In the ever-evolving landscape of retail, unpredictability is the only constant. Markets shift, technologies advance, product trends go all over the place and consumer behaviors pivot without warning. Yet, amid this flux, one event remains as predictable as the sunrise: The holiday shopping surge, crowned by Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Every year I find myself puzzled by how many retailers are caught off guard, their digital platforms buckling under the weight of increased traffic, their developer teams working top-dollar overtime to fix issues and minimize bottom-line impacts, even though the holidays arrive like clockwork year after year.

It is a costly oversight that doesn’t make good business sense.

Holiday Spending

Retailers circle these dates on their calendars with anticipation. In 2023 alone, U.S. consumers spent a staggering $38 billion between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. In view of this, a site crash can have devastating effects on a retailer’s sales. Gartner estimates that the average cost of IT downtime is about $5,600 per minute — for larger businesses, this number can soar into tens of thousands of dollars per minute. During peak shopping seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, these losses can multiply exponentially due to the increased volume of transactions.

This means that technology leaders should really have these dates highlighted in bold and underlined thrice. Given that any downtime could derail the most profitable days of the year, why does this keep happening?

If you are starting to think about it earlier in the year (some companies I work with start their Black Friday planning as early as April), then you are probably safe. If you wait until October, you might have some scrambling to do. For example, if your business is in B2C e-commerce, focus on testing where the money flows, product search, add-to-cart and checkout flows. If you wait until November to get started, there are some things you can do to ensure you remain safe, but it might also be time to consider other kinds of mitigation, as we’ll cover below.

Digital Reliability

Let’s start with priorities. In digital reliability, not all components are created equally. The product-checkout process is the heartbeat of any e-commerce operation. With cart abandonment rates averaging nearly 70% — often due to glitches or overly complex user workflows — the slightest friction here translates into immediate revenue loss. The checkout flow must be seamless across all devices and payment gateways. It is non-negotiable.

Beyond checkout, retailers must focus on high-impact areas like product search and filters, enabling customers to find what they need swiftly. User reviews influence 93% of consumers’ purchasing decisions, thus their accessibility and reliability are paramount. Dynamic advertisements can boost sales during peak times, and real-time site analytics empower retailers to make swift adjustments to enhance user experience. These elements directly impact the bottom line — and they all need to be tested.

Failing to rigorously test and optimize these components can have severe consequences. Beyond immediate sales loss, retailers risk eroding customer trust and damaging their brand’s reputation. In today’s hyper-connected world, news of website outages spreads like wildfire on social media. Remember J.Crew’s website crash on Black Friday 2018? It led to widespread customer frustration and negative media coverage. While the exact toll of an outage like that is unknowable, remember that according to Gartner, the average cost of IT downtime is $5,600 per minute. That’s just for the little guys. I will pause a moment to let that sink in.

So, what steps should retailers take? First, audit past performance. Analyze previous years to identify bottlenecks and failures. Understanding past shortcomings is the first step toward preventing future ones. Next, traffic forecast increases the use of historical data. If last year’s traffic spiked by 20%, then you should prepare for even more. In fact, online traffic can surge up to 30% during holiday peaks. Setting aggressive goals isn’t overkill; It is safeguarding your revenue stream.

Developing a comprehensive plan is crucial. This involves coordinating across teams to outline testing procedures, infrastructure needs and contingency plans. Securing executive buy-in ensures that leadership understands and supports the plan, preventing last-minute surprises. Implement rigorous testing by simulating peak traffic conditions and stress-testing all critical components, especially the checkout process.

Retailers must also prepare contingencies. Having a fallback, like a static version of your site, keeps operations running if unforeseen issues arise. After the season, conducting a post-mortem to analyze performance will help you identify areas for improvement.

Now, if you are reading all this and thinking, ‘oh no it’s too late’ — don’t worry, all is not lost. Simplify your site. Reduce load times by minimizing heavy scripts and large media files. According to Google, 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load. Your best bet now is to prioritize speed and functionality over aesthetics.

Second, monetize error pages by placing popular products or promotions there, a loophole that can help guide users back into the sales funnel.

Finally, leverage cloud services with scalable infrastructure that can handle traffic spikes without manual intervention. This will give your dev teams some breathing room to focus their attention elsewhere.

Bottom line: An unprepared digital platform doesn’t just hurt sales; it hands an advantage to competitors and demoralizes your teams. Developers and testers who see their efforts negated by inadequate planning become disengaged. Recovering from a botched holiday season is far more costly and time-consuming than investing in proper preparation.

The beginning of the holiday retail season is every retailer’s moment to shine, a period where you can significantly bolster annual revenues. The predictability of this surge eliminates any excuse for unpreparedness. Investing in robust, scalable and user-friendly digital platforms isn’t just good practice — it is essential.

In this digital age, the website is the storefront. Just as you ensure a physical store is fully staffed and stocked for the holiday rush, you must also ensure your digital presence is ready to meet and exceed customer expectations.