. For example, shortly before the new site launched, Target displayed a page telling people the site was down and the new one was about to be launched. The source of that holding page displayed the URL for the staging site for the new Target.com, an area that remained un-password-protected almost two days after the launch.

A nice touch on the site is the Woof Page, which is an error page that says “Woof! We are suddenly extremely popular. You may not be able to access our site momentarily due to unusually high traffic. Please stay here and we’ll try to get you in as soon as we can.” The user doesn’t need to reload the page. When the site can handle another visitor, the page automatically refreshes itself and delivers the homepage.

Target’s McKoy said that feature is just part of the initial site’s growing pains.

Pressed for any example of customization that would set the new Target.com site apart from its key rivals, Target spokesperson Morgan O’Murray E-mailed: “One example is in the near future if you have a baby registry, the baby homepage customizes to show the right information for the correct age of the baby.”

There are two concerns with that example. First, that functionality has been widely used by Amazon and many other sites for quite a few years. It’s clearly not setting Target apart. Second, that’s not even part of the site launch; O’Murray said it was “in the near future.” Neither O’Murray nor McKoy could—or would—cite any specific thing the new site can do that illustrates Target’s stated push for personalization, improved security and streamlined cart and checkout.

McKoy also stressed the new site’s merged-channel capabilities but, there again, no specific examples were offered of anything the new site would enable customers to do in-store or on a mobile device that they can’t already do, either on Target.com or with other major retail sites. He ruled out price customization, but he wouldn’t specify what the site is doing.

When asked if the customization was based on cookie-tracking, session tracking, existing CRM history or history of customers starting with day one of the new site, McKoy said “it’s based on all of those interactions that we’ve had with guests.”