How do I prepare my website/webshop for a peak in visitor numbers?

We buy more online

E-commerce is getting underway! Well, the train is getting underway in Belgium, in our neighbouring countries the train has long been steaming ahead.

Unfortunately, it goes wrong right from the start. In this VRT article about BPOST, you can see that the Belgian Post can no longer manage to deliver all packages. But even an e-commerce giant like Coolblue sometimes cannot handle it! During the launch of the latest Xbox, their website went down for a few minutes due to the massive demand. Now, that was a pre-announced hype where Microsoft created artificial scarcity, a well-known trick during the launch of new products. But still, if you know that a Dutch player like Coolblue, which really has its infrastructure in order, goes down because of something like this, you realize the impact of e-commerce in 2020.

For the launch of the PlayStation 5 a few weeks later, Coolblue handled it brilliantly. In a video with the CEO and Sinterklaas, they asked customers to first put out their shoe and send a photo through their app. According to Coolblue, there were 1,000 interested parties for each PlayStation, and they only had 180 in stock. So, to avoid 180,000 visitors coming to the site, they came up with a clever promotion. The 180 lucky ones were notified by phone and received a link to the order page.

How does this happen now?

The two examples above make it quite clear. In our neighbouring countries, there has long been a trend towards more e-commerce, especially for products that are suitable for it. Think of electronics, books, jewellery, decorative items, food… Physical retail is increasingly struggling with these kinds of products. They are forced to focus heavily on experience and added value. In Belgium, people are still far behind. I think our readers know that Coolblue and Bol.com are both fully Dutch companies? Or did you think that the .be extension in coolblue.be meant something? :) And you also know that Amazon.com is not a Belgian company…

But the coronavirus crisis has seemed to trigger something in Belgium. Of course, you simply have the effect of closed shops that, in their desperation, just start 'something online.' Or, with a somewhat stronger strategy, embark on the online adventure. And there are, of course, initiatives like Unizo with their 'Winkelhier' campaign.

Below you can see the increase in interest over time for the search term 'webshops' in Belgium. Previously, interest in webshops was 25%, in March 2020 we then see a peak of 100%, and in the following months this figure remains above 50%, with a new peak of 75% during the second lockdown.

Hopefully, the Belgian entrepreneur now definitively sees the importance of a solid online strategy.

We are, of course, very happy with this development! We see it as our personal mission to help the Belgian entrepreneur with their challenges in e-commerce.

Why is this important for me?

The train has left the station! Is your company already on board? Or do you still want to jump on quickly?

Then we would gladly share a few tips from our experience. This way, you can avoid your webshop going 'down' at the moments that matter.

Tip: develop a strategy

Going online means more than asking your cash register supplier to put your products on a webshop. An online strategy is broader than that: branding, marketing, publicity, social media… Get guidance from specialists or make sure you acquire the necessary knowledge yourself.

Tip: allocate a budget

Do you really want to succeed online? Then consider your webshop as a new branch. Allocate enough budget for the development of a solid strategy and work with a good specialist in the field. Unfortunately, we very often see companies starting online by going for the cheapest hosting and having someone in the family set up a WordPress site… As soon as more than a handful of visitors come to the site, it becomes incredibly slow or even goes down.

What a shame! Because you don’t get that many opportunities online, as the competition is fierce. Are you going to waste those opportunities? If you have only a 'little' budget, you will also have only 'a little' success. Then it’s better not to do it at all!

You don’t have to spend fortunes, but make sure the basics are in order. We are happy to advise you on what the basics are for you!

Tip: anticipate promotions

Black Friday, the holidays, a mailing you send to all your customers. These are the moments that matter. And just then it happens: your site goes down. Flat. Broken. Black screen. Or 'internal server error.' And the visitor is gone. Where to? Maybe they scroll on Facebook for a while and then come back to you. Or they check out your competitor and you lose them forever. You don’t want that!

You can’t be prepared for everything. But some things you can anticipate. You know that people are hunting for bargains on Black Friday. You know that people need to buy Christmas presents. You know that if you send 10,000 emails, a certain portion of them will click on the link you want them to click!

That’s why it’s important to check this in advance. How? Measuring is knowing, and this is where your hosting partner can really prove themselves. From our experience, we can check the basic performance of your webshop. We can identify potential pain points and discuss them with your web developer.

We can apply so-called caching techniques to make your website even faster. And we can organise load tests, simulated tests that determine how many visitors your webshop can handle.

Of course, that can’t be done at a peak moment itself; it’s better to do it a little in advance. So do yourself a favour and anticipate!

Video series: Scaling - growing online

A wonderful addition to this topic is our first video series, which went online a few weeks ago. The series itself consists of 5 general and 3 technical short videos in which we portray the story of our ambitious client Erik.

Erik started as a small hobby gardener and quickly grew into a hugely successful entrepreneur. Of course, this positive development brought some obstacles along the way. Through the mini-series, these obstacles become clear, and we, as a hosting provider, help to overcome them.

Do you want to watch this series and prepare yourself for the next peak? Watch the first episode below!