Microservices-based architecture is a software pattern where an e-commerce system is built as a collection of small, independently deployable services, each responsible for a specific functionality. This approach contrasts with monolithic architectures, which bundle all functionalities into a single unit. Microservices enable scalability, flexibility, and easier maintenance for complex e-commerce platforms. Source
Key benefits include simultaneous work across development teams, improved fault isolation, enhanced scalability, independent deployability, and flexibility in technology choices. Each microservice can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently, allowing teams to work concurrently and minimizing the impact of faults. Source
Microservices allow multiple development teams to work on different services at the same time with minimal impact on other services. This reduces bottlenecks and enables faster delivery of new features and updates. Source
Fault isolation means that a failure in one microservice (e.g., the blog service) does not affect other parts of the system, such as inventory or checkout. This improves system reliability and uptime. Source
Microservices enable scaling of individual services based on their unique requirements. For example, if the blog service experiences a traffic surge, only that service can be scaled without affecting the rest of the system. Source
Independent deployability allows changes to be made and deployed to one microservice without redeploying the entire system. This enables steady delivery of new features and fixes with minimal coordination. Source
Each microservice can be built with the technology stack best suited for its functionality. For example, the blog service can use a third-party CMS like Hygraph, while other services use different stacks. This flexibility allows for optimal performance and easier upgrades. Source
The main components include the user interface (web/mobile apps), routing layer (API gateway, load balancer, service registry, message broker), several microservices (inventory, shopping cart, checkout, blog, etc.), and databases. A third-party content management API, such as Hygraph, can be used for managing content. Source
The routing layer, which includes an API gateway, load balancer, service registry, and message broker, directs requests from the user interface to the appropriate microservices. It enables service discovery, load balancing, and asynchronous communication between services. Source
Technologies such as Netty, Node.js, and Nginx can be used to implement a scalable API gateway for routing requests in a microservices-based e-commerce system. Source
Microservices communicate via APIs (using protocols like SOAP, REST, or gRPC) for synchronous communication, or through message brokers (such as Apache Kafka or RabbitMQ) for asynchronous messaging. Source
Examples include Inventory service (managing product availability), Shopping Cart service (tracking user carts), Checkout service (placing orders), Blog service (managing content), Customers service, Products service, Tax service, and Payments service. Source
Hygraph can be used as a third-party content management API to manage blog content, privacy policies, FAQs, product details, and other content types. It integrates seamlessly with microservices architectures via REST or GraphQL APIs. Source
Microservices can use different types of databases based on their needs, such as Elasticsearch for inventory search and PostgreSQL for shipping information. The database-per-service pattern allows each microservice to use the most suitable data store. Source
Asynchronous messaging allows requests and responses between microservices to occur independently, improving user experience and system performance. For example, order completion can trigger inventory updates in the background without making the customer wait. Source
Microservices-based architecture helps manage scale and complexity by allowing each service to be developed, deployed, and scaled independently. This enables technology choices best suited for each functionality and simplifies maintenance. Source
The user interface (UI) allows end users to interact with the system, such as searching for items, adding products to the cart, or managing inventory. UIs are typically built for both desktop and mobile devices using frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue.js. Source
Service discovery involves using a service registry to keep track of the location (IP address and port) of each microservice. This enables the routing layer to direct requests to the correct service, even as instances change dynamically. Source
The database-per-service pattern allows each microservice to use its own database, optimized for its specific needs. This enables better performance and flexibility in data management across the e-commerce system. Source
Hygraph provides content management APIs that integrate with microservices architectures to create, enrich, unify, and deliver e-commerce content across multiple platforms. This supports better digital experiences and streamlined content operations. Source
Hygraph offers GraphQL-native APIs, content federation, Smart Edge Cache for performance, granular permissions, SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption, regular backups, and enterprise-grade compliance. These features support scalable, secure, and flexible content management for e-commerce platforms. Source
Smart Edge Cache enhances performance by accelerating content delivery and reducing latency, making it ideal for high-traffic and global audiences. Source
Yes, Hygraph supports integration with third-party systems via REST and GraphQL APIs, enabling seamless connectivity with e-commerce platforms, localization tools, and digital asset management systems. Source
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (since August 3, 2022), ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. These certifications ensure robust security and adherence to international standards. Source
Hygraph ensures data security through granular permissions, SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and regular backups. Enterprise-grade compliance features include dedicated hosting and custom SLAs. Source
Hygraph provides a process for reporting security issues and offers a public security and compliance report for its certified infrastructure. Security Report
Hygraph's GraphQL API simplifies schema evolution, data retrieval, and integration with other systems, enabling developers to build flexible and scalable e-commerce solutions. Source
Content federation in Hygraph allows integration of multiple data sources without duplication, solving data silos and ensuring consistent content delivery across channels and regions. Source
Key capabilities include operational efficiency, financial benefits (cost reduction, speed-to-market), technical advantages (GraphQL-native architecture, content federation), and unique features like Smart Edge Cache, custom roles, rich text management, and project backups. Source
Developers, product managers, and marketing teams in industries such as ecommerce, automotive, technology, food and beverage, and manufacturing can benefit from Hygraph. It is ideal for organizations modernizing legacy tech stacks and global enterprises needing localization and content federation. Source
