As an enterprise retailer, one of the most strategic choices you can make about your online store is your ecommerce architecture. When ecommerce websites were first developed—and for many years after that—they were built using a monolithic approach. This approach was broken into technology “layers” that worked together to create the overall buying experience. Separating the architecture in this way creates a helpful foundation for understanding how newer architectures work.
We’ll use a high-end online fashion retailer as an example to walk you through each of the three layers that typically made up a monolithic ecommerce architecture.
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The presentation layer
The “top” layer in an ecommerce architecture is the presentation layer. This is where your customers directly interact with your store. In our online fashion store example, the presentation layer includes all the elements the customer will see when they are browsing or searching your site for clothes to buy. Everything from images to fonts to buttons will be delivered by the technology in the presentation layer—most often HTML, CSS, and Javascript. -
The business logic, application, or service layer
The next layer is the business logic layer, which can also be called the application layer or the service layer. This layer includes the core functions of the online store, such inventory management, promotions, checkout, and pricing. A customer visiting our online fashion store will interact with the business logic layer when they view a personalized promotion, see recommended products based on past purchases, or use a stored credit card to make a purchase. -
The data layer
The final layer that makes up an ecommerce architecture is the data layer. Customers never directly interact with this layer, because it is where information is stored and retrieved, often in relational databases. For example, every purchase our customer has made, along with their name, address, and other important buying information is stored in the data layer. Their data gets retrieved to the other layers the customer logs in to their account to make another purchase.
With buyers getting more sophisticated in their expectations, and wanting to buy across more channels, companies today are innovating their ecommerce architecture rapidly. Today, technologies are allowing businesses to reorganize the monolithic layers with APIs and other tools to develop smarter, faster, and more modern buying experiences. A recent IDC report found that 67% of companies are changing or planning to change their commerce architecture to prepare for the future.
In this article, we’ll take a look at four types of ecommerce architectures, and the advantages and drawbacks of each. Then we’ll dive into how to choose the right platform for your ecommerce architecture.
What are the different types of ecommerce architecture?
Earlier we reviewed the three layers of monolithic architecture, which is a helpful framework for understanding how the various technical functions of ecommerce work together. Today, there are more ways these layers can be combined or separated, depending on your budget, customer base, IT resources, and business goals.
Monolithic system
Most full-platform, all-in-one ecommerce solutions remain monolithic systems. With a monolithic system, all three layers are integrated together and tightly coupled. While it can be a less flexible approach, it works well for online businesses that have basic digital commerce requirements, and want low technical overhead.
Headless solution
With a headless solution, the data layer is separated from the other layers. The data layer becomes the back end, and the other layers become the front end. Data is often accessed via API calls from the back end to the front end. With headless ecommerce architecture, businesses get greater flexibility and faster development times because the back end isn’t impacted when the front end changes, and vice versa.
Modular system
Another way these layers can be separated is through a modular system. In this approach, the specific functions and features found in the presentation and business layers are arranged into reusable, prebuilt modules. Developers can easily add, upgrade, or replace capabilities and features, simply by selecting and integrating new modules. Using pre-integrated modules can speed time to market, while still allowing businesses to flexibly use services from different vendors.
Microservices approach
The most flexible approach to ecommerce architecture separates the layers as much as possible into independent components called microservices. This gives developers granular control over every service and function, allowing targeting scaling of components without impacting other functionality. Retailers with large, skilled, in-house technical teams that prioritize rapid innovation gain the most benefit from a microservices approach.
Monolithic vs. microservices ecommerce architecture
To dive a little deeper, let’s compare the two ends of the ecommerce architecture spectrum. A helpful way to think about which approach might work best for your enterprise is in terms of flexibility. The least flexible architecture is monolithic, but it is the simplest to maintain. Microservices architecture is the most flexible, but comes with the highest technical investment.
Why use a monolithic architecture for ecommerce?
With a monolithic system, all of the layers and functions of an ecommerce architecture are tightly coupled and integrated. This makes it the most straightforward system for online retailers to maintain. Monolithic systems used to have significant limitations, but providers like Shopify offer full platform options that include a lot of robust, flexible functionality right out of the box.
Pros of monolithic architecture
There are a number of benefits to using a monolithic architecture, and not just for small businesses getting started. Larger enterprises, especially businesses with multiple products, will strategically use a monolithic architecture to launch new products or experimental brands.
- Faster time to market: Because everything in a monolithic system is fully integrated, businesses can set up a store in very little time. During COVID, Heinz used Shopify’s full platform solution to launch an online store in just seven days to deliver their products directly to people quarantining at home.
