Scaling the peaks of Black Friday, Bob Hope and how RichRelevance slays the holiday rush

Jan 2011 after the 2010 holiday season….

Still in the glow of 100% uptime, response rates around 80ms, 5.5K requests per second served at peak.

We’re all sitting around in IT Ops excited, pumped and ecstatic for our performance. We’re beating our chests and basking in the glow of success. 5500 Requests per Second (RPS) peak—our measurement of capacity reached and slayed. Hey guys, I have the year-over-year page-view graphs. Look at that, over 147M page views in one day—wow.

RichRelevance holiday performance graph 1Then someone chimes in, “but, guys, we are bringing on more than five of the top 20 retailers this year, and we’ll double that traffic. In Europe we will easily double what we did in 2010. What if online shopping takes off even more, and we TRIPLE that?”

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Digital Technologies, Analogue World

RichRelevance’s VP for UK and Europe, Darren Hitchcock, is quoted in the “What the Experts Say” section of Internet Retailing’s supplement entitled “Digital Technologies, Analogue World.”

“Merchandising has an aspect of being about what the customer wants, but searchandising is often driven by metrics when it should be based on what is best or new or most appropriate for that customer.

Read Internet Retailing “Digital Technologies, Analogue Word” article

How to Get Shoppers' Attention

RichRelevance Chief Marketing Officer, Diane Kegley, is quoted in the “What the Experts Say” section of Internet Retailing’s supplement entitled “Searchandising & Recommendation”

“The three ways shoppers navigate online retail today are browsing the hierarchical categories, using the search box or discovering new products through personalised product recommendations. At this point in the purchase journey, the shopper is deeply involved in the process and very open to helpful suggestions. Increasingly online retailers are maximising the powerful moment by using algorithms that will present product recommendations that fit with the wider merchandising strategy, are highly likely to convert, and will drive sales.” – Diane Kegley, Chief Marketing Officer, RichRelevance

Read Internet Retail “Searchandising & Recommendation Supplement” article

Six Ways to Leverage Your Ecommerce Partnerships

Figaro Digital UKGoogle have defined the  ‘Zero Moment of Truth’ – the point at which a consumer starts researching a purchase online. Jake Bailey of RichRelevance offers best practices for CPG marketers seeking to optimise a vital moment in the relationship between brands, retailers and consumers.

The internet has changed the way consumers conduct pre-purchase research almost unimaginably in recent years. Recently Google christened this concept the ‘Zero Moment of Truth’ (ZMOT) – the moment a consumer researches a purchase online. To engage with a consumer who’s in ‘learning mode’ brands must supply her with real-time information. One of the most fundamental and effective ways to do that is to streamline your online merchandising strategy with the most influential e-commerce partners.

Read more on Figarodigital.co.uk

RichRelevance's Favorite Holiday Memories

David Selinger‘Tis the season! While most of us will be keeping pace with the busiest time of the year, I wanted to take a moment to remind us all why it is we all work so hard to give our customers the best possible shopping experience. For that reason, members of the {rr} team have stepped forward to share their holiday stories — Favorite Holiday Memories — that make up the fabric of what the holiday season really means.

We invite you to take a moment to peruse these stories and re-acquaint yourself with the meaning of sharing, giving and relishing in all we for which we have to be thankful. We would even love to hear your stories, so if you want to join us in the holiday spirit please email your memories to us.

Read {rr} Favorite Holiday Memories

RichRelevance's David Selinger: Why I support start ups focused on a better world

David SelingerWith all of the attention being paid to Occupy Wall Street and the ills of big business, it’s heartening to shine a little light on two new start up’s who are working hard to make the world a better place.

I recently joined the advisory board of these companies—teams of folks with a big vision, unwaveringly commitment to tackling huge problems and these visions are seeing success.

The first is blissmo, founded and led by Sundeep Ahuja (one of my Stanford classmates and a co-founder here at {rr}). blissmo creates consumer products which bring sustainability to a broad audience. They are leveraging social media and new sales methodologies being pioneered by Groupon, Woot! and BirchBox to reduce the complexity of choosing products that are good for you, your family and your world. Already blissmo’s revenue model is working and they are clearly hitting a sweet spot in terms of emerging demand: the right products, the right discovery and the right price. We’re even a customer at {rr}—as soon as we started testing in one of our offices it was such a hit that the other offices immediately asked to participate. Check them out at blissmo.com.

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