Retailers and fast-food giants close stores and take only cash payments in wake of global IT outage

Some retailers and fast-food chains are limiting their operations and only taking cash payments following a massive global IT outage.

• Some retailers and fast-food chains are limiting their operations following a global IT outage.
• McDonald's Japan said that some of its stores had temporarily closed.
• Some grocery-store chains are unable to take card payments.

A massive IT outage has affected grocery stores, retailers, and fast-food giants around the world.

McDonald's Japan said that some of its stores had temporarily closed or were only running limited operations because of a malfunction of their in-store cash registers. Bloomberg reported that about a third of outlets in Japan were closed on Friday.

The Australian grocery-store chain Woolworths told Business Insider that some stores had "been impacted as a result of the global IT issue." The chain said that all but six stores were open, while some had fewer checkouts functioning.

A banner on Woolworths' website says that it's "experiencing intermittent technical difficulties instore and online."

Coles, another Australian grocery-store chain, told BI it was being "affected by a global technical issue which is disrupting some of our systems in our supermarkets and liquor stores."

A spokesperson from the UK grocery-store chain Morrisons told BI that it was "experiencing some issues with payment in some stores."

Social-media users said Waitrose, an upmarket UK grocery-store chain, was taking only cash payments because card machines weren't working.

Bloomberg reported that staff at the Ocean Park Marriott in Hong Kong were using pen and paper to check guests in.

Major airlines, banks, and supermarkets are experiencing widespread disruptions linked to an IT outage after Microsoft reported problems with its online services, linked to an issue at the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

But not all retailers have been affected. Representatives for the UK grocery-store chains Asda, Sainsbury's, and Marks & Spencer told BI that they were operating as normal.