In a detailed exploration, Findify’s Head of Product unveils the secrets behind the company’s incredible Black Friday Cyber Monday performance – a success attributed not only to powerful software and AI capabilities, but also to upgraded stacks, innovative load testing, and a revamped autoscaler. Zero downtime, record-breaking revenues, and zero manual increases demonstrate Findify’s commitment to setting new standards in ecommerce tech.
The anticipation leading up to this year’s Black Friday Cyber Monday event was palpable, and Findify, a leading provider of AI-infused search, merchandising, and personalization software for ecommerce companies, emerged as a true champion. Findify’s robust infrastructure, coupled with meticulous preparations and significant upgrades, played a pivotal role in ensuring a seamless experience for both clients and their customers during the busy sales period.
Upgrades Galore: A Year of Advancements
Throughout the year, Findify invested substantial effort in enhancing its technological stack. The spotlight was on key improvements, including regional deployments and a new load testing framework for the full stack, along with weekly simulations.
Joakim Amadeus Olsson, Findify’s Head of Product, expressed his satisfaction, stating: “Our team worked tirelessly to refine and fortify our system, resulting in a remarkably stable Black Friday period.”
One standout achievement was the overhaul of the autoscaler framework. Mr Olsson elaborated: “We decoupled critical and non-critical components, optimized startup times, increased throughput, and fine-tuned the autoscaling framework. These improvements were instrumental in handling flash sales without any manual enhancements, a feat we are immensely proud of.”
Improved Robustness with Zero Downtime
Findify’s dedication to perfection paid off, with the company proudly announcing its seamless performance and zero down time – even during this peak traffic season of year.
“Our enhanced robustness defines our success. Our autoscaler framework, now armed with the latest enhancements, seamlessly adapts to varying loads. Significantly, in the last four months since deploying the autoscaler, we haven’t experienced any downtime at all,” shared Mr. Olsson.
“This achievement is a testament to Findify’s evolution. We undertook a huge modernization of our stack and introduced the game-changing Active Sync capabilities. Our focus in the months following this was to optimize performance once more and diligently build out robust support.”
The separation of serving and tracing proved to be another lynchpin, ensuring uninterrupted availability and a fully stable Black Friday period.
“We prioritized customer experience, and our meticulous preparations allowed us to provide 24/7 support in the week leading up to Black Friday, ensuring a calm and fully stable experience for all.”
Impressive Revenue Touchpoints during Black Friday
The impact of Findify’s solutions was truly reflected in the revenue generated during the Black Friday Cyber Monday period. During the period of November 20 to 27 (inclusive), Findify touched an astounding $167,997,721 in total revenue for clients. Black Friday itself accounted for $35 million, marking it as the most profitable day of the week, followed by Cyber Monday which accounted for $27.6 million.
The Autoscaler’s Journey: A Technological Marvel
Findify’s journey to such a successful Black Friday Cyber Monday period started with a comprehensive revamp of the autoscaler framework. From reducing startup times and increasing throughput to optimizing memory and CPU utilization, every aspect was meticulously addressed.
“Our autoscaling framework now reacts faster to increased loads, and we successfully avoided critical on-call alarming for over four months,” explained Mr Olsson.
The load testing framework, introduced and perfected throughout the year, ensured that the autoscaler framework could handle both steady and aggressive traffic load increases. This involved repeated load tests, focusing on enhancing autoscaling around critical components like the Search API, Tracing API, Personalization Response, and Trend Scoring, among others.
“The result was a Black Friday without any manual interventions, a testament to the effectiveness of our preparations.”
Quick Facts: A Snapshot of Black Friday Success
The impressive statistics from Black Friday speak volumes about Findify’s performance:
– Uninterrupted availability throughout the event
– Utilized just 35% of the total capacity used the previous year
– No manual intervention needed to sustain the system during the event
Mr Olsson expressed his satisfaction with the event, stating: “We processed approximately 181 million requests in three days, a 58% increase over the baseline. Despite peak traffic reaching 71,000 requests per minute, we remained below last year’s peak, showcasing our enhanced capabilities.”
Looking Ahead: A Blueprint for Success
As Findify basks in the success of its recent Black Friday Cyber Monday performance, the company is already looking ahead.
“Our commitment to continuous improvement ensures that our clients can rely on us for unparalleled performance,” concluded Mr Olsson.
“We’ve set a new standard, and the future looks even more promising.”
To learn more about Findify’s powerful ecommerce tool, which includes personalization software and solutions such as Personalized Search, Smart Collections, and Recommendations, book a demo here.
