Flash Sale or Product Launch Scaling Preparation

Overview

Having a flash sale or a product launch? Especially if you are launching limited-time pricing or inventory, Aspenware very highly recommends, almost mandates, scaling for these scenarios. We define a flash sale as a short period of time where your resort will be driving 300% more traffic to your e-commerce site than is typical (i.e. a product launch, 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

1. Get your Azure environment set up for autoscale (will cover you most of the time)

2. Determine if you need to scale your site for this event by looking at data and answering key questions.

3. 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.

4. If Queue-it is used, update safety net max user redirects following Aspenware’s confirmation of scaling.

1. Get your Azure environment set up for autoscale (will cover you most of the time)

Work with your Aspenware Representative to complete the following

• Add Auto tuning on your Azure Sql db

• Ensure Application Insights is configured properly

• Configure autoscaling and alerts at the level you would like around scaling events

  • We recommend a p2v2 App Service, an s3 db with autoscaling moving between 1 - 4 App Services depending on load

• Once configured with Aspenware, set up your Queue-It safety net between40-60 max redirects (users per minute). This should cover you most of the time.

2. There will be a few outlier events where you’ll need additional Scaling. Determine if you need to scale your site for these events.

If you are unsure whether your upcoming sale will cause performance issues in the shop, check Google Analytics traffic overview filtered by the hour for data from last year's sale. Better yet, if you have Azure Application Insights data for last year, check Metrics in Application Insights filtered by the minute for data from last year's sale.

If working with Google Analytics Data

If you see that the number of sessions for an hour at any hour during the day of last year's sale met or exceeded the following user counts according to Google Analytics in a single hour, the site should be scaled.

• If your site is NOT set up for autoscaling: ~300 users within a single hour

• If your site IS set up for autoscaling: Over 500 users within a single hour (especially if these users will “surge” - meaning the majority will hit the site within a 5-20 minute period)

For example, this spike in users would require a scale: 

Open

This traffic trend for users, however, would not require a scale (assuming this resort had autoscaling configured):

Open

If working with Azure log-based metrics data

If you see that the number of sessions for any 3 min increments during the day of last year's sale met or exceeded the following user counts according to Azure data in a single hour, the site should be scaled.

• If your site is NOT set up for autoscaling: ~30 users within a single 3 min period

• If your site IS set up for autoscaling: Over 200 users within a 3 min period

For example, this spike in users would require a scale: 

This traffic trend for users, however, would not require a scale (assuming this resort had autoscaling configured):

If you don’t have prior data

If you don’t have prior data that is relevant to your scenario this year, answer the following questions.

• Am I putting a highly sought-after product on sale and announcing a specific start time to a large group of customers? - If yes, there is a strong case for scaling. If no, proceed to the next question.

• Are there hard inventory caps or limited-time pricing offerings that are expected to sell quickly or drive high demand? - If yes, there is a strong case for scaling. If no, proceed to the next question.

• Are you in an environment where there are many unknowns and this sale is HIGHLY important? If this sale is very important and you would like the security of being overly prepared, consider scaling, however, auto-scaling is also a great assurance in this scenario.

What do I scale? My DB, my App Service, both?

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. We also recommend implementing autoscaling so that your store can flex with normal increases to traffic. Talk to your Aspenware Service Representative to set this up.

The normal settings can handle a typical load to the site; however, when traffic exceeds a normal load by 3x within a very short period of time, 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. 

What will this cost me?

Azure charges by the time increment, rather than by the month, so if your site is scaled out for a minute, an hour, a day, or even a week, you will only pay the difference of cost for the minutes used, rather than for the full month. For example, a p2v2 database is $.40 per hour. If a flash sale runs 24 hours, the cost of having a performant database (scaling to 2 instances of a p2v2 database for 24 hours) is less than $10. 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.  

3. 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? (Send data from section 1 above)

  • 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 a 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.

4. If Queue-It is used, update safety net max user redirects for flash sale

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. 

* If a store is a multi-store divide this level between the multiple stores. (i.e 30 to store A and 10 to store B)

**If you’d like to scale beyond 100 users per minute, please contact Aspenware.