Written By Suhaib Zaheer SVP, Managed Hosting at DigitalOcean & GM, Cloudways
“As consumers gear up for the sales period, a growing number have come to recognise this as the opportune time for securing the lowest prices – often pre-planning their purchases in advance. With people being more organised with their spending given the current economic uncertainty, retailers can expect to see success with big-ticket or near-future necessities, such as large household appliances and festive gifts.
During the major sales, every second counts. Throughout peak times like Amazon’s Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday – when website traffic surges – users still expect a seamless experience and intuitive responses. Even the slightest delays, glitches or cumbersome processes can quickly lead to frustration. Therefore, retailers need to prepare by investing in reliable, scalable and agile hosting infrastructure without compromising on speed or functionality.
In addition to this, businesses must streamline checkout processes such as implementing guest checkout options and enabling autofill features to improve the speed of conversion during crucial sales periods. It comes as no surprise that many people are accessing websites on the go and retailers must prioritise seamless integrations with multiple digital touchpoints. With the rise of mobile apps and mobile commerce, it’s essential to have a responsive, mobile-friendly website that delivers seamless and frictionless experiences to users on smartphones and tablets.
Alongside investing in scalable hosting infrastructure, retailers must prepare for the heavy sales period by ensuring that they are keeping up with security updates. Retailers must implement technology that can automatically update websites and securely backup data, while embarking on security enhancement procedures. This minimises potential entry points for hackers and helps to reduce the risk of glitches and website crashes.”
