FAQ: Technology

Question 1

Why does e-commerce need a backup?

Accepted Answer

A backup — a copy of the code — is required to keep the site running. Continuity is especially important from an e-commerce point of view: every hour of store downtime can directly stop us from generating revenue. A mundane reason like physical disk damage on the server is one of the reasons regular backups are mandatory. But making backups serves many more purposes:
 the option to create alternate environments where you can comfortably develop different features in isolation and test changes without touching the live store (although Ansible auto-installers or Docker-based solutions are much better suited for that),
 daily backup cycles let us travel back in time to any point — e.g. when a hard-to-identify problem appeared on our site, or it was discovered after enough time had passed that the consequences are hard to fix,
 running the backup service to the right standards is also today one of the GDPR (RODO) requirements.
Having a backup shouldn't lull our vigilance. Just having backups doesn't mean we're properly protected against an outage. Without periodic tests that involve recovering the service via the so-called disaster recovery procedure, it may turn out that copies sitting on backup servers are worth nothing to us.
If you want to read more on how to ensure the stability of an online store, especially during Black Friday or pre-holiday shopping, do read the article on our blog.

Question 2

What is a framework?

Accepted Answer

A framework is the skeleton for building an application — a kind of template containing repeatable, ready-to-use software components. Using a framework saves the developer time needed to write the application — by reusing ready elements, they can focus more on what is specific to the application.

Question 3

What is PWA?

Accepted Answer

For e-commerce, PWA (Progressive Web App) is a store "shell" built using technologies similar to those used for mobile apps. The difference is that the code runs in the browser — the user can use the same version of the site on desktop by entering the URL in the browser bar, and also launch it via an icon on their smartphone home screen, without having to install another app.
For that reason PWA is a good compromise if we can't afford to maintain both a store and a separate mobile app. Even though the store keeps the look and functions of an app, we don't have to publish it on Google Play or the App Store. 
Thanks to PWA we can deliver a smoother experience to the user: responsiveness ensures the layout fits any device, and caching lets the store work even out of network coverage. Importantly, it is often possible to build a PWA on top of an existing online store, including on the Magento platform.

Question 4

What is DevOps?

Accepted Answer

DevOps is a fast-growing term denoting the methodologies and area of work aimed at preserving operational continuity even with parallel development and ongoing engineering work. The methodology emphasizes close collaboration and communication between IT administrators and developers. It also points to the strong interdependence of IT development and IT operations. The lack of DevOps maturity inside an organization often produces the following scenarios:

a production bug means that — with the service unavailable — you lose dozens or even hundreds of orders,
 developers couldn't ship business-expected features on time because of a mass of small problems they had to handle along the way,
 the technology debt has reached a level that prevents updates and performance improvements without a giant investment in rebuilding the system from scratch.

Today this term is often expanded with an additional Sec component (DevSecOps), adding security standards in an increasingly digital world.
If you want your organization to live through digital transformation properly, fully use its potential, or grow intensively without fear of technology debt, you should start exploring and developing DevOps inside your company.

Question 5

What is WMS?

Accepted Answer

WMS (Warehouse Management System) is software for managing a warehouse. For small-scale e-commerce businesses ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning) can play that role, mostly due to the cost of running two tools. In addition, at a small scale a single system holding all relevant logistics information for the e-store will be more efficient.

However in cases such as:
 a high volume of orders varying in size and pick-pack complexity,
 a growing number of inter-warehouse transfers,
 outbound flows across multiple sales channels: B2C, B2B etc.
rolling out a WMS will simplify managing many warehouse operations.

The basic difference a WMS brings beyond other systems is direct alignment of the chosen tool with the required processes. By default, WMS systems handle basics like:
 inbound planning,
 goods reception,
 putaway to the right locations,
 top-shelf storage planning,
 goods release,
 release control,
 picking,
 packing,
 dispatch via carriers,
 shortest pick path planning,
 fast-rotation algorithm,
 stocktaking,
 pairing with handheld terminals — useful for receiving, releasing, and stocktaking by easy scanning of EAN barcodes.

