An order every 0.94 seconds in an e-shop based on Magento Open Source? We did it!

How did we approach this project?

We approach projects with a long-term and responsible approach – when we implement an e-shop, we think about it not only in terms of the here and now, but we also prepare it for what may happen in the future and what conditions the business world may dictate. That’s why we make sure that the stores we implement are scalable and enable our Partners’ businesses to grow. One example of this approach is our cooperation with a popular Polish e-commerce store, whose store was prepared for a large number of orders, thanks to which during periods of increased traffic, such as Black Friday, it operated without any problems and generated a huge number of orders. What?

  1. We always work on already developed standards and our proven, original, constantly improved solutions, which we implement throughout the entire time we work with Magento.
  2. Thanks to this, we can assure our customer that during increased traffic – in this case Black Friday – the store will cope with the challenge and serve every end customer. The experience of almost a decade of working with Magento told us how to conduct this project.

How did our Partner’s store generate a new order every (less than) a second?

  1. We know Magento inside and out, which is why we navigate it efficiently – we have selected solutions to meet business assumptions and have ensured that they are properly optimized so as not to generate excess load when the end customer makes a specific move on the store.
  2. We create code according to art – thanks to the fact that it is written in an optimal way, our Partner’s e-shop does not have problems with a website that does not work or is launched too slowly.
  3. We have a properly designed autoscaling infrastructure, which allows the store to adapt to the current traffic on the website.
  4. We cooperate with companies that focus on innovative and stable solutions, such as AWS.

Efficient solutions, or why we don’t like wasting energy?

  1. AWS supports us with efficient projects. How? The so-called manage services, i.e. the elements or services offered by AWS, allow us to create the entire puzzle, i.e. an efficiently operating e-store. These services (including the NoSql Redis Database, OpenSearch, and Amazon Aurora) are managed on the AWS side, so we, as Fast White Cat, do not have to worry about their basic configuration, but only about refining them. the entire project.
  2. Properly selected virtual machines from AWS – Gravition processors in the EC2 service – give our architecture the best performance compared to the most standard and popular x86 processors. Our tests have shown that the Magento engine on Gravition processors works up to 20% more efficiently than with identical computing power in the mentioned popular processors, and by supporting applications based on machine learning technology* , modern AWS processors process data up to three times faster. They are also energy-saving, consuming 60% less energy. Moreover, they are also cheaper, which is an advantage for our client’s budget. That’s why we use them in all services and wherever they are available.

    *At Fast White Cat, we are currently running the AIM2 project, which is based on machine learning. Artificial Intelligence is the future of e-commerce, and our clients are already taking steps towards this future by testing this solution with us.
  3. We have properly configured and developed autoscaling mechanisms. Therefore, our Partner is not afraid that the store will not maintain high traffic, e.g. after sending a newsletter or other marketing communication about a promotion. The stores we implement on AWS servers autoscale only when necessary, which means that they increase their power in direct proportion to the current number of customers present on the website. This is the best solution in terms of our Partner’s budget – he does not pay for the full computing power of the store, because we do not have to maintain it when it is not needed. In this way, we also take care of sustainable development and generate a smaller carbon footprint.

 

Retail experts from AWS advise

Events such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday are primarily a challenge to ensure the best customer experience. How to prepare for this?

  1. Automation and intelligent recommendation engines
    Automate everything. Use services that can scale automatically (Route53 for DNS scaling, Auto-scaling EC2, Elastic Load Balancer). Use intelligent recommendation engines (e.g. Amazon Personalize), which take into account information about availability, similar products and unusual shopping patterns that usually occur during events such as Black Friday.
  2. Simulations and testsVerify charges based on historical events such as Black Friday. e-commerce traffic simulations and performance tests prevent loss of margins during important market events. Thanks to cloud infrastructure, you can easily perform such tests and do not incur fixed infrastructure costs.
  3. Monitoring

    Take advantage of Amazon CloudWatch metrics and alerts. CloudWatch monitoring helps you maintain control over resource usage to ensure the best quality of service for your customers.
  4. Think Big

    A well-implemented system, scalable and secure infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning analytical tools can open up new business potential and ensure the best customer experience in all promotional activities and support your own events related to, e.g., a loyalty or discount program.

Magento is certainly the right choice if we are thinking about a sales platform ready to receive huge traffic, also in the Open-Source version.

At the moment of the greatest sales peak, uninterrupted service of each transaction is the primary goal of every e-commerce. Years of experience in working with Magento 2, experience in advanced cloud solutions (AWS), strong emphasis on quality and good practices in working with Magento 2 have allowed Fast White Cat to offer a comprehensive solution, which is also ready to be properly adapted to a given business.

Marcin Bukowski

Head of Development

How it works, i.e. the effect

You can do a lot in less than a second – but only if you have almost ten years of experience behind it. Thanks to this, we have created for our client a store that will attract any number of end customers and during the global promotion period it generated 144,065 orders, at the most decisive moment giving over 3,850 orders in an hour, i.e. over 64 orders per minute, i.e. one order in less than a second .

Moreover, users placed subsequent orders around the clock – even in the middle of the night, which clearly shows that proper care of the customer’s store requires full commitment 24 hours a day. Even a few minutes of a non-functioning platform will generate severe losses for the brand.

That’s why, regardless of the size of the store we implement or maintain, we always work from the beginning so that, if necessary, it will be able to accept as many orders as possible and not generate losses.

Development?

At Fast White Cat, we work to ensure that our Partners’ stores not only constantly improve their capabilities, but also stay ahead of the competition. Check how we will cope with your challenge!

Let’s talk about your project