It’s terminology specific to the retail industry though just about anyone who shops for consumer goods is familiar with the phrase “Black Friday” or, more recently, its online instantiation “Cyber Monday”. Both terms refer to the anticipated rush of commercial traffic in advance of the holiday season. For the retailers themselves, it’s an odd blend of the Apocalypse and Christmas magic, something to dread and anticipate simultaneously. For e-tailers specifically, this season requires that their web portals are capable of navigating huge spikes in online traffic without compromising the user experience. The threshold is extreme. Industry research has revealed that most consumers expect websites to load in under two seconds and that nearly half of them will abandon the site if loading exceeds a mere three seconds.