Blog · Traffic peaks
In three days of Hot Sale, half the companies sold as much as in three weeks
Hot Sale 2026, Argentina's largest online sales event, brought in ARS 673 billion and topped 6 million orders, according to CACE, the country's e-commerce chamber. Half of the participating companies reported selling as much in those three days as in three weeks of April, or more. On average, for those companies, every hour the site is down weighs about as much as seven hours of sales on a normal day.
The event's numbers
Revenue grew 19% over 2025, a nominal increase that fell short of inflation for the period, estimated at around 32%, according to the Argentine newspaper La Nación. Orders grew 5%, and the average order value was ARS 109,780, up 13% from the previous year. The official site received almost 10 million visits.
Two CACE figures describe the shape of the peak: 93.4% of purchases were made on a phone, and activity climbed from 6 p.m. to its highest point between 10 and 11 p.m.
What it means for infrastructure
Three weeks of sales in three days is, on average, seven times the pace of a normal day. And the average understates it: demand doesn't spread evenly; it piles up at night. The peak hour of an event like this can sit well above anything the system sees in any other hour of the year.
That's why a site sized for everyday traffic has no headroom. If it goes down on a Tuesday afternoon, you lose an hour of sales; if it goes down at 10 p.m. during Hot Sale, you lose several hours' worth of sales from a normal day. The same goes for everything behind the store: payments, inventory, confirmation emails, and logistics take the same hit.