The Best Database for Ecommerce(BD4E) is a pre-installed, fully functional database server and management system that enables single-node ecommerce applications to be created within minutes. The BD4E is ideal for local development and provides comprehensive tools for importing sample data and managing the imported data, such as executing SQL statements and creating backups.
A dedicated Ecommerce database design is better when it comes to performance and any other requirements. It’s intended to be a robust enterprise solution offering business users the flexibility they require. If your e-commerce business is running disorganized, then you need a good e-commerce solution. There are several best E-commerce solutions available today; however, these should not be confused with best database for e-commerce.
If you are looking for a database design, software or service for your ecommerce application, you will find the answers here. We present database architecture for ecommerce system. You will also know how to build database for ecommerce website and what database management system to use for ecommerce site.
Internet businesses have experienced a rapid growth within the last decade, with ecommerce stores taking a significant share of this market. The Internet allows companies to grow and target audiences they otherwise would never have been able to reach before. This article is all about ecommerce applications, their requirements and the best databases for ecommerce web stores. We’ll also provide some information on how data analysis is used in ecommerce applications.
Is Instagram a database?
Instagram mainly uses two backend database systems: PostgreSQL and Cassandra. Both PostgreSQL and Cassandra have mature replication frameworks that work well as a globally consistent data store. Global data neatly maps to data stored in these servers.
Does Instagram run on AWS?
Picture-based social media service Instagram has been run entirely on AWS since its inception in 2010. It ran on cloud computing service Amazon EC2, which enabled it to build and run its own software without needing its own servers.
Where are Instagram servers located?
Our application, processing, data collection, and other supporting servers are hosted in the US, Ireland, London, Singapore, Australia, India. The servers are owned by reputable vendors.
Does Facebook own their own servers?
While Facebook has housed its own servers and storage in co-located facilities from the very early days of the company, it started building its own data centers in 2010, following in the steps of Alphabet’s Google. Facebook has also designed a lot of its own data center hardware to improve efficiency, and has released …Facebook
Database Type
The next consideration is to determine the type of database. To have the best e-commerce DB design, you must first consider two main database types: RDBMS or NoSQL databases.
Relational e-commerce database example
This is similar to spreadsheets and uses tables, columns, and rows to organize and retrieve data. It is built using the standard query language (SQL) and all the data is related to each other. Examples include MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL, Amazon RDS, and Azure SQL Database.
Many e-commerce sellers use a relational database design centered around the following tables: products table, customers table, and orders table. Additional tables can be added as required to support shipping, categories, product reviews, and more.
We have covered the database structure in the previous section where the scope of the database was defined. Below, you can see a diagram of a simple e-commerce database design built using MySQL.
MySQL
While a standard relational database design will work for many e-commerce stores, there are situations where it is advantageous for retailers to follow another approach.
Non-relational e-commerce database example
A non-relational database is a nontabular database with a flexible schema that works well for storing unstructured data. Contrary to its name, a non-relational database can store related data. It does so by nesting related data within a single data structure instead of splitting them between tables.
There are various NoSQL databases, and the most popular ones are document stores and key stores. Examples include MongoDB, Apache Cassandra, Amazon DynamoDB, Azure CosmosDB, and Couchbase.
NoSQL
Most of the world’s largest online retailers, including Walmart and eBay, use NoSQL databases to power their e-commerce systems. This is because NoSQL databases providing the required performance and scalability to effectively manage large catalogs and unstructured data like user data and images.
A good example of an e-commerce database built using NoSQL technology is CouchBase, which uses a document store as its database type. With a document database, data is simpler and easier to access as an entire product can be stored in a single document instead of storing across multiple tables.
Below, you can see an example of data modeling for different products with CouchBase’s NoSQL database.
CouchBase NoSQL
Both of these database types are solid options for any e-commerce platform, and the choice is up to the designer and depends on the requirements of the platform. A relational database will provide a simple and robust platform to create the database while NoSQL offers better data flexibility, scalability, and slightly better performance. However, there is a way to combine the two.
Hybrid database example
Another exciting option is to use a combined solution utilizing an RDBMS for structured data such as user details, order details, payment details, and a NoSQL database for unstructured data such as product details or marketing information. This is referred to as a hybrid e-commerce data model.
Hybrid Database Structure
Creating a hybrid database structure is relatively more complex than using traditional database types (RDBMS or NoSQL) since a hybrid approach will utilize the application to combine data from both sources. This allows the developer to combine the strengths of both database types.
