In the United States and several other parts of the world, Black Friday makes its annual entrance with such intensity that it often overwhelms stores and applications while pushing all digital infrastructure to its maximum capacity. Real-time data exchange between people, devices and systems has become vital for peak season operations to achieve organizational success. Yet the entire system collapses when the data exchange process fails at critical junctures.
Modern retail operations face an urgent network downtime crisis because it leads to instant revenue loss. But even more than that, these system failures result in two major network connectivity issues:
- Damage to customer trust
- Lack of operational expansion
The new retail reality: every second counts
The current retail environment increasingly relies on instant customer interactions, a dynamic that has transformed every industry expectation. The touch-pay point of sale process, for example, enables users to receive immediate loyalty benefits and stock availability checks that require instant responses. This means that the entire point-of-sale process depends on continuous network connectivity that reaches all edges of the system.
Network interruptions that last only briefly can create the following unfortunate series of events:
- System failures in terminals end up aborting in-process transactions
- The system that handles online orders can’t properly relay store inventory information
- Staff encounter technical difficulties at the same time customers are making purchasing decisions
The first few seconds of delay create a chain reaction which leads to customer departure and staff dissatisfaction, with permanent harm to the business reputation.
Network disruptions can become even more fatal as system traffic reaches its peak at the same time new staff members join during the busier seasons, which is also when cyber threats hit their maximum level. This creates a perfect retail storm.
Retailers are modernizing for a reason
Major retailers implement preventive measures to avoid network outages which would expose their system weaknesses to the public. Organizations build networks that function like a biological structure through their development of responsive systems which maintain awareness and automatic recovery capabilities.
The system depends on a handful of core elements which work together to create a solid network infrastructure.
- The network provides multiple backup paths to each store location through fiber, wireless and satellite connections, preventing a single point of failure from causing complete system collapse
- The network security system operates as an integrated component which defends payment devices and store systems through automatic protection mechanisms
- Comprehensive network monitoring capabilities enable teams to detect potential issues before they become major problems
- Access to cloud applications and inventory management systems gives users real-time connections
- A basic management system with fewer vendors and standardized service agreements decreases the number of daily IT problems
The initiative aims to create operational infrastructure which fulfills peak-season needs without any exception.
Peak season will always be unpredictable. Your network shouldn’t be.
Black Friday is a pressure test that exposes any existing weakness. But it also rewards the retailers who’ve invested in stability. Network downtime expenses create a far deeper impact than just the lost revenue from one incomplete sale. The customer likely won’t even return to the store after a negative experience. That means no positive customer reviews and a slowly eroding customer base.
The trend is clear to see. The retail industry will experience unavoidable and rising demands during peak season while customers will require higher levels of service. Retailers who want to succeed need to keep their networks active at all times during their business operations.
