- What is microservices architecture?
- What are microservices in eCommerce?
- Benefits of microservices architecture for eCommerce
- Key components of eCommerce microservices architecture
- Best practices for implementing microservices architecture
- Challenges of implementing microservices in eCommerce
- Case study: A brand successfully using microservices in eCommerce
- How can ELITEX help with eCommerce microservices development?
- FAQ
eCommerce businesses are always looking for ways to grow and adapt. While many focus on improving products or customer service, we can suggest another path to success — making your website look flawless and perform smoothly. A well-designed yet efficient online store can definitely distinguish you from competitors and boost your bottom line.
The key to an efficient online presence lies in your website’s structure. A well-structured web platform can impact the overall success of eCommerce businesses, especially when it comes to aspects such as performance, scalability, or ultimately customer experience. However, selecting the right frontend development service provider is just half the journey. The other half, in turn, involves choosing the appropriate frontend architecture pattern that will fit your product best. This choice will impact nearly every nuance of the development process. However, it’s not only about development itself. For eCommerce platforms, architectural decisions can significantly impact virtually any aspect of the store’s performance and scalability, directly increasing conversions.
One approach that can bring particular benefits to online stores is using microservice architecture. It is a modern eCommerce architecture that breaks down the web platform into smaller, independent components that work together seamlessly. Each component handles a specific function, such as inventory management or payment processing. The result is a flexible eCommerce system that can adapt to growing business requirements and provide a smooth customer experience. However, let’s begin with the basics.
What is microservices architecture?
Microservices architecture is a modern approach to building software systems. Basically, this architectural pattern involves breaking down a large web application into smaller, independent parts that are referred to as microservices. To be more precise, we should specify that we are talking about dividing the backend part of the application at the moment. Each microservice focuses on one specific task or function. These services communicate with each other through standardized interfaces, often using APIs. Here’s the most basic schematic representation of the microservice architecture:
This design allows teams to develop, deploy, and scale different parts of the system separately. So, what is so special about eCommerce microservices architecture?
What are microservices in eCommerce?
The eCommerce microservices approach applies the general microservices concept to the specific business requirements of online retail platforms. In this setup, each core function of an eCommerce website operates as a separate, independent service. Typical services include product catalog management, shopping cart functionality, user account handling, inventory tracking, order processing, and payment systems. Each of these services runs independently, with its own database and logic.
The structure of eCommerce microservices architecture is typically highly interconnected. For instance, when a customer adds an item to their cart on the website, the shopping cart service communicates with the inventory service to check current stock levels, which is invisible to the end users. During checkout, the payment service interacts with the order processing service to complete the transactions. This network of interactions directly translates into a seamless and intuitive user experience, while maintaining the independence of each service, which significantly enhances the development process. What does this mean? When using microservices for eCommerce platforms, developers can work on different parts of the system using technologies best suited for each specific function, whether it’s optimizing search capabilities for the product catalog or ensuring secure transactions in the payment module.
Here’s the simplest eCommerce microservices architecture example:
Benefits of microservices architecture for eCommerce
Scalability
Microservices allow you to scale specific components of your eCommerce platform independently. During peak shopping seasons, you can allocate more resources to critical services such as checkout or inventory management. In contrast, monolithic architecture, a more traditional approach with a single system on the backend, requires scaling the entire application, even if only one part needs additional resources.
Faster development and deployment
Teams can work on different microservices simultaneously, speeding up development. Updates and new features can be deployed to independent services without impacting the entire system. This further distinguishes eCommerce microservices from monolithic applications, where any change requires redeployment of the whole application.
Improved customization and personalization
Microservices enable more sophisticated customization of the shopping experience. Services for personalized recommendations or A/B testing can be easily added or modified without impacting core functionalities with the microservice architecture pattern. Features such as service independence, data isolation, API-driven communication, and scalability of dedicated resources help you achieve the level of customization your business needs. The agility of this modular approach means you can continually refine and update your personalization strategies.
Fault isolation
Microservices act as a safety net for your eCommerce platform. If one part falters, your store keeps running. Say your product recommendation tool hiccups – customers can still browse, buy, and check out without a hitch. This resilience keeps your online business open, even when facing technical challenges.
Better third-party integrations
Adding new features to existing eCommerce systems becomes less of a headache with microservice architecture. Want to try a new payment system or shipping method? Simply plug it in without disrupting the entire platform (unlike monolithic architecture, you can easily do it). This ease of integration lets businesses quickly seize new opportunities and meet changing customer demands.
Future-proofing
Microservices prepare your eCommerce business for future challenges. As technology advances or market demand shifts, you can update or replace individual components of your platform with microservices. No need for a complete overhaul. This flexibility keeps you nimble and competitive in the fast-paced eCommerce landscape.
Key components of eCommerce microservices architecture
All web applications are typically divided into two components: frontend, what customers see and interact with, and backend, what’s under the hood. We have a separate frontend development process guide dedicated to the client side, so here, let’s make it short. In our eCommerce microservices setup, the frontend is typically developed as a separate application that communicates with various backend services. Here, you can find a list of the frontend technologies used for developing eCommerce solutions using a microservices architecture.
From the server side, eCommerce applications typically consist of API gateway and services themselves. The API gateway acts as a single entry point for all client requests. It routes these requests to the appropriate microservices, handling tasks like authentication, load balancing, and caching. This component simplifies the client code and provides a unified interface to the complex system of microservices. The BFF pattern may be used as an alternative to the single API.
When it comes to microservices themselves as separate units, here are several examples of such services:
Product catalog service
This service manages your store’s inventory. It handles product information, pricing, and availability. The product catalog service allows for quick updates to your offerings without disrupting other parts of your store.
