The E-Commerce Peak Season Is Coming — Is Your Shop Ready?

October is the last month in which technical adjustments before the peak season can still be implemented and tested cleanly. From November it gets tight — and changes to a running shop in the hot phase are risky.

What do shop operators need to check now?

Performance under load

The most important point: how does your shop behave when ten times as many visitors are on the site simultaneously? Many shops are optimised for normal operation, but not for load spikes.

Concrete steps:

• Run a load test with realistic user numbers
• Check caching configuration (full-page cache, database queries)
• Activate CDN for static resources
• Scale server resources for the period if necessary

Check the checkout process for errors

Errors in checkout cost revenue directly. Now is the right time for a complete checkout test — with all payment methods, different browsers and mobile devices.

Particularly critical: voucher codes, discount rules and combinations of multiple promotions.

AI-powered product recommendations for the peak season

Personalised product recommendations demonstrably increase the average basket value. AI systems that analyse purchasing behaviour and deliver appropriate recommendations can have a particularly strong impact during the peak season.

Emergency plan for disruptions

What happens if the shop is unreachable for an hour on Black Friday? Who is responsible, who is informed, how quickly can a response be made?

A clear emergency plan — including contact lists, escalation paths and priorities — is not an effort to be saved.

If you need support with technical preparation, we are happy to help in good time.