API traffic grows 221% during Black Friday 2024, according to Sensedia data

This year's Black Friday increased the number of API calls (Application Programming Interfaces, in literal translation) that went through Sensedia's platform by 22%, compared to the same period last year. According to data from the global company specialized in APIs, there were more than 21 billion requests in November between its e-commerce and payment methods customers. The uptime, that is, time available environments, was 100%.

Despite the increase in the volume of transactions registered in 2024, the peak of requests shows that the profile of Black Friday in Brazil has been transformed year by year, in the analysis made since 2017 by Sensedia.

“Through the requests that pass through our systems, we realized that if before the traffic of customers operating on Black Friday was much more concentrated from Thursday to Friday, today it is much more distributed throughout the whole month, with an intensification in the week of the” date, explains Jose Vahl, Head of Operations at Sensedia.

“APIs are the engines responsible for making digital scenarios revolve, uniting several industries, from the world of e-commerce to financial and payment markets, such as PIX. We realize that despite the return of purchases in physical stores, online research and purchase continue to grow, which generates an increase in the calls of APIs of companies. Therefore, it is vital to properly prepare these environments to support the” volume, adds the executive.

Lessons from Black Friday

As one of the most important dates for retail, both in terms of volume and average purchase ticket, each year Black Friday presents companies with new challenges and opportunities.

In addition to ensuring a robust infrastructure, Vahl highlights the importance of structuring dedicated teams to monitor the increase in demand and respond quickly to any unforeseen. A widely recommended practice is the creation of the so-called “war rooms” (war rooms, in literal translation), also known as “situation rooms”. In these environments, professionals from the e-commerce company and technology providers work side by side, ensuring agility in identifying and solving problems, so that the customer experience is not compromised.

“In terms of systems, something essential for companies that plan to boost their business during peak online shopping periods, such as Black Friday, is to keep their systems stable and scalable so that there are no complications in the” operation, explains Philippi Pereira, Head of Customer Support at Sensedia.

Also according to Philippi, in addition to preparing the infrastructure to ensure extra computing capacity, another good practice is to simulate loads, through tests that involve all suppliers involved in the operation to identify bottlenecks and optimize the performance of APIs.

“During the seasonal period, it is also recommended to make good planning so that changes or system updates are approved and implemented only in very necessary cases. Thus, companies can maintain a more controlled environment, which can & should & MUST & must be constantly monitored through dashboards created to monitor the most critical elements of the infrastructure and the most important APIs at that time for the business”, he concludes.