It's that time of the year once again: Holiday sale season. But, in 2015, a few things are different.
Nowadays, we don't actually go to stores. Why would we when we have access to the greatest sales of the year in the palm of our hands? Additionally, instead of fighting for items off a shelf, on Black Friday weekend, we now contend for server space and bandwidth. The holiday sale season has gone completely digital. And, unfortunately, more retailers couldn't cope with the online rush than you might have thought.
Gone dark on Black Friday
Ten years ago, we were waiting in line for cheap TVs, laptops and much more. On Black Friday in 2015, we were waiting for websites to start working and product pages to load. For some brands, maintaining a well-performing site proved very difficult.
According to Internet Retailer, Newegg's website slowed before going completely down in the afternoon due to "an embedded website object with a high wait time." For a company with a customer base that is technologically savvy, this is likely to leave a mark that shoppers will remember next year.
"Newegg's website went completely down due to 'an embedded website object with a high wait time.'"
Jet.com and Hewlett-Packard's online stores also suffered from issues, Internet Retailer reported. Unfortunately, Jet.com saw these problems on its mobile site, which is particularly troublesome given how often consumers use their smartphones in stores to compare prices and buy the cheaper product. In this case specifically, it's likely that some sales were lost.
Cyber Monday fails
At this point, the forecast for Cyber Monday was not looking good, and sure enough, more brands put their users on hold, as their websites and apps couldn't keep up with traffic.
Target told consumers that it was taking 15% off of almost every product that it sold online on Cyber Monday, but when customers flocked to its website, they were met with an error message: "Please hold tight. So sorry, but high traffic's causing delays." Jenna Reck, a Target spokeswoman, told CNBC that the retailer had such high levels of traffic that it needed to stop more users from visiting the site.
"Social media went crazy – as expected."
Social media went crazy – as expected. When consumers lash out online, the whole world can see, and even if Target and others were able to fix their servers quickly, buzz spreads fast enough that some customers wouldn't even bother checking back to see if websites have been restored.
Some succeeded
The weekend after Thanksgiving wasn't all doom and gloom for some retailers. Some businesses actually performed very well, especially when it came to their mobile apps.
Internet Retailer cited Catchpoint data that pointed to the five native mobile apps that provided users with excellent buying experiences on Black Friday. At No. 1 comes Foot Locker with search times as fast as 0.133 seconds. Other notable, high-performing mobile apps came from Gap, Nordstrom and J.C. Penney. It's reassuring for consumers when some brands just get it right.
404 testing not found
Experts predicted unprecedented online sales this holiday season, especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, meaning that retailers had plenty of time to plan and test their systems. All of those crashes and server problems could have been avoided if brands prepared for peak load times with performance testing. Additionally, retailers should anticipate certain aspects of their site to take bigger hits than other, which is something that persona-based testing would help with.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday put a lot of pressure on brands' online stores and apps, but that isn't an excuse for downtime and the resulting loss in sales and consumer trust. With foresight into testing and monitoring, retailers can be resilient during the roughest times.
Perfecto’s Continuous Quality Lab helps perfect the digital experiences that define your brand. Learn more