Wal-Mart was not the only Web retailer to have trouble in 1999. Many companies found that they were ill-prepared for the large number of customers who decided to try electronic commerce in that year’s holiday season. Lost orders, unfilled orders, and shipments that failed to arrive until January 2000 were common for many Web retailers that year. Wal-Mart was noted as an industry leader in shipping and logistics management; however, the announcement on its Web site that it could not promise Christmas delivery for items ordered after December 14 was particularly embarrassing