Case Study Pharmacy Direct

Stage 1 - Healthcare Security & Bot Protection

Dan and his team identified that Pharmacy Direct's website was being overwhelmed by malicious bot traffic targeting healthcare data, draining server resources and creating security vulnerabilities. By implementing Peakhour's advanced bot management and security platform, they were able to immediately block around 15,000 malicious bot requests per day that were attempting to access patient information, scrape medication prices, and probe for vulnerabilities. This led to immediate performance gains and revenue boosts, as well as eliminating frequent website crashes and securing patient data. Dan also provided advice on managing legitimate search engine crawler traffic whilst blocking harmful automated attacks, resulting in a significant improvement in both security and performance.

Stage 2 - Secure Performance Optimisation

Peakhour developed a custom secure caching plugin for Opencart 3 and implemented an optimal full-page caching strategy with built-in security controls. This resulted in a dramatic improvement in page load times whilst maintaining patient data protection and preventing cache-based attacks. Pharmacy Direct saw increased growth in key website performance metrics and improved customer satisfaction, all whilst maintaining healthcare security compliance and further revenue growth.

Stage 3 - Application Security Hardening

Although the first two stages significantly improved both security and performance, some dynamic healthcare pages still required additional protection. Dan's team at Peakhour's Professional Services conducted a comprehensive security audit of the application source code, diagnosing and implementing several security hardening measures in just four days. This reduced Opencart's average page generation time from 12 seconds to 1.5 seconds whilst strengthening protection against healthcare-specific vulnerabilities, making all areas of the site both secure and fast.

After implementing Peakhour's solutions, Pharmacy Direct experienced a 30% increase in conversions and average order value, a 10x improvement in page load times, and blocked over 20,000 unwanted page requests daily. Their revenue increased by around 30-40% YoY.

Caitlin was delighted with the results and the collaboration with Dan and his team at Peakhour. She said, "Peakhour has delivered us so many benefits - our systems are fast and safe, and the customers are delighted. Net Promoter Scores ( NPS) are way up, and customer feedback on the site's speed and ease of use is very positive."

With the successful partnership between Pharmacy Direct and Peakhour, Caitlin and her team were able to overcome their website challenges and continue providing their customers with an exceptional online experience.

Web Vitals tell the story

Google Web vitals performance was measured in the Chrome UX report before and after Peakhour.

Largest Contentful Paint

Peakhour Benefits according to the Customer

Caitlin Probert, who heads online operations at Pharmacy Direct, states:

"The business impact of our website's poor performance was very significant. Customer reviews & feedback showed that they were very frustrated. We were very fortunate to have so many loyal customers - it was honestly so bad that we were surprised anyone would tolerate it."