Christmas Could Crash Your Server
Christmas Could Crash Your Server
Month Date, 2007: London based Rackspace has today warned organisations that the Christmas period is putting unforeseen levels of pressure on website infrastructure, with potential for lost revenue if things go south.
Children the world over are popping chocolates out of advent calendars and only have five more cardboard doors to open, however online retailers are placing nervous calls to their data providers as the strain of feverish online Christmas shopping hits home.
Rackspace and the Social Issues Research centre have released a study showing 62% of consumers believe a fast loading website is the most important factor in online transactions, which translates to problems should your website slow down over the Christmas period when the competition can easily usurp your customers if the page load time is too slow.
Realistically we don’t need a survey to know this to be true, it’s a common theme with internet usage that a page taking a long time to load will cause frustration and incline you to close the browser window and try an alternate website. The explosive spread of broadband internet access has helped to intensify the frustration as patience has gone down as internet speeds go up.
“This festive season will see the heaviest levels of online traffic yet as discerning customers scour the Web to get the best value for money. In this exceedingly competitive online marketplace, where profit margins are at its tightest and the health of the overall retail economy uncertain, the difference between closing or losing a sale could literally be a matter of seconds.” said Fabio Torlini, Marketing Director, Rackspace.
The link between the hosting service and online retailers has always been an important one, yet the time of Kris Kringle and little people with pointy ears is arguably the most relevant as the consumer spending bonanza hits fever pitch.
“The slightest delay in navigating a website could cause a customer to make the purchase at a competing site – a situation online retailers can ill afford at a time when the shopping frenzy is at its peak.” said Torlini.