Talk about a worst-case scenario: It’s Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Customers are flooding your stores, online checkouts are buzzing with activity, and your sales numbers are skyrocketing. But then… your network goes down. Just like that, the whirlwind of sales comes to a halt.

Imagine the chaos—transactions freeze, employees struggle to help frustrated customers, and online orders are left unprocessed. Shelves stay unstocked, and carts are abandoned. Meanwhile, your network engineers are out of town for the holiday, unavailable to troubleshoot or restore connectivity. Within minutes, thousands of dollars slip through your fingers, and your reputation takes a hit.

For retailers, this scenario is the stuff of nightmares, especially when it happens during the highest-stakes period of the year. Here’s why network resilience is so critical for retail, and how Opengear can help ensure that Black Friday doesn’t turn into your worst-case scenario.

The High Stakes of Holiday Sales

For retailers, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are far more than busy shopping days—they’re the culmination of extensive planning, inventory management, and marketing efforts. These holiday sales are vital to annual profitability. In fact, U.S. holiday sales exceeded $964 billion across November and December in 2023 alone. That same year, Black Friday generated over $16.4 billion in online sales. And this year, those numbers are expected to grow by 2.5%–3.5% and 8%–9% respectively. During peak shopping periods, even a short network disruption can lead to serious financial loss.

Network Downtime: A Retail Nightmare

Network downtime is more than an inconvenience in retail—it’s a disaster with financial, operational, and reputational consequences:

• Financial Losses: During Black Friday, network downtime can cost retailers thousands of dollars per minute. With the sheer volume of transactions, even a brief outage can have a huge impact on sales.
• Operational Disruptions: Network downtime freezes every part of the retail operation. In-store sales slow to a crawl, online orders are abandoned, and inventory management is thwarted, affecting everything from shelf restocking to supply chain logistics.
• Damage to Reputation: When a customer’s experience is interrupted during such high-profile events, it can result in poor reviews and lost loyalty. A single frustrating experience can make customers think twice about coming back, especially when failure occurs at such a crucial time.

The Importance of Network Resilience in Retail

So how can retailers avoid the operational and reputational damage that comes with network issues? The answer lies in network resilience.

Network resilience is all about building infrastructure that withstands disruptions, keeping core systems online regardless of challenges. With the right technology in place, retailers can ensure that their operations stay steady, maintaining both in-store and online transactions smoothly, no matter what happens to the primary network.

Opengear solutions offer tools like Smart Out of Band™ (OOB) management, which ensures continuous remote access to network equipment, even during network outages. This remote access capability helps retailers minimize downtime, restore connectivity faster, and troubleshoot issues without needing immediate on-site intervention.

Opengear’s Resilient Solutions for Retailers

Opengear’s network resilience solutions are specifically designed to support retailers in maintaining critical operations. Here’s how they work:

• Smart Out of Band Management: With Opengear’s Smart OOB, retailers maintain secure, remote access to network equipment, even if the primary network fails. This enables IT teams to troubleshoot issues remotely, so operations can continue during outages. Retailers can be confident that their networks remain connected, reducing the impact of unexpected issues on in-store and online systems.
• Automation and Efficiency for Network Engineers: With centralized, remote management capabilities from Opengear’s Lighthouse software, IT teams can monitor and manage distributed networks without being on-site. This automation reduces manual intervention, allowing retailers to quickly resolve issues and reduce costly downtime.

The Benefits of Resilient Networks for Retailers

Deploying a resilient network offers retailers clear, high-value benefits, particularly during peak seasons:

• Business Continuity: Opengear’s resilient solutions help ensure that retail operations stay steady and uninterrupted, even during unexpected network challenges.
• Reduced Downtime: With Smart OOB and centralized remote management, Opengear solutions minimize the risk of costly downtime, helping retailers capture every possible sale during peak shopping periods.
• Peace of Mind for IT Teams: Automated tools and remote access capabilities provide IT teams with the confidence that, even if they aren’t on-site, the network remains secure and operational.

Prepare Your Retail Network for Success

For retailers, network resilience isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or any other critical sales day, smooth operations can make the difference between a successful season and lost revenue. With Opengear’s resilient network solutions, retailers are better prepared to handle the unexpected and protect their profits and reputations.

Don’t leave your network to chance this holiday season. For more information on how Opengear can enhance your network resilience and help you be ready for anything, schedule a demo.