In partnership with Optiv · April 24th, 2026 · Confidential
Built, for life out here.

Cloudflare Proposal
for Tractor Supply

500 Tbps
Network capacity
90M
HTTP requests/second
20%
of all internet traffic
330+
cities — full-stack security
01

Tractor Supply — Current State and Goals

The Current State

Tractor Supply is scaling stores, tightening customer ownership, and starting to treat data and traffic as monetizable assets — not just retail byproducts.

The current WAF and bot management solution evolved as separate products, acquired and integrated over time. That history shows up as a real coordination burden — signals don’t flow cleanly between modules, tuning is ongoing, and changes during live events require more caution than a high-volume retail operation can afford. Coverage gaps show up where modern attack patterns — mobile apps, integrations, and distributed traffic — weren’t part of the original design.

What You’re Trying to Do
Goal 01Protect customer ownership

Protect e-commerce and Neighbor’s Club infrastructure without adding operational complexity

Goal 02Stop seasonal abuse

Stop inventory hoarding, credential stuffing, and checkout abuse — especially during spring, hunting season, and high-demand product drops

Goal 03Reduce tuning burden

Reduce the ongoing tuning burden so the team is acting on decisions, not interpreting signals

Goal 04Monetize site traffic

Start capturing value from site traffic and content — AI companies are already scraping product data, compatibility guides, and rural expertise content for free

02

The 3 Why’s — Why Now

You’re paying a premium for segmented architecture, manual effort, and uncaptured value

01

You’re funding a platform of the past

It was built for websites, not ecosystems. Designed around protecting web pages, now stretched to cover mobile and AI-driven interactions. Detection-heavy, not control-first. Focused on filtering traffic rather than defining and enforcing how different actors should behave. New bots and traffic patterns require ongoing updates instead of being handled automatically.

  • Tuning burden, false positive tension, and change hesitation during live events are documented patterns
  • Protection requires continuous tuning — by your team, not the platform
  • The platform gives you knobs. It expects you to turn them.
  • That’s a specialist model — not a scalable one
  • Coverage gaps show up where modern attack patterns weren’t part of the original design
02

You’re doing manual work on a platform that should be doing the work

AI traffic is classified, not commercialized for you. Manual tuning instead of defining outcomes. Time is spent adjusting rules and thresholds rather than setting intent and letting the platform enforce it. Reactive updates instead of adaptive behavior.

  • Signals don’t flow cleanly across modules
  • A request can clear one layer without the next having full context
  • The platform gives you knobs. It expects you to turn them.
03

You’re managing AI traffic, not monetizing it

AI traffic is classified, not commercialized for you. AI crawlers are identified and allowed or blocked, but not tied to any model of value or exchange. Access is granted without terms of use. External AI systems can consume content and data without defined conditions or expectations.

  • No built-in way to meter or charge for access
  • AI crawlers are treated like normal traffic
  • Content is consumed without capturing value
  • You’re spending time and resources while AI crawlers operate for free
  • Recognizing their content (product data, rural expertise) has value beyond retail
  • Traffic isn’t just shoppers anymore, it’s machines extracting value
03

The 3 Why’s — Why Cloudflare

A platform built for the modern internet — and the direct answer to each of these problems

01

The architecture difference

Built for ecosystems, not just websites. A single, globally distributed edge handles apps, users, and AI traffic on the same network. Control-first, not just detection-driven. A unified policy engine enforces identity and intent — not just filters traffic.

  • 90 million HTTP requests/second feed a Bot Score of 1–99 that works out of the box
  • WAF, DDoS mitigation, and bot defense run identically at every location
  • No backhaul — no performance tax on your security
  • A threat identified anywhere is blocked everywhere in seconds
  • 500 Tbps capacity. 20% of all internet traffic.
02

What autonomous looks like — in practice

Intelligence at scale, not rule maintenance. Instead of tuning rules, you set intent. The platform enforces it automatically.

  • You don’t find bots. You set a threshold. The ML does the rest.
  • Verified Bots maintained automatically — no manual allow-listing
  • Turnstile provides invisible challenges — no friction, no lost conversions
  • The platform eliminates the manual grind. Your team acts on decisions, not signals.
03

What control actually looks like for you

AI Crawl Control gives you a single toggle to see which LLMs — OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity and others — are consuming your content and block unauthorized scrapers instantly.

  • Analytics show exactly which AI models are consuming your data and at what volume
  • Those logs become a business lever — the receipts you need to negotiate licensing deals
  • Your product catalog, rural expertise content, and compatibility data are being extracted right now
  • Block, allow selectively, or charge for access — you decide what happens next
  • Content monetization starts with the control layer. That layer doesn’t exist today.
04

Proposed Architecture

Cloudflare as security and inspection layer — existing CDN preserved

How it works

Cloudflare sits in front as the security and inspection layer. Every request is evaluated for bot behavior, WAF violations, and AI crawler activity before anything reaches the CDN. The CDN is locked down to only accept traffic sourced from Cloudflare IPs — ensuring no traffic bypasses inspection.

