How Re-Platforming Enhances E-commerce with Microservices

July 17, 2024

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

In this article, we will discuss how re-platforming can significantly enhance your e-commerce platform’s performance through the adoption of microservices.
We will examine the reasons behind the need for re-platforming, the numerous benefits of microservices architecture, and provide a step-by-step migration checklist.
By following these insights, businesses can achieve improved scalability, agility, and customer satisfaction on their e-commerce sites.

Inadequate performance: Consistent and intermittent performance problems translate to a poor customer experience, slowing them down and even stopping them from buying.
Site speed and responsiveness: Since approximately 40% of shoppers abandon a site if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds, a fast, responsive site is imperative. Use a high-quality website hosting service and limit your plugins to keep your site streamlined and efficient.
Gaps in your existing system: Migrating to an ecommerce platform with features that cover direct gaps in your current system is one of the most common (and justified) reasons for migrating your ecommerce tool, as this will lead to direct improvements where you need them most.
Repetitive tasks: Replatforming to a solution with increased functionality or improved interfacing can allow you to cut out repetitive, duplicate tasks that you have to manually perform regularly.
Multiple, easy-to-use integrations: Your legacy system may not integrate with new plugins, or adding extensions may be extremely difficult. Upgrading to an ecommerce platform that easily integrates with many plugins can solve this.
Streamlined, accessible analytics: Without proper analytics, you can’t draw meaningful insights and make significant improvements. Ensure that you can collect, measure, and display data that works best for all teams that rely on this data.

Scalability and Elasticity: Microservices architecture allows individual components (services) of the ecommerce platform to scale independently based on demand. This elasticity ensures the platform can handle varying levels of traffic and transactions without performance degradation.
Agility and Faster Time-to-Market: Microservices enable agile development practices where teams can work on separate services concurrently. This accelerates the development cycle, reduces time-to-market for new features and updates, and enables rapid response to market changes.
Improved Fault Isolation and Resilience: Failures in one microservice do not affect the entire system, thanks to their modular nature. This fault isolation minimizes downtime and enhances the overall resilience of the ecommerce platform.
Enhanced Customer Experience : Microservices facilitate the integration of customer data from various sources, enabling personalized experiences such as real-time recommendations, personalized marketing, and seamless omnichannel interactions. This enhances overall CX and boosts customer satisfaction.
Integration Flexibility and Ecosystem Expansion: Microservices are lightweight and API-driven, enabling easy integration with third-party services such as payment gateways and CRM systems. This enhances ecommerce operations by expanding capabilities and optimizing efficiency.

Planning and Preparation: Define clear migration goals, assemble a skilled team, and conduct a thorough audit of your current website to identify content and functionalities for transfer.
Choosing the Right Method: Decide between direct data transfer for simpler migrations or custom solutions for more complex data sets, leveraging insights from migration specialists to ensure a seamless transition.
Data Backup and Testing: Prioritize data security with robust backup procedures before migration, including databases and configurations, and conduct comprehensive testing in a staging environment to validate functionality and mitigate risks.
Integration of Third-party Tools: Seamlessly integrate essential tools like payment gateways and analytics platforms to support ecommerce operations and enhance marketing efforts without disruption.
Testing and Quality Assurance: Conduct rigorous testing across various devices and browsers to ensure optimal performance, addressing any bugs or errors promptly to maintain a flawless user experience post-launch.
Launch and Post-launch Monitoring: Deploy during off-peak hours, configure DNS settings and SSL certificates for secure access. Notify customers through updates and social media. Monitor analytics post-launch to optimize performance and enhance user experience.