Black Friday, the annual shopping extravaganza, is a time for incredible deals and discounts. However, it is also a high-stakes period fraught with potential challenges for retailers and technology companies. From overwhelming website traffic to logistical mishaps, here are some possible technology-related issues that Quality Engineering Consultancy Roq predict e-commerce retailers will encounter during your Black Friday sales events:
1) Website Overload and Crashes
One of the most common technology disasters during Black Friday is website crashes caused by the poor performance of websites. The massive influx of online shoppers trying to grab the best deals can cause website servers to overload, resulting in crashes or slowdowns. This leads to frustrated customers and can result in revenue loss for businesses. And with 70% of baskets being abandoned by customers, leading to a reported $4 trillion of lost revenue by online retailers each year (Swrve), this isn’t a problem your business can afford to ignore.
2) Payment Processing Issues
With a surge in online transactions, payment processing systems might struggle to handle the increased load. Slow transaction times or payment failures can deter customers from completing purchases, impacting both sales and customer satisfaction. Research has shown that a performant, bug-free website and payment system could lead to a 35% uptick in customer conversion rates (Baynard).
3) Inventory Management Problems
Inaccurate inventory counts or issues updating product availability in real-time can lead to customers making purchases only to find out later that the item is out of stock. This can result in order cancellations and unhappy customers, who might quickly complain publicly on social media.
4) Security Breaches and Cyberattacks
Cybercriminals often target high-traffic periods like Black Friday to exploit vulnerabilities. Security breaches or cyberattacks can lead to compromised customer data, financial loss, and damage to a company’s reputation.
5) Delivery and Logistics Challenges
Post-sale, the pressure shifts to ensure timely deliveries. Logistics might become strained due to the sudden increase in orders, potentially leading to delayed or mishandled deliveries and causing customer dissatisfaction.
Conclusion
Although many may say it’s impossible to predict what challenges and disasters may occur over the Black Friday sales period, these predictions from Roq are determined by years of experience supporting some of the world’s largest organisations. To mitigate potential issues that your business may face, there are various measures that you can implement. Roq’s website offers valuable hints and tips to help you avoid any sales period disasters. While it may already be too late to salvage your Black Friday 2023, you can now ensure that your 2024 sales period is failproof.
