Retail Infrastructure: BFCM Checklist for Success
BFCM is nearly here, but is your tech stack truly ready to handle the surge?
These aren’t rare incidents, they’re cautionary tales. And in nearly every case, the root causes were avoidable under-prepared infrastructure.
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1
Walmart
In 2019, Walmart lost an estimated $9 million in just two hours when its site went down mid-peak. -
2
J.Crew
J.Crew suffered a major Black Friday checkout failure, wiping customer baskets and costing the brand around $775,000 in just five hours. -
3
Marks & Spencers
More recently, M&S faced a serious security breach that took its ecommerce infrastructure offline for months, with lasting impacts on both revenue and customer trust.
The real causes behind peak failures
Behind every headline-grabbing outage is a common set of issues:
🔴 Insufficient load testing: Systems weren’t stress-tested ahead of peak.
🔴 Underpowered infrastructure: L egacy platforms couldn’t fle x to meet traffic surges.
🔴 Delayed upgrades and poor prep: Peak arrived before Tech teams were ready.
🔴 Lack of real-time data sync: Orders, payments, inventory, and fulfilment weren't in sync, creating delays and errors.
🔴 Fragile integrations: Plug-ins or custom connectors failed silently-until it was too late.
Everything needs to work seamlessly on BFCM — because there are no second chances during peak. With global BFCM revenue expected to exceed $30 billion in 2025, up from $21.8 billion in 2023 (global Shopify merchants), the stakes have never been higher.
Retailers simply can’t afford to get peak wrong. As we’ve seen, when the tech stack fails are far-reaching:
🔴 Lost sales: Direct revenue losses often reached into the millions of dollars.
🔴 Customer frustrations: Shoppers abandoned purchases and shifted to competitors.
🔴 Brand reputation: Trust and loyalty were eroded, sometimes lasting well beyond the BFCM period.
That’s why we’ve created a checklist — to help you
✅ Assess your integration readiness ahead of BFCM
✅ Identify hidden risks
✅ Avoid becoming the next cautionary tale
Read the full BFCM Integration Readiness Checklist here. 6 Key questions you should ask about your operations and the red flags to look out for