Shopping cart service
The cart service tracks items that customers intend to purchase. It operates independently, ensuring smooth addition or removal of items even during high-traffic periods. This separation helps maintain a reliable shopping experience and reduce cart abandonment.
User account service
This service manages customer profiles and authentication. It securely stores personal information and handles login processes. By isolating user data, it enhances security and enables personalized shopping experiences.
Order processing service
When a customer decides to buy, this service takes over. It manages the entire order lifecycle, from confirmation to fulfillment. Its independence allows for efficient order handling, even during sales peaks.
Payment gateway service
This service handles financial transactions with security. It communicates with banks and payment providers. Isolating payment processing allows for easy updates or switches between payment methods without affecting other store operations.
Search service
The search service powers your store’s product discovery features. It indexes product information while handling customer queries. By operating independently, it can be optimized for speed and relevance without impacting other store functions.
Best practices for implementing microservices architecture
- Start small: Begin with a few key services rather than overhauling your entire system at once.
- Define clear service boundaries: Ensure each microservice has a specific, well-defined function. Clear boundaries prevent overlap and make your system easier to manage and scale.
- Use API gateways: Implement an API gateway to manage requests between clients and services. This practice simplifies client-side code and provides a unified interface to your complex system.
- Ensure data independence: Give each service its own database to prevent data coupling. This independence allows services to evolve separately and enhances system resilience.
- Adopt containerization: Use container technologies like Docker to package and deploy your microservices. Containerization ensures consistent performance across different environments and simplifies scaling.
- Implement robust monitoring: Set up comprehensive monitoring for all your microservices. This practice facilitates quick issue detection and resolution, ensuring a consistently smooth shopping experience for the end customers.
- Design for failure: Assume services can fail and design your system to handle these failures gracefully. It will help you maintain your operations even when separate services fail.
- Automate deployment: Use automated deployment pipelines to push updates to your services. Automating deployment processes minimizes errors and enables more frequent yet reliable updates of your platform.
- Practice Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD): Implement CI/CD to test and deploy your microservices frequently. This method maintains high code quality and allows swift responses to market changes.
- Prioritize security: Implement robust security protocols for each microservice and its communications, especially when dealing with sensitive user data.
Challenges of implementing microservices in eCommerce
Implementing eCommerce microservices brings powerful benefits, but it also poses unique challenges. These hurdles range from managing complex architectures to ensuring data consistency across multiple services. The table below outlines common challenges your development team may face and practical solutions to address them:
| Challenge | Solution |
| Complex system architecture | Use API gateways and clear service boundaries |
| Data consistency across microservices | Implement event-driven architecture |
| Increased operational complexity | Adopt robust monitoring and logging tools |
| Security concerns with multiple services | Implement service-level security protocols and utilize OAuth |
| Performance issues due to network calls | Use caching and optimize API calls |
| Difficulty in testing interconnected services | Conduct comprehensive integration testing |
| Managing deployments across services | Use containerization and orchestration tools |
| Maintaining service independence | Define clear ownership and avoid shared libraries |
Case study: A brand successfully using microservices in eCommerce
Let’s take a closer look at the actual use of microservices in the eCommerce industry.
Zalando
A leading European online fashion retailer, Zalando, reached a critical turning point in 2013. Their monolithic architecture, which had supported their growth to €2 billion in annual revenue, began to hinder further expansion. Teams struggled with a complex codebase, lack of ownership, and a slow decision-making process. To overcome these and other technical challenges, Zalando embraced microservices architecture. This shift enabled them to create autonomous teams, accelerate innovation, and scale their platform more efficiently. The transition brought significant benefits: improved user experience, faster feature development, and enhanced system reliability. During Black Friday 2019, Zalando acquired 840,000 new customers, and their Net Promoter Score rose from -2.90 to 10,81 between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018. By adopting microservices, Zalando transformed from a company struggling for survival to one capable of continuously reinventing its business through the best development practices.
How can ELITEX help with eCommerce microservices development?
As a software engineering company with over a decade of experience building eCommerce software solutions, ELITEX bring valuable insights to modern eCommerce architecture. Considering our experience in successful cases of development of complex eCommerce systems, such as Smartrr, ELITEX definitely have what to offer for any eCommerce business. Our team understands the unique challenges of eCommerce platforms, from handling high-traffic volumes to creating sophisticated backend systems that reflect the complex behavior of the real customer.
Collaboration with ELITEX means partnering with a development company that guides every step of the development process. We help plan the strategy, design the structure, build the system, and keep it running smoothly. Our team possesses deep knowledge of eCommerce tech and what’s coming next. The result? ELITEX always bring results beyond your initial expectations: a partnership with ELITEX results in a software system that won’t become outdated for decades.
FAQ
What are microservices?
Microservices are small, independent software components that work together to form a larger application. Each microservice handles a specific function and can be developed, deployed, and scaled separately. In a broader sense, it’s an architectural approach that divides the backend into several independent services.
What are microservices for eCommerce?
eCommerce microservices are small, specialized software components that handle specific online store functions on the server side of the application. They allow businesses to update specific functions without disrupting the entire system, scale individual services to meet varying demands, and easily integrate new technologies.
Why are microservices a good architectural solution for eCommerce?
First, they allow the store to grow easily – you can scale only the part that needs it, without impacting other parts of the software. Second, they make updates simple. Third, they help stores stay current. As new technologies emerge, you can plug it in without rebuilding everything.
Are microservices suitable for all eCommerce businesses?
While beneficial for many, microservices may be overkill for very small or simple online stores.
What’s an eCommerce microservices architecture diagram?
It’s a picture that shows how different parts of an online store work together. Each component, such as the shopping cart or payment system, is drawn as a separate box. Lines connect these boxes to show how they communicate. This diagram assists developers in understanding and building the store’s structure.
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