Stockmann's Crazy Days creates a fast, concentrated peak with no warm-up. The campaign opens at 07:00, product batches are limited, and customers often pre-save wishlists in advance. As soon as the clock hits, those wishlists convert into orders, and order volume can reach thirty times higher than normal, creating a surge the business has to absorb without hesitation.

The volume peak during Crazy Days is extremely high, and the first few minutes are the most critical. This is when the purchasing spike is at its highest and the number of orders increases thirty times higher. If the checkout cannot handle this load, the success of the entire campaign is at risk.

Jari Reinikainen

Logistics Director, Stockmann

Challenge

If checkout can’t carry the load, the campaign momentum is at risk. Stockmann needed a checkout setup that would:

  • Stay steady and responsive from the first second of the campaign
  • Absorb thousands of API calls a minute without slowing down
  • Give the team faster, self-serve control over delivery methods, prices, or postcode rules and constraints that determine what customers see, where, and under which conditions.

Previously, changing delivery options took longer and often depended on an external solution provider - not ideal when decisions during a live peak need to happen in seconds.

Solution

Headless nShift Checkout with self-serve delivery logic

Stockmann implemented nShift Checkout using a headless API approach, making delivery choice a native part of its own ecommerce experience rather than an external add-on. Instead of treating delivery methods as something you “ask a provider to change” then wait, the logistics team now manages delivery configuration themselves.

They can:

  • Set delivery-method rules and restrictions, including postcode-based logic and constraints
  • Adjust delivery pricing by location
  • Enable or disable a delivery method in about 30 seconds
  • Change the order in which carriers and services appear in checkout, managing which services are available


Proven peak readiness for Crazy Days

Ahead of Crazy Days, Stockmann ran extensive performance testing to prove the setup could handle a surge in API calls per minute and the ~30x volume spike without degradation. Checkout performance is now a known quantity before the campaign goes live.


Direct carrier connectivity

As part of the nShift Delivery Platform, Checkout leverages the nShift Carrier Network to connect directly with multiple carriers. This ensures that the delivery options presented to customers are aligned with the same carrier infrastructure used for fulfilment and can scale during surge demand.
 
When an order is placed, shipment data prepared in Checkout flows seamlessly through to nShift Delivery creating a seamless and fast order-to-label process. This creates a consistent connection between the delivery promise made at checkout and the operational execution that follows.

Before nShift, making changes to delivery methods was time-consuming and required help from our solution provider. Now, with nShift Checkout, we can manage the configuration ourselves: changing the order of carriers presented in our webshop or enabling/disabling carrier services within minutes, with all changes going live in our checkout.

Pasi Saastamoinen

Logistics Production Planner, Stockmann

Results

Stable checkout at peak Crazy Days volume

Crazy Days is the kind of event where customers don’t “try again later”, they refresh, they click, and they expect it to work. Even when the campaign opens and the wishlist surge hits, checkout remains responsive, processing thousands of API calls per minute without visible slowdown. Customers can complete their purchases quickly, and the campaign keeps its momentum.

Faster changes and more control

Delivery configuration has moved from “slow and provider-dependent” to “operated day to day” by Stockmann. The team moved into the driver's seat and can now:

  • Switch off a delivery method in ~30 seconds if a carrier encounters issues
  • Re-order or update services during the campaign window
  • Fine-tune rules and prices by postcode and region

This makes it possible to respond in real time if demand, capacity or carrier performance changes.

Purposefully tight, high-performing setup

With greater control, Stockmann can keep a deliberately focused delivery option set that balances cost, quality and reliability. New carriers and methods can be added when needed, but there’s no pressure to expand the list simply to gain flexibility - the existing mix is working well under the toughest conditions.