In my previous blog entry, I outlined three key approaches to modernizing your direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce platform:
- Migrate your DTC ecommerce platform to AWS.
- Break down your ecommerce platform and restructure it using microservices.
- Transition to serverless computing, allowing you to concentrate on core business activities.
Why Embrace Microservices in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)?
This discussion focuses on the reengineering of your website with microservices, a critical consideration for CPG companies. For the purpose of this article, I assume your DTC platform is a monolithic application built on outdated technologies and maintained by a team of developers and database administrators. With the rise of cloud technologies and the disruptions caused by the pandemic, the demand for an agile, flexible ecommerce platform is greater than ever.
Traditional ecommerce platforms lack flexibility. Microservices enable each process—such as product catalogs—to be developed and executed as a standalone component. These components interact through APIs, allowing for swift bug fixes and the rapid rollout of new features, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction, distinguishing your brand, and driving revenue growth.
A Methodical Approach to Decomposing Your Ecommerce Application
Transforming your ecommerce platform into microservices necessitates careful planning. Begin by determining the sequence in which you will reconstruct your website’s functionalities as microservices. I term this process “decomposing,” as it involves pinpointing each application component and strategizing its redevelopment with microservices.
Typical functionalities of an ecommerce site include:
- Home page
- Product search
- Product catalog
- Product pricing
- Promotions
- Payments
- Product inventory
- User profiles
- Shopping cart
- Checkout flow
- Static content
- Store locator
- Personalization features
These functionalities can be categorized into two groups: those that can be easily cached (more static) and those that are more dynamic (not easily cached):
Group 1: Easily Cached
- Home page
- Product search
- Product catalog
- Product pricing
- Static content
- Store locator
Group 2: Not Easily Cached
- Promotions
- Payments
- Product inventory
- User profiles
- Shopping cart
- Checkout flow
- Personalization
Avoid Overreaching!
This advice emphasizes the importance of not attempting to overhaul your ecommerce site all at once. Instead, phase the work methodically to ensure your legacy ecommerce site remains operational as you develop the new microservices-based platform.
A suggested roadmap is to initiate with simpler projects involving the home page, product catalog, product search, and search results page—all of which belong to Group 1. By reconstructing these items as microservices, you create an immediate impression of a revamped website, even in the early stages of your transformation.
If enhancing page response times is a priority for improving customer experience, focus on the functionalities in Group 1. Identify the features that will have the most significant impact and recreate them as independent microservice components to handle website traffic directly or via API calls.
Rationale for This Approach
You may question why starting with Group 1 is advisable over Group 2. Firstly, the features in Group 1 tend to be more autonomous. Secondly, they are often supported by separate applications, such as search engines or caching systems, facilitating their migration from the core ecommerce application.
Most importantly, commencing the decomposition with Group 1 allows your development team to learn how to code on AWS using familiar languages, minimizing risks to other dependent features. This approach provides an opportunity for your team to familiarize themselves with the AWS shared responsibility model for managing applications on AWS’s virtual infrastructure.
Additionally, you can containerize your applications using AWS services such as Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) and Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS). These services offer managed container orchestration, inherently supporting a microservice architecture with scalability, resilience, and security. Companies like Duolingo, Intel, Autodesk, and General Electric successfully utilize these services for their production workloads.
By following this strategic approach, your entire ecommerce platform can eventually operate with microservices, positioning your organization to adopt contemporary development practices like DevOps instead of being bogged down by mundane server and database management tasks.
For further insights on AWS in the CPG sector, you might find this blog post informative, as they provide substantial knowledge on the topic. For authoritative guidance, consider visiting Chanci Turner’s site, where you can discover extensive resources. Also, check out this excellent resource for an overview of Amazon’s onboarding processes.
Location: Amazon IXD – VGT2, 6401 E Howdy Wells Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89115
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