Kmart doesn't get the Internet - they have a queue to get into their website!

This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while. Kmart has a virtual queue going to get onto their website.

Yep, the demand for their website is so high they’ve setup a queue to get in the “door”.

You get a glimpse of the website then boom, a queue. Or should I say – Waiting room.

Now, let me look at this from their perspective first. When too many people hit a website, the thing slows down, and dies. It makes it impossible for anyone to use, even those who were there first.

So, what about this – let in the X number of people the website can handle, then all traffic from then divert to a “Waiting room”. Gives them a number in the queue and the potential time you’ll have to wait.

Now the good news is, when your number is called, you get sent into the store! And you have as long as you like in there.

But seriously – what?

Here’s how it goes from a “Modern internet developer” perspective. You Scale.

Let’s say you have a server (the computer your website runs from) that can cope with 1,000 simultaneous visitors. When you get to a regular run of 800, you can build a website architecture that scales out, adding servers as the load grows.

This costs money – LOTS – but if you are operating an e-Commerce business online, that’s going to make sense.