Less server load, faster service in the bicycle trade

How SENSUS MEDIA and maxcluster used Shopware 6 to lay the foundations for maximum stability and noticeable performance boosts for the ‘fafit24.de’ shop.

Noticeably faster  
response and loading times.

Significantly reduced  
server resource consumption.

Reliable operation without  
performance drops during peak loads.

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Inhaltsverzeichnis
Table of contents
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  • Categories:
  • Performance
  • Shopware

Management Summary

eRetail-Store GmbH operates fafit24.de, a heavily visited online bicycle shop based on Shopware 6. Despite an already completed migration, the shop showed long loading times, unstable performance and an above-average consumption of resources – resulting in correspondingly high hosting costs and risks during the seasonal business. SENSUS MEDIA analyzed the codebase and infrastructure, removed performance bottlenecks and migrated the hosting to maxcluster. The

Result: significantly reduced resource consumption on the servers, noticeably faster response times – even under high load – as well as a stable technical foundation, on which new features and interfaces can be rolled out much more easily.

In a nutshell

Customer: eRetail-Store GmbH (fafit24.de)
Industry: Bicycles / E-commerce
Platform: Shopware 6
Website: www.fafit24.de
Agency: SENSUS MEDIA powered by NEW WORK DIGITAL GmbH

About fafit24.de

fafit24.de is the online shop of eRetail-Store GmbH for bicycles, e-bikes and accessories. The company offers a wide range of brands for different use cases and target groups, from leisure to competitive cycling. In addition to its product range, fafit24.de supports customers with consulting and service offerings related to choosing the right model, finding the right frame size, and professional shipping of the bicycles.

Initial situation

Shopware 6 shop under heavy load with poor performance

At the start of the project, fafit24.de had already been converted by another agency to Shopware 6 , but in day-to-day operation the shop continued to struggle with significant performance and stability issues. On top of that, the hosting from the previous provider was not optimally aligned with Shopware 6 was: performance fell short of expectations, while at the same time a disproportionate amount of resources was consumed, resulting in correspondingly high costs and unstable loading times  

Especially in the bicycle retail business with strong seasonal peaks, this was critical: during traffic spikes, slow pages, checkout drop-offs, and frustrated customers loomed. At the same time, the codebase had grown over time, with technical legacy baggage and confusing structures that noticeably made troubleshooting and further development more difficult  

For eRetail-Store GmbH, it was clear: Without a stable technical foundation and specialized hosting, the growth of fafit24.de could not be secured. That’s why it switched to the agency SENSUS MEDIA and had them migrate the shop to the e-commerce hosting platform from maxcluster  

Challenges at the start of the project

At the start of the project, three key problem areas emerged  

  1. Poor performance and high resource consumption  
    The shop responded sluggishly, pages loaded slowly, and at the same time generated a high server load. In addition, the infrastructure was used inefficiently, which drove up operating costs  
  2. Code quality and maintainability  
    Parts of the existing code were unclear and difficult to maintain. For the SENSUS MEDIA team, this meant: a high effort for changes, little transparency when it came to performance issues, and a significantly slower pace for new features  
  3. Lack of a stable technical foundation  
    Due to missing updates and increasing complexity, there was no reliable basis for new functions, integrations, or meaningful scaling. In the seasonal business with sudden load spikes, this was a significant risk  

Solution and implementation

SENSUS MEDIA began with a technical assessment  

  • Analysis of the existing Shopware 6 installation
  • Identification of performance bottlenecks in the code and in database access
  • Evaluation of the current hosting environment with regard to load behavior and resource consumption  

Based on this, the biggest “pain points” were addressed first  

  • Refactoring and cleanup of the codebase to defuse critical areas and improve maintainability  
  • Optimization of queries and caching mechanisms so that page views consume fewer resources and are delivered faster  
  • Structural preparation for a hosting change, including separating historically grown dependencies and establishing clear deployment processes  

In parallel, the migration to a modern, e-commerce-specialized hosting architecture at maxcluster took place. The goal was a setup that reliably handles the current load while also providing enough room for growth and new features  

Why maxcluster

When choosing a hosting partner, eRetail-Store GmbH and SENSUS MEDIA focused on three key points: performance, scalability, and e-commerce expertise.

The deciding factors were the positive experiences they had already had with maxcluster and the desire for a stable, scalable solution—especially with an eye on the seasonal business.

maxcluster stood out in particular thanks to its specialization in Shopware shops and high-traffic e-commerce projects. The cluster architecture with an optimized e-commerce stack ensures that fast loading times even under heavy load are possible, while resources are used efficiently. In addition, maxcluster offers 

High availability

High availability through technical redundancy, such as an active/passive server architecture with redundant NVMe SSDs.

Scaling

Flexible scalability without downtime, so that CPU, RAM and storage can be scaled up seamlessly during peak periods.

Availability

24/7 monitoring and dedicated support tailored to e-commerce and Shopware scenarios.

Switching to maxcluster was therefore not just an infrastructure upgrade, but a key building block in making fafit24.de robust and future-proof for the long term.

For fafit24.de, it was crucial to finally have a stable, high-performance hosting foundation that is also flexible enough to scale with growth. With maxcluster, exactly this foundation was created—one on which the shop can continue to evolve continuously.

Steffen Bauer, Managing Director of SENSUS MEDIA.

Results

The combination of code optimization and the new hosting setup quickly proved its worth in day-to-day operations  

Significantly reduced server resource consumption
Server resource consumption dropped significantly, which had an immediate positive impact on hosting costs. Existing hardware is used more efficiently, and capacity reserves are available for peak loads  

More room for development thanks to better maintainability
With the cleaned-up codebase, new features and adjustments can be implemented faster—for example, when integrating interfaces or making layout changes. The team works with a clearer structure and avoids technical detours  

Noticeably improved stability under load
Especially under high load or during complex filtering processes, the shop remained stable. Timeouts or performance drops that used to be part of everyday operations could be reduced  

Better user experience and reliable operation
After the move to maxcluster, a noticeable improvement in loading times was observed. Load distribution is better aligned with the needs of Shopware 6, resulting in consistent utilization and reliable performance—also with a view to future scaling steps  

For customers, these results are reflected in a much smoother shopping experience  

Conclusion

The fafit24.de case shows how closely code quality, performance, and hosting are connected. eRetail-Store GmbH faced the challenge of getting performance, stability, and costs under control at the same time with a Shopware 6 system that had already been migrated but was technically pushed to its limits 

SENSUS MEDIA combined a thorough technical cleanup with the move to a specialized e-commerce platform at maxcluster. The result is a shop that, in day-to-day operations, runs stably, during peak season handles traffic spikes better and at the same time offers enough room for new features does 

For the team behind fafit24.de, that means: less firefighting, more focus on further development and revenue growth 

About SENSUS MEDIA

SENSUS MEDIA, powered by NEW WORK DIGITAL GmbH, supports companies in designing, developing, and continuously improving their digital sales and marketing channels. With experience in e-commerce projects such as fafit24.de, the agency supports its clients from technical analysis and implementation through to ongoing operations—always with the goal of creating stable, high-performance platforms that can be sustainably developed further.

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