
How to Implement Ecommerce Cart Functionality
This article outlines the crucial aspects to consider for a successful ecommerce cart that satisfies both user needs and technical requirements.

Medusa won the Golden Kitty Award for Best Ecommerce Product ✨ Learn More
An ecommerce architecture refers to the overall technical design and infrastructure of an ecommerce online store, including the hardware and software components, such as servers, databases, and programming languages.
Systems architectures also include the flow of data between different components and how the website or application is built to handle traffic and perform functions such as processing payments and managing inventory.
Ecommerce architectures can vary greatly depending on the business's size, complexity, and specific requirements. Choosing a particular ecommerce architecture is a fundamental decision. It will impact several critical aspects of the business, like scalability, maintenance, upgradeability, cost security, and performance.
There are several common ecommerce architecture patterns, including monolithic architecture, microservices, two or three tiers architecture, composable, headless, serverless, or cloud-based architectures.
Architectures have different trade-offs, and the best one depends on the specific needs of the business and the resources available.
The monolithic architecture model is a unified system that includes all features in a large codebase. In this type of architecture, the ecommerce solution connects to a database. It contains components such as a user interface, data access layer, and business logic layer.
While monolithic architecture is a traditional method of software development, it has some benefits and drawbacks.
A microservice architecture involves breaking down the ecommerce system into small and independent services that communicate with each other through APIs. The main advantage of this approach is that each microservice operates as a subsystem with its specific business logic. This architecture allows for greater scalability and flexibility.
Two-tier and three-tier architectures are different ways of organizing the components of an ecommerce system. The three-tier architecture has an extra layer between the client and server, allowing for more scalability and new features.
A two-tier architecture is where the client (interface layer) communicates directly with the ecommerce platform's data layer. This architecture is straightforward but can become limiting as the business grows. It makes it challenging to add new functionality or scale the system.
A three-tier architecture contains an additional "middle tier" between the client and the server. This middle tier typically manages the client and server data flow. It can also handle authentication, security, and data validation functions.
In a headless ecommerce architecture, the front-end presentation layer of the ecommerce platform is separated from the back-end functionality.
The front-end (head) displays the user interface and handles user interactions. On the other hand, the back-end (body) handles specific functionality such as inventory management, order processing, and payment processing.
A composable commerce architecture is an approach where the ecommerce platform comprises small and independent services. They can be combined and configured differently to meet specific business needs.
These services can be developed and deployed independently. Also, they can be composed to create a customized composable commerce solution that can be easily scaled and adapted to business requirements.
A well-designed architecture can improve the platform's performance, scalability, and security, making it easier to adapt to new business requirements. On the other hand, a poorly-designed architecture can limit the growth and success of the business.
When evaluating the current architecture of an ecommerce platform, it's essential to consider the following factors:
Once you have assessed the current architecture against these factors, you should clearly understand whether it fits your business's needs. If the present architecture works, keep using it. If not, look for an alternative that better fits your business needs.
Knowing your business's future requirements allows you to make an informed decision about the architecture and features of your ecommerce platform. This ensures your business's growth and success.
The ecommerce landscape constantly evolves, and new technologies and trends are always emerging. Ensure your platform is up-to-date with trends and tech to keep growing and succeeding.
For example, ecommerce businesses looking for a simpler and cheaper solution can use a monolithic or two-tier architecture. However, companies that need to scale and customize their business quickly may benefit from microservices, headless, or composable architectures.
Modern ecommerce systems could choose three-tier or composable architectures if they need security, performance, and integrations with other systems.
Medusa provides a set of open source ecommerce building blocks for developers to build bespoke commerce setups. This way, businesses avoid platform lock-in and gridlocks and can instead start from a scaleable foundation.
Different services in Medusa are independent and can be combined differently. Businesses can add or remove features as needed and easily integrate them with other systems. This allows companies to improve the performance of their ecommerce store and adapt to new technologies and emerging trends.
Medusa allows developers to build and customize ecommerce functionality using pre-built services and APIs rather than starting from scratch. This approach allows for faster development, improved scalability and flexibility, and better integration with other systems.
In addition, Medusa's plugin system allows developers to add new functionality to the ecommerce platform without modifying the core codebase. This system will enable developers to create custom plugins that can be used to add new features or extend existing ones. It allows the platform to be customized to meet the specific needs of a business by completing requirements quickly and easily.
Choosing the correct architecture for a business ecommerce can be overwhelming for developers. They must compare each architecture's advantages and disadvantages before selecting an option that could fit the business's necessities.
Medusa is a good alternative for businesses seeking a modular and open source ecommerce architecture. Its modular architecture allows different services to be combined and configured to meet the business's specific needs.
Using Medusa results in cost savings and faster development, particularly for companies with high levels of customization. It has improved integration with other systems and a supportive developer community for assistance with customization and maintenance.
If you’re interested in Medusa, you can get started by following the quickstart guide.
Should you have any issues or questions related to Medusa, then feel free to reach out to the Medusa team via Discord.
This article outlines the crucial aspects to consider for a successful ecommerce cart that satisfies both user needs and technical requirements.