Why Build An E-commerce Application With DynamoDB?

Building an e-commerce application is not an easy architectural decision.

There are a lot of elements to think about.

To list a non-exhaustive list, you typically need to:

• Be able to scale out on holidays and accommodate more traffic (than you’re used to)

• Be able to remain highly available in case of system crashes

• Support fast transactions; no one wants to wait 5 minutes for their order to be processed

• Minimize costs of your systems 

• The right database to support the above requirements.

Because of these elements, a high-performing database is critical if you are to support these requirements.

Here are several reasons (in my humble opinion) why DynamoDB is a great fit for building your next e-commerce application.

1. Lightning-Fast Performance at Scale

Again, speed matters in e-commerce. 

Every millisecond delay in page load or checkout time can lead to lost sales and abandoned carts. 

DynamoDB is known for it’s high performance, its single-digit millisecond response times for high-volume workloads. 

This will do its part so that product pages, cart interactions, and order processing are fast, even during traffic spikes like Black Friday or flash sales.

Traditional relational databases can suffer under heavy read/write loads, especially when joins and complex queries are involved. 

With DynamoDB, you avoid this problem by denormalizing your data into access-optimized structures. This allows you to query product listings, user carts, or inventory counts with high efficiency.

2. Scalability for Spiky Traffic

E-commerce traffic is unpredictable. Some days are calm; others bring massive numbers of shoppers due to a marketing campaign or special (seasonal) events. 

DynamoDB was designed with this exact concept in mind. with on-demand capacity mode, you can scale up or down automatically based on traffic. 

This is all handled automatically for you so you are free to focus on the data itself.

For larger sites with more predictable workloads, the provisioned mode with Auto Scaling provides a more cost-effective configuration. 

With either capacity modes, you will notice DynamoDB will easily keep up with your traffic at any scale.

3. High Availability and Global Reach

Your e-commerce website needs to be available 24/7. Any downtime translates directly to lost revenue. 

DynamoDB offers high availability with built-in data replication across multiple Availability Zones in a region.

If you need to service multiple different regions across a country or even the world, DynamoDB offers Global Tables. These let you replicate your table data to multiple regions at the click of a button. 

This ensures that users across different places of the world experience low-latency access to your app.

The best part is that if one region goes down, DynamoDB will automatically failover to another healthy region and keep your online store in operation.

4. Event-Driven Architecture with Streams

One of my favorite DynamoDB features is Streams. 

Streams capture item-level changes in near real-time. It’s a powerful way to create event-driven architectures. For your e-commerce site, this means you can react to database changes when you need to.

Some great examples are:

• When a user places an order, a stream can trigger a Lambda function to process payment and send confirmation emails.

• When item’s stock levels increases/decreases, updates can be pushed to inventory dashboards or even alert a system saying “low inventory on item x”.

• When a new product is added, a stream can sync the data to search indexes.

5. Built-in Security and Access Control

Security is non-negotiable in e-commerce. 

DynamoDB integrates tightly with AWS IAM, which enables fine-grained access control at the table or even item level. You can lock down access per user, role, or service with precise permissions.

Also, all data in DynamoDB is encrypted at rest and in transit, and the service is compliant with major standards like PCI DSS, SOC, and ISO [1]. 

This makes it easier to build secure and compliant commerce platforms.

6. Pay for What You Use

Your single-region ecommerce application is not usually running 24/7, not unless you’re Amazon of course.

Running a relational database 24/7, even during idle hours, can lead to unnecessary costs. 

DynamoDB’s serverless nature means there are no instances to manage, patch, or scale. You only pay for what you use: the read and write throughput consumed and the storage you use.

This makes it great for startups and mid-sized businesses that want to keep costs predictable while still having the ability to scale when they need to.

👋 My name is Uriel Bitton and I hope you learned something in this edition of Excelling With DynamoDB.

📅 If you're looking for help with DynamoDB, let's have a quick chat.

🙌 I hope to see you in next week's edition!