In the summer of 2007, Shopzilla took on a two-year initiative to completely redesign its site and content delivery infrastructure. After our initial launch during the 2008 holiday shopping season, Shopzilla has continued to expand its investment in its global delivery platform. In this session, Shopzilla will share our lessons learned – the good, bad and a bit of the ugly:
* Time really is money – The real business benefit of a faster site
* The platform is bigger than the software – it includes the infrastructure, people and leadership
* Entropy will have its day – what happens when you don’t keep your eye on the ball
* Shopzilla’s tech stack, tools and techniques
Shopzilla's "You Get What You Measure" - Velocity 2009
1. Shopzilla Site Redesign – We get what we measure
Phil Dixon, VP Engineering
Velocity 2009
June 23rd, 2009 | Velocity 2009
2. 2
Shopzilla, Inc. - Online Shopping Network
100M 8,000+
impressions/day searches per second
20-29M 100M+
UV’s per Month Products
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
3. 3
Background
• In 2000, the business was simple - bizrate.com in the US
• Co-brands, API and shopzilla.com
• Multivariate testing, Europe and multiple data centers
• Always in a rush
• Difficult to change, differentiate
• Site had become slow between 4-6 second page loads
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
4. 4
Our Build Approach
• Start over, stay simple
• Build 2 weeks at a time, deliver every page ASAP
• Manage risk by managing exposure
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
6. 6
Anatomy of a Page Request
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
7. 7
digitalcameras.bizrate.com – Server Side
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250
Sessionization
Taxonomy
Keyword
Taxonomy
SEO Content
Product Search
Attribution
User Content
Category Search
Sponsored Links
Search Log 1
Product Reviews
User Content
SEO Content
Search Log 2
SEO Content
Taxonomy
Related Searches
Product Details
Related Searches
Banner
Banner
Attribution
Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner
Access Log 1
Access Log 2
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
8. 8
SLA’s – Key to High Performance
• 650ms server side
• 1.5s user experience
• At the 95th percentile
• Under peak loads
• 0% error rate
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
9. 9
Most Performance Gains in the Browser
Images toResponse Time
Server non-cookie domain resulted in
0.5% oftop line revenue increase!
Rest the Page Banners, 19%
Other, 51%
Images, 30%
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
10. 10
Can you spot our release dates?
shopzilla.com
10/13/08
bizrate.com
10/17/08
Phil Dixon – VP, Engineering | Velocity 2009 | June 23 rd, 2009
