Enterprise commerce platform, Hamburg

Headless Commerce and AWS Migration for Enterprise Commerce

A provider of commerce software for enterprise customers needed a decoupled architecture instead of a monolith that had grown over time.

IndustryE-Commerce
ServicesTech Transformation

Situation

A provider of commerce software for enterprise customers ran its platform on a tightly coupled architecture that had grown over time. New requirements for speed and service decoupling were hard to implement on top of it.

Task

As solution architect and technical product owner, we were to design a headless commerce architecture with Kafka event streaming and technically lead the migration to AWS.

Implementation

  • Headless commerce architecture

    Decoupling of commerce functions from a central frontend.

  • Event streaming backbone with Kafka

    Connects services through events instead of direct, synchronous coupling.

  • AWS migration plan

    Staged transition from the existing infrastructure to AWS.

  • Technical product ownership

    Prioritization and steering of the initiative across multiple teams.

Approach

We first defined which functions to decouple from the existing architecture, not everything at once. The event streaming backbone with Kafka made it possible to decouple services without rewiring them synchronously.

The AWS migration ran in stages instead of a single cut, so the platform stayed continuously available for existing enterprise customers. As technical product owner, we steered the sequence across the teams involved, so no one worked in isolation on a partial piece.

Result

The platform now runs on a headless architecture in which Kafka connects services as the backbone, instead of coupling them through a central monolith. The AWS migration could happen in stages without interrupting operations for existing customers.

Transferable lessons

  • Decouple through events, not rewiring

    An event backbone makes decoupling practical; synchronous rewiring does not.

  • Staged migration instead of big bang

    For a live enterprise platform, a single cut is too risky.

  • Someone has to own the sequence

    Technical product ownership across teams decides whether a migration stays consistent.

First conversation: 30 minutes, concrete.

We talk about your migration toward a decoupled architecture.