Minneapolis - Best Buy is providing e-gift cards to customers whose Black Friday orders were canceled just days before Christmas.

The retailer said that "overwhelming demand for hot product offerings" on BestBuy.com from Black Friday through the following week led to inventory outages and last-minute order cancelations. The out-of-stocks affected less than 1 percent of online orders placed during the period, the company said, and were most pronounced for laptops, PlayStation3 consoles and certain camera models, based on customer complaints in online forums.

The cancellations otherwise mar Best Buy's early-season promise of a "hassle-free holiday," but are not expected to have any material impact on the company's financial performance for the quarter.