This year’s holiday shopping season is officially in full swing, and it looks like it will be a merry one for retailers. The National Retail Federation (NRF) defines the holiday season as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, but Black Friday and Cyber Monday remain huge shopping days for consumers. The NRF estimates that more than 165 million people will shop in stores and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, and has forecast that total holiday season sales could exceed $730 billion this year.
Black Friday refers, of course, to the day after Thanksgiving, when many people have the day off from work and head to stores to shop. It’s “black” because that day’s sales traditionally make or break a retailer’s year. If Black Friday sales are good, the retailer will be “in the black” (profitable).
On Cyber Monday, everybody is back at work and shopping online. In a new study from Robert Half Technology, more than half of employees admitted that they will be “workshopping” — shopping online from the office or while using a corporate device — this holiday season. The NRF expects more than 68 million shoppers to take advantage of online bargains.
That’s a lot of web traffic, and retailers have to ensure that their website performance doesn’t suffer. As web page load times increase, abandonment rates increase. People who access the Internet via their mobile devices are especially impatient — Google research has shown that 53 percent of mobile users will abandon a web page that takes more than three seconds to load. Since more than half of web traffic comes from mobile devices, retailers with poorly performing mobile sites are going to lose a lot of business.
In a worst-case scenario, a retailer’s website could simply crash. That would pretty much ensure the company isn’t going to be in the black this year.
It’s difficult to predict traffic spikes, so retailers must take steps to ensure that their web servers are ready. That starts with a solid data center infrastructure to support the IT environment. Server rooms should be clean and well organized, with cable management for both efficiency and optimum airflow.
Cooling is of utmost importance, and traditional computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units are unable to cool today’s high-density data centers. Hotspots often result that can lead to equipment failure and downtime. Aisle containment coupled with in-row cooling units can ensure the optimum environment for equipment while increasing energy efficiency.
Speaking of energy efficiency — today’s network-enabled power distribution units (PDUs) make it easier to monitor and manage power usage throughout the data center. These PDUs can even send alerts to the IT team in the case of a power spike or failure so that a technician can respond rapidly to the problem.
Enconnex engineers are well-versed in the requirements of the modern data center, and the role of the data center infrastructure in the IT environment. We can design and implement the right solutions to help retailers reduce energy and operational costs while increasing availability and performance.
Website traffic increases 30-fold during the holidays, and it starts well before Black Friday and Cyber Monday as retailers promote their online and in-store deals. Smart retailers recognize that an optimized data center infrastructure can help ensure a joyful — and profitable — holiday season by ensuring that websites stay up and running.
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