Scaling E-commerce with Dapr: SharperImage.com's Journey to 80,000 Daily Orders

A deep dive into how SharperImage.com transformed their e-commerce platform using Dapr, as shared at Dapr Day 2024. Let's explore how they handle massive scale while reducing operational complexity.

The Commerce Cloud Architecture [07:32]

SharperImage.com's Commerce Cloud is an impressive operation:

• Processing 80,000+ daily orders during peak periods
• 70+ microservices running on Kubernetes
• AWS Lambda integration for specific services
• Hosted on AWS EKS with sophisticated routing through NGINX

The Migration to Dapr [09:36]

Before Dapr, the team wrestled with:

• Complex gRPC service-to-service communication
• Custom-built frameworks
• Complicated SQL Server configurations

After implementing Dapr:

• Simplified service-to-service invocation
• Seamless cross-stack communication
• Built-in mTLS encryption
• Integrated telemetry routing to Zipkin (dev) and Datadog (prod)

Securing the Platform [10:51]

Security got a major upgrade:

• Centralized secret management through Kubernetes
• AWS Parameter Store integration
• KMS key encryption
• External Secrets for environment synchronization

The Outbox Pattern Evolution [11:28]

Their journey with the outbox pattern showcases Dapr's flexibility:

• Initial implementation using Dapr state management with DynamoDB
• Lambda functions triggered by DynamoDB changes
• Current POC using Dapr's native outbox feature
• Mix of raw messages and Cloud Events

Performance Improvements [13:24]

The numbers tell a compelling story:

• 99% reduction in CPU usage
• Eliminated instance registration issues
• Improved scaling capabilities
• Enhanced message processing reliability

Monitoring and Resilience [14:43]

The new setup provides:

• Comprehensive monitoring through Datadog
• DiagGrid Conductor integration
• High availability during traffic spikes
• Balanced resource utilization

Learning Opportunities [16:05]

Key lessons learned:

• Understanding Dapr component scoping
• Proper gRPC and pub/sub configuration
• Community support for quick problem resolution
• Importance of configuration validation

The Bottom Line [17:32]

The migration to Dapr delivered clear benefits:

• Dramatic reduction in resource usage
• Improved developer efficiency
• Enhanced platform resilience
• Simplified microservice architecture

CPU Usage Deep Dive [19:26]

The dramatic CPU reduction came from:

• Eliminating infinite loops in their custom framework
• Offloading responsibility to Dapr sidecar
• Reducing service instance counts
• More efficient message processing

Want to achieve similar results? The Dapr community is ready to help you transform your distributed systems just like SharperImage.com did.

Follow @diagridio for more real-world Dapr implementation stories!