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Prepare Your e-Commerce Site for Christmas Shopping Rush

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Sven Hammar, CEO, Apica
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The Christmas shopping rush is soon upon us and the only thing we can be certain of, is that online shopping of gifts will continue to increase.

But also that many e-customers will be disappointed with their online shopping experiences.

“Response time is money”, claims Sven Hammar, CEO of Apica, a company offering solutions for testing, monitoring, and optimizing the performance of cloud and mobile applications like e-commerce platforms.

Here are Mr. Hammar’s top ten advise for e-commerce success this Christmas:

1.    Time is money
Even during periods with high traffic, the response time (i.e. the time it takes for a web page to fully load) should not exceed three seconds. E-shoppers are not the most patient bunch.
If the site is slow, the customer will look for the desired product somewehere else: your competitors.
A slow response means losing conversions, revenues and Google rankings. Analyze how your e-commerce platform performs compared to the competitors: is it faster or slower? How much money are you losing due to long response times and a corresponding weak conversion rate?

2. Optimize images and videos
High-resolution images and videos might make you think that your web site is modern and edgy… but they increase response times.
So put vanity aside and reduce the amount of high-resolution images and videos on your site – for the sake of revenues.
If you still want the bulky images, then be sure and invest in systems that can handle short response times despite a high-resolution content.
Use a CDN/accelerator service to speed up the delivery of rich content such as images and videos to customers.

3. Load test your site
Perform load tests to verify the site’s performance during various load levels. Measure performance during normal variations in traffic.
Test the site frequently before, during and after peak season to ensure the availability of reliable information about the site’s normal performance.
Testing companies like my own (Apica) can load test web or mobile applications, simulate peak loads, and validate non-functional demands, such as maximum three second response time for 90 per cent of the users during peak load (10,000 users per minute).

4. Damage control: test your peak load
Without tests it is almost impossible to foresee what will happen at peak loads, e.g. Christmas commerce.
Components that function flawlessly at regular loads may all of a sudden become bottlenecks. A ”damage control” is a test that shows what it takes for the site to crash and how the course of events looks like.
A damage control ensures that the web site comes up and running again – even at full load.
A specialized supplier of testing services can give you advice on how to avoid getting stuck with sites that slow down or crash even if the traffic increases drastically.

5. Cache static content
Cache as much static content as possible in the browser. If the page content does not change, customers will not have to download it again from the network the next time they hit the page.
 This is a cost-effective way to speed up web traffic and gain performance improvements.

6. Use queuing techniques
Queuing techniques are commonplace in service industries like retail. And it can be used to manage customers in virtual stores as well.
Only allow as many customers into your web store that it can safely accommodate (i.e. that it is tested for) and block all traffic above this volume. It not, all users will get poor response times and the site might cease to function for all users.
It is better to serve the customers who are already in the virtual store and let the others receive a polite error message or wait a little longer.

7. Be careful with third party content
Sure, it is nice to be able to link Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Many e-traders do it and see it as something completely natural.
But third party material is seldom optimized. You lose control over part of your web site and take the risk of slowing it down.

8. Campaign sites
Create separate and simpler web sites that load quicker for temporary campaigns, events and product launches.

9. Balance the loads
Check that the load sharing is working properly. Load sharing distributes loads from different users onto underlying systems in an even way.
However, sometimes there might be erros due to reconfigurations et al.
Therefore one must verify that the load sharing really functions properly and that the underlying servers receive an even load.

10.  Use KPI to manage conversion
Finally: use existing analytical tools to identify which business processes your customers carry out on your web site, and optimize them for the best possible performance.
With tools like Google Analytics it is possible to see where the visitors start and which routes they take on your web site.
You can also see when the conversion rate is affected by slow response times. Back to my first advise: time is money and speed is always good – use KPI to manage your efforts for improved conversion and higher revenues.

by Sven Hammar, CEO, Apica
Sven Hammar is co-founder and CEO of Apica, a provider of powerful, best-in-class technology for testing, monitoring, and optimizing the performance of cloud and mobile applications.
Mr. Hammar he has decade-long experience and expertise in web performance and web optimization, e-commerce, cloud services, IT entrepreneurship and the Internet.
He is also a serial entrepreneur who has founded several successful IT companies over the years. See http://www.apicasystem.com/.