- Lower technical requirements: With every part of your ecommerce functionality preconfigured and integrated, you don’t have to worry about much from a technical perspective. Monolithic architectures are easier to monitor, debug, and maintain, and most ecommerce full platform solutions do all of that for you.
- More cost effective: Developers, engineers, and other technical resources can be very expensive to hire and retain. Monolithic, full-platform solutions are built so that everything works seamlessly together, eliminating the need for deep development expertise.
Cons of monolithic architecture
While monolithic systems can be a robust, quick-start solution for many online retailers, they have some drawbacks as well. These mostly come into play as businesses need to innovate and scale.
- Lack of flexibility: If your business wants to make a change to one part of a tightly integrated monolithic system, other parts can be easily impacted. Your options for customizing or changing the system can be limited, unless you have the ability to rebuild and redeploy it in entirety.
- Difficulties with scaling: Scaling an individual component or function is challenging with a monolithic system. You can end up scaling the entire system when just one component, such as inventory or checkout, needs additional resources.
- Inability to work independently: If you want to innovate faster by using diverse development teams, they will still be stuck working on a common codebase, which can slow down development and deployment times.
Why use a microservices architecture for ecommerce?
As brands scale and look for ways to innovate, they might find themselves limited by monolithic or other architectures. Implementing a microservices architecture with highly skilled technical teams can speed up development times, increase agility, and allow for extensive customization.
Pros of microservices architecture
Within ecommerce, microservices architectures are most effectively used by large, technically advanced businesses that place a high priority on innovation. It allows teams of developers to use practically any mix of frameworks, code bases, providers, and tools to build a unique, fully custom tech stack.
- Competitive agility: If a large retailer is looking for ways to adapt quickly to changing market demands, a microservices architecture can be a good fit. When everything is very loosely coupled, technical teams can build and launch new features and capabilities rapidly without impacting the entire stack.
- Individual scalability: Developers can scale an individual component or function quickly without having to increase other unrelated resources. For example, a retailer could scale a product catalog to support more concurrent views without scaling the entire database or web server.
- Developer autonomy: With a microservices architecture, developer teams can work fully independently of one another, allowing them to work much faster and use whatever tools work best.
Cons of microservices architecture
There are several downsides of microservices architecture in ecommerce, and most stem from a sharp increase in technical complexity. While distributing functions into individual services removes single points of failure, the chances of multiple, smaller disruptions increase rapidly as more services are added.
- High initial investment and ongoing costs: Implementing or migrating to a microservices architecture can take significant time and investment. Every new function and service will need to be developed, integrated, and deployed individually.
- Complex maintenance and oversight: A fully distributed microservices architecture takes a lot of effort to monitor and troubleshoot. Keeping every service up and running can take a lot of time and effort, especially as services get added and upgraded.
- Technical resource access: Finding the specific technical talent to support an ever-changing combination of tools, frameworks, and other resources can be very difficult. And it gets even more challenging as more services are added.
Composable and headless ecommerce architecture
Headless architecture and composable systems are a way to achieve more flexibility than a monolithic system without the extreme complexity of microservices. Headless architecture simply splits the back end off from the front end, enabling communication between the two through APIs. This allows you to then build your front end with composable or modular components.
Why use a composable architecture for ecommerce?
When a business wants to integrate ecommerce functions from different providers but doesn’t want to take on the complexity and cost of a fully custom build, composable architecture can be a good fit. Composable systems let developers take advantage of prebuilt components from different vendors without having to build them on their own. Often, they can simply mix and match for faster development time and greater agility.
Pros of composable architecture
- Ease of integration: A composable architecture allows developers to quickly choose and integrate best-of-breed components. Online retailers can use this to quickly add and upgrade functionality to improve the buying experience.
- Flexibility and agility: Markets and customer preferences change quickly. With a composable architecture, developers essentially have building blocks they can select and deploy independently of the back-end systems.
- Efficient scalability: Because the various components are decoupled from one another, they can be scaled individually. This makes resource usage more efficient as the entire system doesn’t have to be scaled when just one component needs more resources.
Cons of composable architecture
Many of the benefits of composable architecture can become drawbacks as the overall architecture increases in size. Having an ecommerce architecture built with diverse components from different vendors can deliver a very robust buying experience, but management and overhead can become a challenge.
- Increased complexity at scale: When essential ecommerce functions are dependent on different vendors, your system becomes more complex. This can lead to increased development costs and more technical time spent managing overhead instead of innovating.
