Every year around this time, companies start to tell (or be told) cautionary tales about the e-commerce ghosts of Black Fridays past. Here we mean recounting the calamitous failures of major online retailers, essentially falling short of a good customer experience or being completely unable to deliver website content at their biggest revenue-making moment of the year. And without fail, this pattern is repeated annually – both the cautionary pleas to take action against such catastrophes and the retailers who have somehow declined to take heed.

The dominance of e-commerce in the world of retail surged over the past two decades to the point that online shopping is a regular part of daily life, often surpassing real-life retail experiences in convenience, cost and even immediacy: you can find exactly what you want online (no guarantees at your local shop) and have it shipped to you, and in some cases, have it in hand the same or next day. All from the comfort of home, office or wherever you happen to be. I think we’re all pretty used to this.