Kathmandu makes the move to the AWS cloud with Fronde

Kathmandu, the retailer of outdoor and adventure gear, has moved to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud in order to improve its web infrastructure and customer experience.

Kathmandu experienced sub-optimal technology performance during a sales experience, which culminated in poor online customer experience.

While the system could handle the traffic generated on 345 days of the year, sales stretched capacity.

The company was paying a flat-rate for peak requirements, something needed on only 20 days of the year.

As a result, Kathmandu decided to look for an alternative provider.

The retailer entered into a relationship with technology partner Fronde and migrated to the AWS cloud.

James Deane, Kathmandu web development manager, says working with Fronde has allowed Kathmandu to scale its web infrastructure to meet system demands, saving funds and providing the time to innovate.

"Our online store is the largest and most important of our retail sites. We needed a solution that would allow customers to shop online at any time of the year from anywhere – including peak sale periods – and enjoy a fantastic experience.

"Now with Fronde and AWS, the capacity of our servers grow and shrink automatically. As the website receives more traffic, the servers can scale to meet demand.

"The benefit for the customer is they always get a great online experience. The benefit for us is that we only pay for servers when we need them," he says.

James Valentine, Fronde chief technology officer, says the move to the AWS cloud has allowed the web team at Kathmandu to focus on innovation and enhancing customer experience.

"The team is in the process of giving customers the opportunity to rate and review products, and is set to introduce an 'order online, pick-up in store' service.

"Fronde and Kathmandu work together to achieve a great result. We provide the infrastructure and take away all the mundane heavy lifting such as provisioning servers, so the online team can focus on providing an awesome customer experience," he says.

Kathmandu has more than 150 bricks and mortar stores across New Zealand, Australia and the UK, selling clothing and equipment for adventure travel.