What sets WMS apart from other tools capable of those default tasks is easy automation and using the warehouse for harder tasks such as:
 sorting automation,
 packing automation,
 product assembly from components,
 production line tie-in,
 efficient resource management,
 auto replenishment (analyzing and controlling stock levels and lead times).

In addition, WMS systems are by default ready to support large-scale businesses: out of the box they handle big operation volumes and large data sets. At the same time, because such systems are used by many companies, these tools have proven solutions and minimal-friction integrations with many other systems.

A well-chosen logistics system can simplify many e-commerce processes, so it pays to think carefully about what functions it should fulfil in your store.

Question 6

What are microservices?

Accepted Answer

The term microservices most often describes the approach to technology architecture when building a system or systems. Instead of building one giant system — a so-called monolith — we build a network of smaller applications that talk to each other and meet the same requirements and business goals. An example of a microservice in the e-commerce ecosystem could be a PIM (Product Information Management) system — an application managing product data.
Microservices are a response to the ever-faster pace of change in the technology race. Building smaller systems makes them easier to evolve — we can pick a single piece of the service and improve its performance without investing in the whole system's infrastructure. Beyond more flexibility in development this also lets us increase the pace of work, e.g. through dedicated development teams that can work independently.

Even if your e-commerce currently runs as a monolith, migration to microservices can be a flexible process: you can spread it over time and move the service piece by piece, focusing on specific priorities. This also reduces the risk of mistakes and destabilizing your business. Even if some setbacks appear during the migration, fixing them won't affect the stability of the entire store.

Question 7

What is technology debt?

Accepted Answer

As we grow our e-commerce and roll out more technology solutions, we sometimes make mistakes in service architecture — we code in a hurry (without caring for code quality and readability) just to see the results of our work faster. Each time we make those compromises, our company takes on so-called technology debt.On one hand we ship faster or more, but at the cost of certain trade-offs that sooner or later will have to be repaid through:
 refactoring (changing existing site code so it runs more efficiently),
 or migrating the whole application (when a given technology solution loses official support, e.g. Magento 1).
Technology debt is hard to measure, so it's easy not to realize it exists. It can grow to the point where the company can no longer afford to migrate to a different technology, while the current one has reached its limits and is blocking the company's growth.

Question 8

How to choose hosting for e-commerce?

Accepted Answer

Hosting is about reconciling certain business risk with the scale and stability of the business. The bigger our sales, the more stability we expect. With a high level of stability comes a higher hosting cost. In addition to the average traffic volume on our store we should also factor in extra nuances that let us better fit hosting to our business:
  Is traffic steady or are there cyclical but sporadic spikes? Steady traffic enables better planning and maintaining dedicated servers. Sporadic spikes suggest a cloud, highly scalable environment may be cheaper.
 Do we have specialist administrators on hand to manage the environments?
 Do we need extra developer tools that e.g. AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers as part of its base hosting services?
 Are we optimizing the store for stability or for speed of recovery after a failure? If we go for stability we have to invest in new high-performance servers; if we go for speed of recovery we can pick much cheaper hardware that can be swapped during an outage.
If you want to read more on how to ensure the stability of an online store, especially during Black Friday or pre-holiday shopping, do read the article on our blog.

Question 9

Magento 1 — what is it?

Accepted Answer

Magento 1 is the first version of online-store software, released under an open-source license in 2008. It allows site management through an admin panel, including product catalog, order, payment, and shipping management. Magento 1 is no longer supported, so stores that haven't done so are advised to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

Question 10

Magento 2 — what is it?

Accepted Answer

Magento 2 is the new open-source online-store software, released in 2015. It allows site management through an admin panel, including product catalog, order, payment, and shipping management. Magento 2 has a paid version called Magento Commerce, dedicated to very large international e-stores.

Ecommerce, Magento 2 and AI concepts explained