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E-Business

Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

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Galaxy Backbone (GBB) aligns with and celebrates the successful announcement by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the achievement of a Paperless Civil Service, a significant milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform and digital transformation agenda.

The milestone was formally highlighted at a press briefing led by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who commended Galaxy Backbone for its sustained support and contribution throughout the implementation of the programme.

GBB has played a critical role in enabling this transition by providing secure, scalable, and shared digital infrastructure that supports the digitisation of government processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Through the 1Government Cloud, MDAs have been empowered to migrate from paper-based workflows to digital platforms, improving efficiency, collaboration, data security, and service delivery across the Federal Civil Service.

In addition, GovMail, GBB’s secure government email platform, has strengthened official communication, enhanced records management, and reinforced cybersecurity standards—key pillars in sustaining a paperless operating environment.

Galaxy Backbone acknowledges the collective efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of ICT, consultants, partners, and dedicated public servants whose commitment and collaboration ensured the smooth delivery of this initiative.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, was represented at the press briefing by Akintayo Bamisaye, Acting Group Head, Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS).

GBB describes the achievement as a strong close to 2025 and reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Federal Government in building a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled public service.


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Jumia CEO says Black Friday Signals Nigeria’s E-Commerce Maturity

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At the close of 2025, Temidayo Ojo, the CEO of Jumia Nigeria, reflected on a year-end shopping season that points to the growing maturity of the country’s e-commerce market. “Black Friday is no longer a single, short-lived spike in activity,” he said.

“It has become a familiar, anticipated moment in the retail calendar, where consumers shop deliberately and with confidence.”

Preliminary KPIs for the two months ended November 30, 2025, show strong year-on-year growth in both orders and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), with GMV growth outpacing order growth. This indicates that customers are placing fuller, more considered baskets rather than shopping in fragmented transactions. Nigeria ranked among Jumia Group’s better-performing markets, with engagement remaining steady throughout the Black Friday period rather than spiking briefly and tapering off.

A key factor behind this performance is the growing familiarity of consumers with online shopping. Customers are increasingly leveraging platform features such as saved carts, brand stores, and price comparison tools to plan purchases in advance. This trend suggests that digital commerce is becoming embedded in everyday habits rather than being viewed as a one-off event.

Ojo also highlighted the role of Jumia’s JForce network in connecting digital commerce to local communities. “Our agents are critical to ensuring that customers across Nigeria, including secondary cities and smaller communities, have access to variety, consistent pricing, and reliable delivery,” he said. “During peak periods like Black Friday, JForce agents can respond faster, serve more customers efficiently, and build stronger local relationships. This isn’t just a distribution channel—it’s a pathway to sustainable income and inclusion.”

Reflecting on the overall performance, the CEO concluded: “What we’re seeing this year-end is steady engagement across categories, stronger consumer confidence, and partners like our JForce agents benefiting from increased activity.

“It confirms that Nigeria’s e-commerce ecosystem is maturing, growing in a more structured and resilient way. As the December Holiday Sale continues, we expect these patterns of familiarity, trust, and participation to sustain momentum and drive both commerce and community impact across the country.”


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Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

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Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) has been ranked first overall in the 2025 Federal Government Website Performance Scorecard.

Galaxy Backbone Tops FG's Website Performance Ranking

This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s digital economy.

The ranking, conducted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), is the definitive benchmark for digital excellence and transparency across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, received the award during a ceremony in Abuja.

He described the feat as a validation of the agency’s“Nigeria First”data sovereignty strategy and its relentless pursuit of service excellence.

This recognition comes as the Federal Government intensifies its push to achieve a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025.

GBB has been the primary architect of this transition through its 1Gov Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform, which now hosts the operations of almost all federal MDAs.

The award adds to a growing list of accolades for Galaxy Backbone in 2025, following its recent win of the “International Standard Excellence Award for Best IT Service Provider.”

As the central hub for government shared services, GBB’s performance serves as a blueprint for other agencies currently undergoing digital transformation.

With its expanded fiber-optic backbone now covering over 13 states and its secure cloud solutions, Galaxy Backbone remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s vision to become a leading digital nation by the end of the decade.

 


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