Acceleration Transforms Helly Hansen's Online Infrastructure for Scalability and Regional Redundancy with Google Cloud Platform

Server-Side GTM via Cloud Run: A Strategy for Global Scalability

Facing scalability challenges and the need for regional redundancy in their online infrastructure, Helly Hansen, a global leader in professional-grade gear, turned to Acceleration. Our mandate was to harness the capabilities of Google Cloud Platform, specifically Cloud Run, to implement a server-side GTM solution. This approach was designed to not only accommodate their growing traffic but also to ensure data integrity across multiple regions.

Our ambition

To deliver a resilient, scalable, and fault-tolerant digital foundation for Helly Hansen, capable of sustaining their growing global audience, whilst ensuring superior data collection and analysis.

Our Solution

• Step 1: Transition from client-side to Server-Side GTM, allowing for improved data protection and streamlined tracking
• Step 2: Deploy Server-Side GTM on GCP's Cloud Run for seamless containerisation and deployment
• Step 3: Engage Cloud Run's auto-scaling capabilities to adapt to varying traffic demands
• ‍Step 4: Roll out multi-region deployment, directing traffic to the nearest region and reducing latency
• ‍Step 5: Integrate GA4, UA, and other analytics tools with Server-Side GTM on Cloud Run for thorough data insights

Key solutions

• Server-Side GTM Migration via Cloud Run
• Dynamic Traffic Management & Regional Redundancy
• Comprehensive Analytics Tool Integration

‍The Results

‍Scalability

• ‍Multi-Region Redundancy: By leveraging Cloud Run, we've minimized latency, effectively setting the stage for scalable growth without performance bottlenecks.

Data Accuracy

• Data Completeness: Our server-side GTM helps in recovering lost tracking information, often obscured by third-party security tools, resulting in a more comprehensive and accurate data set ‍
• Safari (iOS) Resilience: Despite the challenges posed by Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention, our server-side implementation had a positive impact. We observed a 21% increase in sessions and a 14% uptick in users originating from Safari (iOS), underlining the efficacy of our implementation in capturing this audience

Data Privacy & Control

• Complete Data Governance: Achieved full governance over what data is being collected and where it is sent, mitigating our dependencies on third-party vendors, such as Facebook / Meta, for their compliance ‍
• Privacy Adaptability: Our server-side implementation allows for real-time adjustments to privacy and consent settings depending on user geolocation, thus enhancing our ability to swiftly comply with regulatory changes

Performance

• ‍Container Optimization: A 11% reduction in container size not only reduced data transmission but also set the stage for enhanced performance, user engagement, and potential for future conversions. As we continue to onboard more server-side tags through server-side GTM, we anticipate further streamlining and performance improvements over time

Time to Market

• Accelerated Tag Deployment: With our unified GA4 data stream, we can now implement new server-side tags and integrations in a matter of hours rather than what may typically take up to a full day