technology 15 E-commerce booms in the cloud
The current economic situation is still spelling a gloomy outlook on the high street, with profit warnings from many, layoffs from others, and even some household names disappearing from the high street altogether. But....online, e-commerce business is booming – in March alone, £5.1billion was spent online in the UK, a 14% year-on-year increase
It’s easy to see why. Using the web, shopping is no longer a tiresome activity, traipsing from one end of the high street to the other, overburdened with shopping bags. It’s convenient, with browsing done online and goods delivered to the home, at our convenience.
For most retailers today, a powerful digital presence is now not just a necessity, but often the most profitable way to do business and to reach a national and even international audience.
However, this has its price. Whereas retailers used to compete with the shops nearby, suddenly they are competing with every other online retailer in the world – and the online customer is even more mercurial than their more traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ counterpart.
“The certainties of high street retailing simply don’t apply to e-commerce,” says Chris Miller, CEO of DediPower. “The slightest irritation – a slow loading page, for instance – can cause customers to abandon their baskets and look to a competitor. The idea of someone abandoning their shopping in a supermarket because of a two minute wait is almost unthinkable. Online, it’s inevitable.”
Cue ‘the cloud’, hyped by some as the ultimate solution; many, however, are still uncertain as to what it actually means.
“There’s a lot of misunderstanding around the cloud,” says Miller. “In one sense, if you’ve used Google Mail or Hotmail, you’ve used a form of cloud computing – you can access this kind of service from any online device, and your email is stored on virtual servers somewhere in a data centre owned by Microsoft or Google.
“But cloud infrastructure isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution to everything. Large intensive databases, for instance, don’t benefit from cloud computing. But e-commerce sites, which rely on speed of access, do. And,
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2011
because online retailers often use short-term media promotions and eblasts to drive demand, they also benefit from cloud infrastructures ability to cost-effectively accommodate, fluctuating traffic.”
Miller adds, “For shops on the high street, coping with high demand isn’t a problem. Assuming you have enough stock, you can simply make sure you have enough staff to cope with the queues and perhaps install another till or two. On-line is very different. Too much traffic can bring a site to a grinding halt, causing system downtime and locking out customers. Slow and unresponsive sites will just send them elsewhere.”
The elastic quality of the cloud allows online traffic to be spread across many virtual servers as and when demand dictates. This inherent scalability means that customers never notice if a site is busy or not – they simply get the same experience whenever they visit. A reliable experience helps build trust, ensures a good online reputation and that sales are never lost through downtime.
“Building web infrastructure is a bit like ‘plumbing’,” explains Miller. “If you try to do it yourself, without looking at the big picture, then you end up adding pieces, ad-hoc, as you go – so it’s more likely to cause problems. The same applies to web hosting. If you want reliable infrastructure then use a specialist that knows what they are doing; and who can build a solution that will work for you, today and tomorrow.
“A good hosting provider will
configure the infrastructure you need – and the best will give you exactly what’s appropriate. At DediPower, we work with our customers to do exactly that; so they can grow their businesses safely and efficiently without fearing downtime and data and system loss. Recently, we worked with Atlantic Shopping, a UK- based furniture retailer, to do just that.”
Chris Miller, CEO of DediPower Managed Hosting
Atlantic Shopping enjoyed success via web sales, but by moving to the cloud it really took off. Using cloud hosting, guaranteed that the site stayed online 24/7 and boosted speed. As a result, sales increased by 40% in less than six months.
“There’s a lot of hype around the cloud, and just as much cynicism,” concludes Miller. “But used in the right circumstances, it can deliver outstanding results.”
Details:
0808-156-0090
info@dedipower.com www.dedipower.com
www.businessmag.co.uk
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