Overview
Having a flash sale or a product launch? We define this as a short period of time where your resort will be driving 300% more traffic to your ecommerce site than is typical (i.e. a pass sales price deadline, a high volume special event that sells out quickly, etc.) Please take the following steps at least 7 business days prior to the flash sale to notify and work with your Aspenware representative to ensure your site has the proper Azure tier for the sale and product configuration questions answered ahead of the sale.
Prerequisite Checklist
Determine if you need to scale your site.
Determine the specifics of your flash sale and email Aspenware at ski-support@aspenware.com at least 7 business days in advance of any flash sale.
If Queue-it is used, update safety net max user redirects
1. Determine if you need to scale your site
If you are unsure whether your upcoming sale will cause performance issues in the shop, check Google Analytics traffic overview filtered by hour for data from last year's sale. If you see that the number of sessions for an hour at any hour during the day of last year's flash sale met or exceeded 300 sessions in an hour, the site should be scaled. For example, these spikes would require a scale:
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Each site is set up with a database and app service in Azure to power your site that is cost-effective for your resort to maintain over time. The normal settings can handle a typical load to the site; however, when traffic exceeds a normal load by 3x, which is usually driven by flash sales, then a higher tier database and/or app service is required to handle the load for the period of the flash sale.
Azure charges by the hour, rather than by the month, so if your site is scaled up for an hour, a day, or even a week, you will only pay the difference of cost between the database tiers for the hours used, rather than for the full month. For example, an S2 database is $.20 per hour, while an S3 database is $.40 per hour. If a flash sale runs 24 hours, the cost of having a performant database (going from S2 to S3 for 24 hours) is less than $5. The cost is negligible scaling up during a flash sale, but the impact of having a database that can handle your load during the period of a flash sale can make or break the success of your sale. In the event you are on the wrong tier during a flash sale, the worst-case scenario is that the traffic will bring your site down, and the best-case scenario is that the site will have poor performance.
2. Determine the specifics of your flash sale and email Aspenware Commerce
Answer the following questions about your upcoming flash sale:
When is the flash sale? (Date and time)
What is going on sale? (The more detail the more we can help brainstorm with you)
What load are you expecting? (Number of users from previous years, etc.)
How long do you want to scale up your database/ how long do you expect the sale to last?
Identify any questions on product setup, requests for support, training, testing, etc.
Please indicate whether you use Queue-it safety net.
With this information, we can recommend the right database, expected costs, set up product training calls, block out time for support and testing, adjust queue-it, and more. We recognize that flash sales are important for your business and having proper product setup and testing support for the products going on sale is important. We are happy to answer any product setup questions, help with configuration, testing, or just be available as you are working to answer questions. If you need any assistance with product setup to prepare for the flash sale, please email Aspenware at ski-support@aspenware.com 7 business days in advance of any flash sale so that we have adequate time to address your product setup questions and needs.
With this information, we can recommend the right database, expected costs, set up product training calls, block out time for support and testing, adjust queue-it, and more.
Aspenware will send a calendar invite to note when we are scaling your site up with the new Azure levels indicated as well as a calendar invite to note when we are scaling your site down with the baseline Azure levels.
3. If Queue-it is used, update safety net max user redirects
If you use Queue-It, please update your safety net max user redirects (throughput) to match with the level your site is set to using the table below BOTH when scaled up AND when scaled back down.
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Application Service Level
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Number of (scaled) instances
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DB Level
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Queue it Max User Redirect
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p2v2
...
1
...
s3
...
p2v2
...
2
...
s4
...
p2v2
...
3
...
s4
...
p2v2
...
6
...
s7
...
p2v2
...
10
...
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Text Prompts are used to customize the placement of features on the Aspenware Commerce user interface. They enable resorts to create a custom look and feel that will provide the best experience for their guests. |
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This feature is supported for: All versions of Aspenware Commerce. |
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Directory
Below is a comprehensive list of text prompts utilized in Aspenware Commerce. These can be used in any field within Commerce labeled Text prompt, most commonly with products and product attributes.
Text Prompt | Description | Image (Click to enlarge.) |
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[Activity Time] | Used for Time-Base activity products when adding the Time attribute. This should be set up as a Textbox. It is also recommended to include [Dynamic] in the text prompt as this will populate with available activity times for the selected date. No attribute values should be added. |  |
[Add On] | Used to display the attribute value options in the “Upgrade your experience” section with a grey box separating them from the rest of the product. |  |
[Assigned To] | Added to the product detail page and used to remove steps from checkout if a product is a requires assignment product. | |
[Conditional] | Used to indent conditional attribute options. Does not actually set the attribute to be conditional, so the conditional behavior should be set up separately. |  |
[Date] | Used for date picker attribute. |  |
[Dynamic] | Used to control whether the attribute shows up in the Dynamic box (the right smaller box with the add to cart button and price.) |  |
[Hidden] | Used to make it so that the attribute can be selected “behind the scenes” but is not visible to the guest. | |
[Inline Calendar] | Used to open the calendar for the guest. It’s useful for Multi-day non consecutive booking so guest may see all selected dates on a calendar. |  |
[Lock ID] | Used for Time-Based activity products, when adding the Lock ID attribute, enter [Lock ID] in the text prompt. This should be set up as a Textbox. No attribute values should be added. | |
[Multiple Dates] | Used for private lessons and causes the calendar to be open at all times and allow the guest to select each date (can be non consecutive) that they would like a private lesson. For each date selected, a separate 1-day lesson line item is booked in RTP|One. The guest sees 1 product with multiple dates. | |
[Pricing Calendar] | Used when an attribute should be selectable on the pricing calendar view. |  |
[Reload] | Used to force assignment if reload has been selected and only allows someone with an active RFID card to be assigned. Add this to both the product attribute text prompt and the actual reload attribute value. They can see whether the guest is eligible with the card chip. The message to encourage logged-out guests to login to reload also is shown a a result of this [Reload] text. |  |
[Time] | Used for golf or if you want to configure discounts that are restricted to only certain product dates. |