Scaling E-Commerce Experiences: Lessons from 10+ Years of Web Engineering
August 6, 2025•By Rohan Mahajan

Scaling E-Commerce Experiences: Lessons from 10+ Years of Web Engineering

A practical look at performance, architecture, and clean delivery patterns used to keep high-traffic commerce experiences fast and reliable.

performancearchitectureecommercereactnode

I have spent the last decade building web products in high-traffic environments, and most of that time has been around e-commerce. When scale grows, every decision shows up in customer experience, from page speed to error rates to how quickly teams can ship. This post is a practical summary of what has worked for me and the teams I have led.

1) Treat performance as a product feature

Speed is not a one-time optimization; it is a set of choices across the stack. I keep a simple performance budget and watch real user metrics. At Walmart Global Tech, we tied performance goals to business outcomes, so improvements were easy to prioritize.

Useful references:

  • Web Vitals: https://web.dev/vitals/
  • React performance basics: https://react.dev/learn/render-and-commit
  • Next.js caching and data fetching: https://nextjs.org/docs/app/building-your-application/data-fetching

Minimal example of cache intent (the idea matters more than the exact stack):

// Prefer explicit cache behavior for critical endpoints.
export const revalidate = 60

2) Architect for traffic spikes, not averages

Peak traffic drives design. I aim for:

  • Stateless services that scale horizontally
  • API response times that remain stable under load
  • Backpressure and timeouts to protect downstreams

Resources:

  • Node.js performance guidelines: https://nodejs.org/en/docs/guides/simple-profiling
  • Go performance and profiling: https://go.dev/blog/pprof

3) Build data models that age well

I have worked with PostgreSQL for years and found that a stable schema plus careful indexing removes more bottlenecks than most app-level tweaks. The best wins come from understanding how data is read in real usage, not just how it is stored.

Resources:

  • PostgreSQL EXPLAIN: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/using-explain.html
  • Indexing basics: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/indexes.html

4) Delivery discipline beats heroics

Consistent delivery comes from boring, reliable routines:

  • Code reviews that focus on clarity and risk
  • Integration tests for purchase flows
  • Small, reversible releases

Resources:

  • 12-factor apps: https://12factor.net/
  • Test pyramid: https://martinfowler.com/articles/practical-test-pyramid.html

5) User experience is a systems problem

Great UX is the sum of performance, accessibility, and resilience. This includes everything from image delivery to error messaging when a network is flaky. Small details add up, especially in checkout journeys.

Resources:

  • Core Web Vitals UX impact: https://web.dev/why-speed-matters/
  • Web accessibility overview: https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/

Closing

Scaling e-commerce is not about a single framework or database. It is about discipline: performance budgets, sound architecture, and simple code that teams can extend without fear. If you are building at scale and want to compare notes, I am always open to a conversation.