Yesturday, Jon David told me he was about to load the Esoterica products on the site and post that they were available. He had asked me earilier in the week if the site could handle it, and based on the previous traffic from our last Esoterica drop I said \”maybe?\” We\’ve upgraded the site resources 2 times already this year with the following mentality:
1. The Country Squire is a tobacconist shop that deals with the pressures of operating in a highly regulated business with a brick and mortor store as well as an online store that is an extension of that store.
2. Last year we took the website to the next level in an effort to help bring some of the quaint (and small, hobbit sized I dare say) atmosphere of the brick and mortar store to the web.
3. Keeping number 1 and 2 in mind, and analyzing the traffic and resources needs we knew we wanted to scale our online server accordingly to meet demand but not break the bank.
So the above being said you can imagine our surprise when the web traffic didn\’t just double what happened the last time we posted Esoterica products, it tripled.
Even the previous highest days web traffic, which was Feb 20th (and didn\’t crash the site mind you), pales in comparison to what happened yesterday. On top of the website performance, with a team of 2 in the store and one phone line, you shouldn\’t be surprised to know that the phone lines suddenly became too busy. So your awesomeness broke the phones too.
So what\’s next you might ask? We upgraded the server again last night incrementally; keeping in mind our budget and the fact that 362 days out of the year the site runs pretty darn well.
Will this happen again?
It\’s possible, if the amount of traffic exceeds what we plan for, it is indeed possible. Many other retail tobacconists also have their sites go down when Esoterica products are posted on their sites, so its not an isolated event to the Country Squire, its supply and demand for their products. Rest assured we\’re always working to improve, and as the website grows and the business grows, the website server size will as well. We appreciate all of our awesome customers for helping grow this little tobacco shop and thank you for the opportunity to serve you.