Case Study: Nikon cuts page response times by more than half and boosts cache hit rate to 90% with Varnish Software

Within three months of Kanban rolling out Varnish Plus, Nikon’s site had experienced remarkable changes in performance, scalability and reliability

Nikon, a global leader in optics and imaging, needed to improve its multi‑platform e-commerce and rich‑media experience to stay competitive. With high expectations for performance and consistency across global sites and mobile apps, Nikon faced challenges from slow page loads, inconsistent cache invalidation driven only by TTLs, and the need to instantly push pricing, promotions and content changes while handling large traffic spikes.

Kanban implemented Varnish Cache and upgraded to Varnish Plus (Enhanced Cache Invalidation and Administration Console), integrating fine‑grained invalidation with Nikon’s CMS and a hashtag/purge strategy. Within three months Nikon cut servers from seven to four, halved page response times (heavy pages now <500 ms; uncached pages ~1 s vs 7 s), raised cache hit ratio from ~50% to ~90%, reduced memory and CPU usage by about 50%, improved uptime with cache replication, and saw organic traffic grow over 60%, freeing budget for customer‑facing initiatives.

Nikon

Cindy Jeffus

Senior Manager of Internet Operations