Architecture Diagram
Proposed Architecture — Cloudflare as security and inspection layer
Worth noting: Customers running Cloudflare for both security and CDN see greater performance improvements than those using a double-proxy model. The security benefit is identical. That conversation is worth having when the time is right.
05

Proposal Scope & Pricing

Two options based on scope. WAF and Bot Management are included in both.

Option 1

Cloudflare Advanced WAF, Rate Limiting with Bot Management

Data Transfer200 TB
HTTP Requests6 Billion
Bot Requests4.8 Billion
Domains100
$39,750
Monthly
$477,000
Annual
Option 2

Cloudflare Advanced WAF, Rate Limiting with Bot Management + CDN

Data Transfer400 TB
HTTP Requests10 Billion
Bot Requests8 Billion
Domains100
$83,800
Monthly
$1,005,600
Annual
Out of scope: API security (staying with current provider) · Zero Trust (not in scope) · Network DDoS — to replace ISP DDoS, recommended as future phase
06

Why Do Retail Companies Choose Cloudflare?

Web PerformanceCloudflare Application Services

Retailers need e-commerce performance optimization to ensure fast load times and seamless user experiences, which directly impact customer satisfaction and conversion rates.

Consistent ExperienceCloudflare Application Services

Ensure businesses remain operational and responsive during peak traffic periods, preventing potential revenue loss and customer dissatisfaction. Handle unexpected traffic surges and server failures seamlessly.

Regulatory ComplianceCloudflare Security Services

Cloudflare offers tools and services that help retailers comply with regulatory requirements, such as GDPR and PCI 4.0, by providing secure data transfer and storage solutions.

Customer InsightsCloudflare Insights

Cloudflare provides real-time analytics about traffic, threats, and performance, giving retailers valuable insights into customer behavior and website performance.

Store ConnectivityCloudflare SASE

Cloudflare secure access service edge (SASE) enables streamlined and protected connections between stores, data centers, and cloud services.

07

Cloudflare Security Services

Layered WAF protections + machine learning detections for the sharpest security posture

DDoS Protection (Layer 7)

Enabled by Cloudflare’s Autonomous DDoS Protection Edge, which automatically detects and mitigates DDoS attacks.

Bot Management

Detects and mitigates credit card stuffing and account takeover attacks.

Layered WAF Protections

Combines managed rulesets, custom rules, and machine learning-based detections to provide comprehensive application security.

08

Retail Industry — Brick-and-Mortar Retail

Physical stores offering a tangible shopping experience, with customer service and product interaction opportunities

Technology Goals

Omnichannel Inventory Management with Click-and-Collect

Leverage real-time inventory data integration across online and physical stores and implement a robust click-and-collect system for safe and convenient order fulfillment.

Smart Queuing and Appointment Scheduling

Offer online appointment scheduling to reduce wait times and improve the in-store experience. Implement click-and-collect options, offer buy online return in-store options, and ensure consistent product information across online and physical stores.

Digital Platform Goals

Leverage Customer Feedback and Data Analytics Tools

Utilize online surveys or in-app feedback to gather customer input on the in-store experience and website performance.

Security Goals

Enhanced Network Security with Segmentation

Implement network segmentation to isolate the POS system and other critical infrastructure from publicly accessible networks to minimize the risk of attackers gaining access to sensitive data.

Robust Endpoint Security

Implement comprehensive endpoint security measures including EDR solutions.

09

Recent News & Resources

Cloudflare Collaborates with Leading Payments Companies to Secure and Enable Agentic Commerce
Cloudflare’s Brand and Phishing Protection

Thank You

We look forward to being part of Tractor Supply’s next chapter.

Caroline Gregory, Cloudflare
cloudflare.com
Appendix

Further Reading and Listening

Selected podcasts, analysis, and primary sources on Cloudflare, AI infrastructure, quantum readiness, and the current threat landscape.

Podcast

Decoder with Nilay Patel — Why Cloudflare’s CEO Is the Internet’s Unlikely Defender

Useful overview of what Cloudflare is and why its role in internet infrastructure is unusual.

podcasts.apple.com → Decoder
AI and Architecture

Cloudflare and the New Internet Architecture

Independent essay on network-layer convergence.

nikhs.substack.com
AI and Architecture

Cloudflare Investor Day — June 9th, 2026

Official earnings calls, investor days, and presentations.

cloudflare.net/events-and-presentations
Quantum Readiness

Cloudflare Becomes the First and Only SASE to Support Post-Quantum Encryption

February 2026 milestone.

finance.yahoo.com
Threat Landscape

Cloudflare 2026 Threat Report

How attacks are changing across the network.

blog.cloudflare.com
Threat Landscape

Stingrai — DDoS Attack Statistics 2026

Independent snapshot of attack tempo.

stingrai.io
Resources & Architecture