A leading B2C retailer struggling with the limits of a monolithic Oracle ATG platform made a bold move: full-scale re-platforming to microservices. Within a year, they doubled system capacity, slashed infrastructure costs, and saw a 30% jump in search-to-cart conversions. Their success wasn’t just technical — it was strategic. Choosing the exemplary architecture meant balancing three critical needs: scalability, speed of innovation, and cost efficiency. So, how did they make it work?
From Monolith to Microservices: Why the Company Made the Leap
The company’s Oracle ATG-based monolith had reached its limit. Capped at 200 requests per second, weighed down by the cost of on-premise infrastructure, and too rigid for fast-paced iteration, it couldn’t keep up with a growing digital operation. As traffic surged and mobile usage spiked, the cracks became visible across every stack layer.
As pressure mounted, the team faced three persistent blockers:
• Scaling traffic and transactions without overstressing system capacity
• Updating features fast enough to meet shifting customer expectations
• Reducing infrastructure costs tied to legacy on-premise deployments
A cloud-native microservices architecture broke through these constraints. With modular services, asynchronous messaging, and elastic scaling, the new platform gave the business the agility and headroom it had been missing.
Architecture & Migration Strategy: From Discovery to Deployment
At scale, successful re-platforming begins with a deep discovery process. In this case, it involved a broad group—five product owners, three solution architects, and eleven project managers—to map out the system’s limits and uncover what was slowing the business down. That collaboration shaped every decision that followed.
The team identified key bottlenecks in scalability, agility, and data flow through deep workflow analysis and technical audits. With those insights, they designed an API-first, cloud-native architecture rooted in microservices and asynchronous communication. Kafka-based messaging replaced tight monolithic dependencies, creating room for flexible scaling and resilient interactions between services.
The architecture emphasized modularity, fault tolerance, and integration readiness — enabling the business to evolve its platform without disrupting daily operations.
Engineering Breakthrough: Inside the New Platform
With the architecture in place, the engineering team moved fast. Over the course of the build, they developed and deployed ten microservices designed to handle up to 540 requests per second under normal load — scaling to 1000 RPS in stress testing without breaking stride. That leap gave the business the breathing room it had lacked for years.
Replacing monolithic dependencies with lightweight, independently deployable services allowed for faster response times and higher system resilience. Kafka-powered asynchronous messaging further increased fault tolerance, enabling services to communicate reliably without overloading any single component.
Data migration was handled with equal precision. Product, order, and customer data were transitioned from Oracle ATG into the new microservices ecosystem without data loss or downtime. ERP, CRM, and payment integrations were rebuilt for the latest architecture and connected seamlessly.
The result was a platform that addressed every key limitation of the old system — scalable, modular, and built for growth.
Integration & Deployment Without the Risk
No re-platforming effort is complete without seamless integration, and this one had no room for disruption. Each integration—ERP, CRM, and payment—was validated under real-world conditions to ensure full alignment with the microservices architecture. Every piece was tested for stability under real-world conditions before going live.
To minimize business risk, deployment followed a phased rollout strategy. Low-risk services were launched first, allowing the team to observe behavior in production and make adjustments before expanding system-wide. This controlled approach reduced the chance of failure and gave teams space to adapt gradually.
Internal training ran parallel with deployment, preparing business and technical teams to work confidently within the new platform. Real-time monitoring added another layer of assurance — tracking system health, load behavior, and performance metrics from day one.
The result was zero disruptions, smooth adoption, and a platform that delivered immediate value without operational friction.
Business & User Impact
The shift to microservices wasn’t just a technical win — it delivered measurable business outcomes within months. System capacity doubled, scaling from a stable baseline of 500 requests per second to 1000 RPS, far beyond the original monolithic limit of 200, giving the retailer headroom to grow without hitting performance ceilings.
Improved speed and responsiveness directly impacted user behavior. Search-to-cart conversions jumped 30%, while the overall conversion rate climbed by 0.2% in just three months. At scale, that uptick translated into meaningful revenue gains.
Behind the scenes, the move to a cloud-native setup drove significant cost savings by eliminating on-premise infrastructure. With modular services in place, the product team gained the freedom to release features faster and iterate more often, shifting from maintenance mode to a culture of continuous improvement.
Tech Stack Behind the Transformation
Not Just a Platform — a Growth Engine
This transformation wasn’t just about solving for speed or cutting costs. By replacing a rigid monolith with a modular, event-driven architecture, the retailer gained far more than technical improvements — it gained a foundation for digital growth.
With microservices in place, the team can scale capacity on demand, personalize experiences without overhauling core systems, and adapt quickly as customer behavior shifts. What began as a performance fix evolved into a platform for continuous innovation built to support rapid releases, omnichannel delivery, and data-driven decision-making.
When the architecture works at this level, it stops being infrastructure — and starts driving the business forward.
