Case study

Online Fashion Store Enables Growth Through Scalable Architecture

Technology
A person using an online fashion app.

Challenge

An online fashion storefront had seen its scalability and operations begin to lag, due to a monolithic backend, lack of testing capabilities and insufficient documenting process.

Outcome

We focused on reimagining the client’s IT architecture, focusing on interoperability and functionality to help build a solution with short and long-term viability.

Colleagues brainstorming

With good funding, a large inventory of rare fashion pieces, and a platform that’s unique in the way it relies on the social community, this leading online fashion store hadn’t predicted potential backend problems inherent in fast business growth stalling their progress. 
 
The fashion retailer couldn’t secure normal operations due to a huge monolith backend, which was not allowing them to scale properly. Additionally, they lacked architectural documentation and needed better testing procedures for the mobile portion of their web shop. 
 
Faced with these challenges, the client turned to us for a solution that would enable them to continue with their fast growth. As a trusted IT partner with numerous successful projects in the retail space, Endava was the client’s choice to offer tech solutions that would modernise their monolith backend and introduce a new multilayer architecture. 

An agnostic, all-encompassing solutions process

We took a scrum approach, providing a multilingual team capable of working on all the client’s shop extensions regardless of software. This included work on plugins for their online shop to connect the main platform with other services such as payments. The team was divided into two parts: development and quality assurance (QA), with both ensuring flexibility needed for the requirements for Java and JavaScript-based web shops. 
 
On the development side, we started with the redesign and improvements to the existing monolith backend solution, followed by the introduction of a new multilayer architecture. The QA sub-team worked on iOS mobile app testing automation and the design and implementation of test suites which would allow further automation of mobile apps.

Colleagues working on an online fashion app

Creating an IT platform with long-term viability

The development of an improved and documented architecture was achieved using the following technologies:

  • Languages: PHP, TypeScript/JavaScript, Golang
  • Application framework: Symfony, Angular, Node.JS
  • Data storage: MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, Memcache, RabbitMQ, Algolia
  • Tools: Gitlab, AWS, Docker, Swagger/OpenAPI, gRPC, Jira, Terraform, Ansible 
  • iOS automatisation: Xcode, iOS simulator, Cucumber, Java, Appium, Selenium, Gradle 

This enabled the client to receive a new, improved, and scalable solution, which would help facilitate growth of both their business and system.

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