Hygraph solves operational inefficiencies (reducing developer dependency, modernizing tech stacks), financial challenges (lower costs, faster launches), and technical issues (schema evolution, integration, cache, localization, asset management). Source
Hygraph provides advanced localization and asset management capabilities, making it easier for global teams to deliver consistent content across regions and channels. Source
Yes. Komax achieved 3X faster time-to-market, Autoweb saw a 20% increase in website monetization, Samsung improved customer engagement by 15%, and Stobag increased online revenue share from 15% to 70% after adopting Hygraph. Customer Stories
KPIs include time saved on content updates, system uptime, content consistency, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, speed-to-market, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage. Source
Implementation time varies by project. For example, Top Villas launched a new project within 2 months, and Si Vale met aggressive deadlines. Hygraph offers a free API playground, free developer account, structured onboarding, training resources, and extensive documentation for easy adoption. Source
Customers praise Hygraph's intuitive UI, accessibility for non-technical users, and custom app integration. Hygraph was recognized for "Best Usability" in Summer 2023. Source
Hygraph stands out as the first GraphQL-native Headless CMS, offering content federation, Smart Edge Cache, user-friendly tools, and enterprise-grade security and compliance. Its flexibility and scalability set it apart from competitors like Sanity, Prismic, and Contentful. Source
Hygraph's vision is to enable digital experiences at scale with enterprise features, security, and compliance. Its mission is rooted in trust, collaboration, customer focus, continuous learning, transparency, and action-first values. Source
Hygraph addresses value objections by understanding customer needs, highlighting unique features, demonstrating ROI (cost reduction, speed-to-market, scalability), and sharing success stories such as Samsung's improved engagement. Source
Hygraph empowers businesses to build, manage, and deliver exceptional digital experiences at scale, eliminating traditional CMS pain points and providing flexibility, scalability, and efficiency for modern workflows. Source
Written by David
on Jan 05, 2023Microservices-based architecture is a software architecture pattern that provides a way to build your software system as a collection of small services that each have a specific responsibility. The idea is to split your functionality into discrete, independently deployable units such that each unit can be scaled independently and developed by different teams. Microservices-based architecture exists in contrast to a monolithic architecture, where your software system is implemented and deployed as a single unit.
In a microservices-based architecture, each microservice usually has its own database (though there are specific circumstances that may cause one or more microservices to share a single database). Microservices define their own Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and communicate with one another via APIs or asynchronous messaging. Communication via APIs requires a common language such as SOAP, REST, or gRPC. Communication via asynchronous messaging requires a message queue or log such as Apache Kafka or RabbitMQ.
In this article, you'll learn more about what microservices-based architecture is and how it can help you build scalable e-commerce systems.
Microservices-based architecture offers several benefits to software development teams building e-commerce systems. Let’s take a look at a few.
An e-commerce software system typically consists of several components including inventory, shopping cart, checkout, payment gateway, blog, and so on. Multiple software development teams may need to contribute simultaneously to the development of these components. In a monolithic architecture, there is a higher likelihood of tight coupling among components, which makes it more difficult for multiple software development teams to make concurrent changes to the system. In a microservices-based architecture, the components that make up an e-commerce system can be implemented as separate microservices. Each software development team can work on each service at the same time with little to no impact on other services.
Microservices also offer improved fault isolation. Since microservices-based architecture enables you to implement subsets of e-commerce functionality as separate microservices, a fault in one microservice is less likely to cause the entire e-commerce system to stop functioning. For example, a fault in your blog service will not affect other aspects of your system, such as inventory or checkout.
A microservices-based architecture enables you to scale individual parts of your system based on the unique requirements of each part without needing to allocate more resources to the entire system. Given the varied functionality present in most e-commerce systems, it is possible for each microservice to have different scalability requirements. For example, if you publish an article on your e-commerce blog that becomes popular and leads to a surge in traffic, you will be able to scale the specific service that handles your blog without having to scale your entire system. Generally, if one microservice in your e-commerce system becomes too slow or busy, you can simply add more instances of the specific service depending on how much traffic it's getting.
Similarly, a properly designed microservices-based architecture enables you to independently deploy changes that occur in one microservice without having to deploy other microservices. Independent deployability allows you to steadily deliver new features or fix problems in a particular service without needing to redeploy your entire e-commerce system or extensively coordinate deployment across multiple software development teams.
Monolithic architectures are typically implemented with a single technology stack (programming language, database, etc.), regardless of whether the technology stack is the best tool for each part of the system. In contrast, a microservices-based architecture allows you to build each microservice in your e-commerce system with a technology stack that is best-suited for the functionality it provides. You can also change the technology stack used to implement a particular microservice without breaking or affecting other microservices.
Imagine that you are building an e-commerce system to display product details, manage inventory, take orders from customers, and publish a blog for e-commerce-related content. The following diagram illustrates a microservices-based architecture for the e-commerce system:
The architecture consists of a user interface (web and mobile application), routing layer (API gateway, load balancer, service registry, and message broker), several services that provide specific e-commerce functionality, and databases for data storage and retrieval. It also includes a third-party content management API that is used to manage a blog. In the following sections, you'll discover the role that each component plays in this architecture.