- Dependency on vendors: If critical functions depend on components provided by certain vendors, you could end up facing vendor lock-in. This easily leads to costs increasing year after year. Your entire store could be impacted if that provider’s services become unavailable for any reason.
- Integration management: While composable architecture lets developers mix and match components, not all are guaranteed to play well together. It can be a challenge to make sure integrations across the system are truly seamless, and not impacting performance in any way.
Why use a headless architecture for ecommerce?
Today’s online shoppers are becoming more sophisticated, expecting personalized experiences, opportunities to buy across channels, and media-filled product catalogs. When retailers adapt to these expectations, it can directly boost revenue. A study by Epsilon found that consumers are 80% more likely to make a purchase when brands offer a personalized experience. Many brands choose to adopt a headless architecture to deliver immersive, omnichannel customer experiences.
Pros of headless ecommerce
By decoupling the front-end presentation layer from the back-end commerce functions, headless ecommerce architecture gives retailers greater flexibility and agility. More businesses every day are adopting headless commerce to drive revenue and boost customer engagement.
- Seamless connectivity: A headless architecture, especially those hosted on platforms like Shopify, can be built with systems that are designed to talk to each other and seamlessly integrate with third parties. This allows developers to add and deploy new features and functions faster.
- Omnichannel capabilities: When you use a headless architecture, you can craft and deliver customized buying experiences tailored for different channels, such as email, social media, mobile apps, and much more.
- Rapid innovation: By separating the front end and the back end, technical teams can work on each one independently, allowing for faster development times. New capabilities can be launched faster, providing the groundwork for rapid innovation.
Cons of headless ecommerce
If you are migrating from a monolithic or full-platform architecture, the biggest drawback of headless commerce is the increased overall complexity. A decoupled architecture will always require more work to ensure consistency, synchronization, and coordination between the front and back ends.
- More skilled technical resources: Managing a headless architecture will require access to more specialized technical skills than a monolithic system would. More time must be spent to make sure your operations are synchronized as your ecommerce functions become more dispersed.
- API dependency: Most headless architectures use APIs to communicate between the front- and back-end systems. But that means any issues with the API’s performance and stability could impact your business.
- Increased overhead: If your business adopts a headless architecture to launch multiple front ends across channels, they will each require more development time and ongoing support from your teams.
What is the best architecture for ecommerce?
Every retailer is unique, and technical requirements will evolve—sometimes rapidly. That means that it’s important to fully evaluate your current and future needs, business goals, and technical resources to inform your choice. Those are truly the most important factors as you choose the right ecommerce technology for your enterprise.
No matter what ecommerce tech stack is right for you, choosing the right platform provider is critically important. You don’t want to select a platform that forces you into an architecture that doesn’t meet your needs, locks you into a lengthy contract, or requires access to expensive, specialized developers.
The right platform provider for your enterprise will be built to flexibly support the ecommerce architecture that works best for you. Platforms like Shopify even allow you to evolve from one architecture to another, without ever having to migrate. Fashion retailer AJE fully overhauled their online store, launched an improved mobile buying experience, and increased functionality—all while remaining with Shopify.
And Shopify lets you choose whatever option works best for your business: full-platform, headless, and composable commerce. Shopify even makes sure customers have access to popular components like Shop Pay (an accelerated checkout) across every type of architecture. Retailers on Shopify also gain access to the highest converting checkout on the web.
How to evaluate your current ecommerce architecture
Reviewing your current ecommerce architecture can help you decide if and what changes make sense for your business. You should first consider your current and future business needs, as well as how your customer’s expectations and behavior might change over time. Then, look at how scalable, flexible, and fast your current architecture is, and if it will be able to meet your needs going forward.
Even if your current architecture is working well for you, your platform provider might not. Here are some useful questions to ask when you are evaluating your ecommerce platform:
- Does the platform decrease your total cost of ownership? Is it both top line and bottom line?
- Will the platform increase or decrease your overall flexibility, agility, and time to market?
- Does the platform lock the business into a specific architecture or long-term contract with the vendor?
- Does the platform support an infrastructure designed for innovation?
- How much optionality is offered? Is it enough for your needs?
- Can the platform match the scale of your business needs?
- Does the platform invest in research and development?
- Does it appear on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant™?
- How much of your industry or sector does the platform already support?
- How many out-of-the-box capabilities do you need?
- How does it integrate with other platforms or systems you are using?
Ecommerce architecture FAQ
What is ecommerce architecture?
What is the three-tier architecture of ecommerce?
What are the four types of e-business?
- Business to consumer (B2C)
- Business to business (B2B)
- Consumer to consumer (C2C)
- Consumer to business (C2B)
