By replacing the shop system and switching to commercetools, Ernsting’s family, together with the digital agency dotSource, is creating the basis for fast, stable and future-proof online trading – while business operations continue. Thanks to agile development, microservices and seamless integration, the web shop and app benefit from higher performance, flexibility and faster feature development.
The previous Ernsting’s family online shop reached performance and scaling limits as the number of users grew. In order to solve these challenges, dotSource was commissioned to advise and implement a new, cloud-based MACH architecture based on commercetools. MACH stands for microservices, API-first, cloud-native and headless – a modern architectural approach that enables high flexibility and scalability. The scalable platform should enable new functions more quickly and replace the old shop.
From analysis to launch: strong advisory support
The change at Ernsting’s family affected numerous systems such as backend, frontend, B2C app, PIM (product data management), customer service tools and ERP connection (corporate resource planning). Right from the start, dotSource provided comprehensive advice and coordinated a variety of workshops for requirements gathering as well as technical and strategic planning. By using multistream project management and agile methods such as Scrum, Nexus and Dual Track Agile, dotSource ensured efficient, iterative implementation and supported close coordination between all teams.
Modern MACH architecture for maximum flexibility and scalability
Ernsting’s family chose the modern MACH architecture from commercetools. This meant that functions could be developed independently and seamlessly integrated into the existing IT landscape. The migration was carried out step by step in several go-lives – ensuring continuous business operations without lengthy downtimes. The cloud-based platform enables flexible front-end integration for webshops, apps and other applications, supported by over 70 scalable microservices in the backend.
A central building block are Backends for Frontends (BFF), which act as specialized microservices between backend systems and frontends, provide data in a targeted manner and decouple the development of frontend and backend – this reduces coordination effort and promotes parallel work.
Successful migration: More performance, stability and growth
The migration to commercetools required the complete replacement of the existing e-commerce platform and the close coordination of numerous teams over several years. With agile project management, seamless integration into the existing IT landscape was achieved – without interrupting ongoing business. The new cloud-based architecture noticeably improves performance and loading times. Through clear prioritization, the team focused on essential functions in order to go live on time. The platform now reliably handles higher loads. A careful testing phase also ensured system stability and functionality.
»The collaboration with dotSource was crucial for our transformation to the target architecture we wanted. The team demonstrated comprehensive expertise and was always able to respond to project changes in a goal- and solution-oriented manner,” says Christian Schubert, Head of E-Commerce IT at Ernsting’s family, about the project.
The introduction of the commercetools platform at Ernsting’s family creates a modern, scalable basis for online trading. Together, a flexible architecture was implemented that optimally meets current and future requirements. The platform, which won the Best Retail Cases Award, will be further developed together in the future and follow-up projects are already being planned.