Case Study: How We Helped a Retail Client Cut AWS Costs by 42% Through FinOps Automation

Overview  

In today's cloud-focused world, managing cloud expenses is essential. A mid-sized European online retailer came to Atsky with a problem: their AWS bill had become unpredictable and hard to manage, especially during slower seasons. In just 90 days, we helped them cut their AWS costs by 42% while also improving cost visibility, forecasting, and operational flexibility.

The Client

This is a fast-growing fashion and lifestyle e-commerce brand operating in six EU markets. They faced challenges like varying traffic, seasonal peaks, and a small DevOps team. Balancing innovation speed with infrastructure cost control was difficult.  

• Employees: 200+  

• Monthly AWS Spend: €60K+  

• Key Platforms: Magento, custom Node.js APIs, BI on Redshift  

  
  

The Challenge

Even after moving to AWS to lower capital expenses, their cloud costs rose faster than their revenue. Key issues included:  

-> Zombie resources running in development and testing environments  

-> Over-provisioned EC2, RDS, and ElastiCache instances  

-> Lack of visibility into unit economics by department or feature  

-> Manual tracking of Reserved Instances and Savings Plans  

The CFO's team identified AWS as their third largest cost center. However, without visibility or accountability, it was hard to control costs without hindering development.

Our Approach

Phase 1: FinOps Discovery & Cost Mapping  

We conducted a 30-day audit using AWS tools like Cost Explorer, Trusted Advisor, and Config, along with third-party tagging frameworks. Our goal was to link cloud usage to business value:  

- Established tagging standards for all deployments (owner, environment, service)  

- Enabled cost allocation reports by department, product team, and feature  

- Created a QuickSight dashboard to visualize spending in real-time  

Phase 2: Policy Automation  

To act quickly, we set up a FinOps policy engine with automated triggers:  

- Lambda-based shutdowns for non-production EC2 and RDS during off-hours  

- Auto-remediation scripts to delete unused EBS volumes  

- Slack alerts for spending irregularities using CloudWatch and EventBridge  

Phase 3: Savings Plan Optimization  

We analyzed usage patterns and bought Savings Plans and RI portfolios through automation, using one-year no-upfront strategies. We also adjusted 45% of compute workloads using historical utilization data.

The Outcome

Business Impact

• Freed up €25K+/month for marketing and product innovation

• Enabled department-level P&L accountability for AWS consumption

• Created an internal culture of FinOps ownership, not just IT oversight

• Cost reduction achieved without sacrificing developer speed

Tools & Tech Stack Used

• AWS Services: Cost Explorer, Config, CloudWatch, Trusted Advisor, Lambda, EventBridge, QuickSight

• Automation & Policy: Terraform, Python, Bash, custom FinOps script runner

• Dashboards: QuickSight, Amazon Athena

• CI/CD Integration: GitHub Actions for IaC compliance

• Alerts & Notifications: Slack Webhooks, Jira API

Why It Matters

FinOps is about more than just saving money—it facilitates smarter growth. By integrating cost awareness into engineering practices, this retail client established a scalable model for innovation while keeping it under control.  

“We didn’t just cut costs—we learned how to treat AWS like a business platform, not a black box. Atsky helped us build strength, not just save money.” — Head of Infrastructure, Retail Client 

Ready to Build Your FinOps Muscle?

Whether you’re running 10 instances or 10,000, Atsky’s FinOps automation can help turn your cloud bills into a competitive advantage.

👉 Get a FinOps Health Check → with our Client Advocate Team support@atsky.io.