However, this kind of approach is only suitable for truly complex application architectures that offer users many different functions. For instance, if your purpose is to speed up an RDBMS, it’s easier to configure a caching server such as Memcached rather than going for a hybrid approach.
Database Infrastructure
After selecting a database type and designing the data structure, we need infrastructure to run the database. The infrastructure type will depend on the deployment of the e-commerce platform.
One option is to provision a server, install the database software, and manage all the aspects from security to maintenance. The other option is to use a managed database service like Amazon RDS or Azure SQL for RDBMS, or Amazon DynamoDB or Azure CosmosDB for NoSQL.
Among these two options, the managed approach saves time and does not require any maintenance as these are SaaS offerings.
A managed database will offer peace of mind for any developer as it is backed by a reputed cloud provider with a service level agreement to provide maximum uptime. It will also enable the developer and administrators to focus more on creating and optimizing the database without dealing with server or database maintenance.
A slight downside of a managed platform would be the higher cost associated with it when compared to managing your own servers. However, when considering the total cost of ownership (TCO) and operational expenditure (OpEx), a SaaS solution is the ideal option for scaling an e-commerce database.
PIM Software for Data Management
Product information management (PIM) is a critical component of the core functionality of any good e-commerce platform. It provides a flexible solution for managing all your product data inside a single database in the cloud.
Moreover, PIM is an excellent option for retailers looking to sell on multiple channels. Having a centralized database in the cloud, PIM allows easy management and delivery of product information to any place.
Another main advantage of PIM is the ability to collect and organize data in a variety of formats. Different platforms have their own catalog structure and PIM software automatically sends data to these channels in the proper format.
fabric PIM is one of the best examples of e-commerce DB design using PIM software. It serves as a single source for centralizing all your data in the cloud, allowing businesses to benefit from increased productivity while ensuring all information is accurate and up to date across various channels.
Popular Mobile App Databases
Here are some popular databases to build Android apps and iPhone apps. You can select the best database for your mobile app based on your requirements.
MySQL: An open source, multi-threaded, and easy to use SQL database.
PostgreSQL: A powerful, open source object-based, relational-database that is highly customizable.
Redis: An open source, low maintenance, key/value store that is used for data caching in mobile applications.
MongoDB: A schemaless, JSON document database which is known for its flexibility and scalability.
Memcached: A distributed cache system which is multi-threaded, and used primarily for caching objects to speed up applications by alleviating database load.
MariaDB: A popular open source relational database which was created by the original developers of MySQL.
Cassandra: A free and open source, NoSQL database which is designed to handle a large amount of unstructured data at any scale.
SQLite: Embedded database, common usage is to provide local data storage capabilities on mobile phones.
InfluxDB: An open source, fast and time series database which is written in Go.
RethinkDB: An open source, and document-oriented database which stores data in JSON format and sync in real time with the application.
Riak DB: A distributed NoSQL database, which offers high availability, fault tolerance and data resiliency as its core feature.
CouchDB: A document-oriented NoSQL database which uses JSON to store data and javascript as its main query language.
Couchbase: A full Stack NoSQL database that supports offline sync, full CRUD, and query capabilities and runs locally on the device.
ArangoDB: An open source NoSQL database which is known for its multi-model, graph and geo algorithm features.
Selecting the right database for Mobile applications(with multiple layers of data) is a big challenge. I was shocked to see the challenges that developers face when they integrate the mobile app with databases.
Software for creating a database for your store
Your online store database is the main backbone of your business.
It gathers together all the product information that will make all your internal and external communication processes, sales and distribution either a success… or a failure.
A catalog management software allows companies that operate through the online environment to manage, store, create and keep always updated their catalogues in any of the channels in which they are present. In addition, it offers the possibility of ranking them in a structure defined on the basis of their name, prices, suppliers or descriptions, among others.
How to create an optimized database is something every online business needs to learn, but we can help you in this phase by reviewing which software will make it easier for you to develop, maintain and enrich your product database.
Conclusion
A robust, scalable and user friendly Ecommerce website design is the backbone of any successful business. Designing an effective database architecture and framework for ecommerce websites has been long perceived as one of the greatest challenges in building ecommerce applications. Most businesses have chosen custom-made systems that are built to support one or more follow-on expansion phases to meet the business’ growing needs.
You need a database to support your processes, but your e-commerce site is negatively affected by poor performance due to poor database design, or even just a lack of integration of the database into the overall design.