Platform.sh, has revealed data outlining website traffic of ecommerce websites during the holiday shopping season. Across one of the biggest retail events of the calendar year, ecommerce websites had to handle up to 80% more website traffic than they would on any previous week or month in 2022, with the 12,000 websites that run on Platform.sh throughout Europe, the US and APAC receiving two billion visits on the day of Black Friday alone.
Despite the cost of living crisis predicted to curb shoppers’ enthusiasm, the early holiday deals associated with the month of November still attracted many website visitors. Cyber Monday saw an increase with ecommerce website visits up 50% compared to an average Monday in 2022. And it doesn’t seem to be quietening down for online retailers with the holidays period in full swing. Website traffic for the first week of December was up 24% with over one billion website visits per day in this week compared to the 2022 average.
For ecommerce companies, these seasonal peaks in demand pose a major challenge, as the short, sharp spikes in traffic and associated transactions place a heavy burden on a system designed for much lower numbers. In addition to marketing teams working to make sure promotions are adjusted in real time, developer teams are under huge pressure to ensure information is accurate and website performance is optimal. As a result, ecommerce dev teams deployed 10% more on Black Friday than on any other sector’s website according to Platform.sh’ data.
“November and December are busy months for online retailers with overall website traffic considerably higher than on an average day or week in previous months,” said Fred Plais, CEO at Platform.sh. “The heightened user demand comes with a sensitivity to things going wrong but for a fast moving company during one of the biggest retail periods of the calendar year you have to be flexible and agile to any potential changes. That’s why at Platform.sh we provide a no code freeze policy to enable dev teams to deploy and make website tweaks at any time.”