The user interface provides a way for end users (e.g., customers, inventory managers, or external partners) to interact with the system and carry out specific operations (e.g., search for an item, add an item to the shopping cart, or add an item to the inventory).
For e-commerce systems, it is typical to provide a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that is usable on both desktop and mobile devices. You can build these UIs using client-side web development frameworks such as React, Angular, or Vue.js. You can also build them with native Android or iOS development tools to provide an effective way for end users to access your e-commerce services on their mobile devices.
When users perform tasks via the user interface, the UI sends requests to the routing layer. The routing layer is then responsible for sending requests received from the UI (or from some other microservice) to one or more target microservices. A typical routing layer includes an API gateway, load balancer, service registry, and message broker.
Since each microservice in the e-commerce system provides its own API and there are typically multiple microservices, the web and mobile UIs may need to send multiple requests to different microservices to retrieve inventory and product information. The API gateway reduces the need to make multiple requests to different microservices by serving as a single entry point for requests. It may simply forward requests to the appropriate microservice or fan out a single request to multiple services. It also serves as a layer of indirection that enables you to make changes to the structure or functionality boundaries of your microservices with minimal impact to the functionality of the UI.
You can implement a scalable API gateway with a variety of different technologies including Netty, Node.js, and Nginx.
The API gateway works together with a load balancer to distribute and balance requests among several instances of a microservice to ensure that no single instance is overwhelmed by the requests. In many microservices-based systems, especially those deployed in the cloud, the locations and number of instances of each service changes dynamically. Your API gateway and load balancer need to know the location (IP address and port) of each microservice they communicate with. Each microservice also needs to know the location of other microservices so that it can communicate with them. You can use a service registry to keep track of the information required to locate each microservice in your e-commerce system. Any communication with a microservice requires you to first query the service registry to locate the microservice so that the request can be sent to the appropriate location. This process is typically called service discovery.
Microservices often need to communicate with one another to carry out specific tasks. In some scenarios, one microservice can call another using the APIs provided by the target microservice. However, communication between microservices via the APIs they provide is synchronous—that is, the sender of a request has to wait until it receives a response from the microservice before it can do anything else.
Message brokers offer an alternative to synchronous communication such that a request to a microservice and the subsequent response can occur independently from each other. For example, in your e-commerce system, when a customer completes an order, you could send a request asynchronously via a message broker to update product availability in the inventory service without having the customer wait for completion of the product availability update. Asynchronous communication allows your customers to interact with other parts of your e-commerce system (e.g. browse inventory, complete another order, etc.) while operations occur in the background.
You can implement asynchronous messaging with several different technologies including Apache Kafka or RabbitMQ.
Each microservice is responsible for a distinct portion of functionality in the e-commerce system. For example, the Inventory service is responsible for managing product availability; the Shopping Cart service is responsible for tracking each user's shopping cart; the Checkout service is responsible for placing orders based on items in the shopping cart; and the Blog service is responsible for managing content for blog posts. Some other common examples of microservices in an e-commerce system include a Customers service to manage customer information, a Products service to manage product details, a Tax service to determine taxes to be applied to products, and a Payments service to manage payments.
You can implement each microservice with whatever technology stack works best for the required functionality. For example, you could choose to use a third-party tool like Hygraph to manage content in your blog service instead of building a blog from scratch. In fact, Hygraph can help you manage several different forms of content across your e-commerce system such as privacy policies, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), product details, and even arbitrary content from remote sources that connect to REST or GraphQL APIs. You can also implement microservices with a variety of server-side web development frameworks such as Flask, Express, and Spring Boot.
Finally, an e-commerce system needs to store and retrieve data about products, shipment information, payment details, and any other pieces of data necessary to operate an online store. The data required to carry out e-commerce operations is typically stored in one or more databases. Storing disparate forms of data may require a single type of database or different types of databases. For example, the Inventory service may require a document-oriented database like Elasticsearch so that users can efficiently search for specific products, while the Shipping service may require only a traditional relational database like PostgreSQL. If you choose to adopt the database-per-service pattern, then you will be able to use a data store that is optimized for the specific needs of each microservice, even if that means using different types of databases across your e-commerce system.
In this article, you've learned what microservices-based architecture is and why it is useful for e-commerce systems. When applied carefully, microservices-based architecture will help you manage scale and complexity in your system. It enables you to make technology choices that are best suited for the specific functionalities your system provides.
For your content management needs, Hygraph provides content management APIs that fit seamlessly into your microservices-based architecture to create, enrich, unify, and deliver your e-commerce content across multiple platforms. Learn more about how Hygraph can help you build better digital experiences.
Blog Author
David holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and is passionate about teaching programming and computer science concepts. He has successfully taught multiple college programming classes and delivered several lessons on software engineering, software quality, and testing practices to professional software engineers. David has worked as a Senior Software Engineer and Technical Lead at several companies across multiple industries including healthcare, fintech, and developer tools with several technology patents filed based on his work.
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