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Online retailers brace for Black Friday rush

Online retailers, recalling Missoni meltdown, brace for holiday traffic

By Michael B. Farrell

 |  Globe Staff  

  November 24, 2011

If only it had an “Easy’’ button. Instead, Staples.com, the second largest online seller behind Amazon, had to get ready for the holiday rush by boosting staff and adding training for its customer service representatives. With Internet shopping expected to reach a record of nearly $60 billion this holiday season, a cluster of Boston-area companies from Akamai Technologies Inc. to Sapient Corp. are working behind the scenes to make sure retail websites can handle the sudden surge of traffic.

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