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How Jamstack Improves eCommerce Performance and Security

With Jamstack, you can take your eCommerce operations to the next level — and your customers will thank you.

  • Article
  • 5 MIN READ
  • Mar 18, 2022
Felipe Silberstein
Felipe Silberstein

Head of Platform Strategy

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Summary

As more businesses are shifting to eCommerce models, the need for secure, high-performing sites is critical. 

Jamstack is a development stack that enables companies to better integrate development components. This stack gained traction in 2021 when Netlify, a pioneer of Jamstack, raised $105 million to launch an innovation fund that supports Jamstack-enabled development. Since then, it’s continued to grow in usage and popularity.

What makes Jamstack so special? Understanding its benefits, along with performance and security considerations, will help you determine whether it’s the right approach to take for your eCommerce site. Let’s take a look.

What is Jamstack?

Jamstack is an approach to building web experiences that is based on the idea of integrating essential elements like Javascript, APIs, and Markup in a way that produces end solutions that are fast, easy to scale, and highly secure.

The initials “JAM” refer to the three elements that form the core of this development strategy: Javascript, API, and Markup. Even though Javascript forms part of the name, the JAM approach is not tied to a specific technology. Rather, it embraces a range of options for each element, inviting developers to remain open to tools that best serve the architecture.

As a result, using this approach can provide site users with a better experience, improved performance features like speed and localization, and robust security. Technically speaking, it is based on these two principles:

  • Pre-rendered. The approach creates and delivers front-end pages, and presents them in milliseconds through a CDN (content delivery network). This lowers costs, risks, and process complexity associated with site management.

  • Decoupling. Site changes are no longer tied to the backend or hosting elements, which considerably strengthens security. The site is generated by HTML files that are based on services within the CDN, which support the infrastructure and APIs that operate on the server-side.



Jamstack improves eCommerce security

There is a reason why many brands have reconsidered their development architecture. In 2021, many companies decided to allocate more budget towards strengthening the security of their digital assets, as cybercrime trends shifted toward data theft, ransomware, and fraud.

For example, the ransomware attack on X-Cart reminds us that cybercrime will continue to evolve and keep pace with new technology. This causes technology leaders to evaluate whether there are better structures and systems to work with. Jamstack is an emergent development approach that can address some of these challenges.

Because of the style of infrastructure and emphasis on ‘decoupling’ (defined above), Jamstack can deliver static pages and previously rendered resources. This ability for the back end and front end to operate independently makes assets much less vulnerable to any type of cyber-attack.

If an attack is made on the frontend code of a Jamstack-enabled site, this would not necessitate a security breach on the backend, since an API is in place to separate them. Also, Jamstack is typically developed in ‘serverless’ environments, where technically there is no single server that can be hacked.

Last but not least, the cohesion that this architecture offers with other specific services like Reblaze (a cloud-based security web application), further strengthens security for assets developed using Jamstack.



Benefits of using Jamstack

COVID-19 drastically impacted online shopping user behavior and expectations. Today, consumers expect shopping experiences that are fast, intuitive to their preferences, and secure.

Jamstack addresses these needs, and provides a handful of benefits that can enhance the eCommerce experience you offer:

1. Fast websites

Several studies have demonstrated the importance of having a fast website for optimal eCommerce experiences and purchases. According to Google, 53% of mobile users will leave the page if it does not within 3 seconds.

The Jamstack architecture is built to provide fast web experiences. With less reliance on a database or server, load times are much faster. Also, Jamstack frontend code is developed in a cleaner way than other alternatives, which ultimately affects the loading time for each page.

The loading processes of Jamstack architecture are simplified since it uses a CDN to cache your website. This way, the browser is provided with all the information it needs almost instantaneously and can load quickly. 

2. Improved SEO positioning

Another advantage of using Jamstack architecture is seeing improved SEO performance. Since all site elements are processed and presented even before the DOM loads, this improves your chances for increased SERP visibility. 

This comparison between SEO performance on Jamstack and WordPress demonstrated that Jamstack offers advantages when it comes to site loading speed, security, and the ease at which search engines can process code.

3. Scalable and sustainable eCommerce

Jamstack makes it easy to scale web apps through its modular architecture and to send data through its content distribution networks. The community of developers who use Jamstack is growing, creating new plugins and useful tools to help teams build secure solutions fast.

Site maintenance is also a benefit of using Jamstack. By using services offered through Netifly, you can connect your asset to GitHub and deploy a specific version of code across the asset, keeping your whole team informed and engaged in the update.



Jamstack supports a future-proof technology stack

As eCommerce continues to grow, businesses must prepare their technology stack by investing in an ecosystem that not only delivers great customer experiences today, but is set up for the demands of tomorrow.

At Apply Digital, we help our clients create adaptable platforms that can scale with their businesses by aligning with Jamstack architectures and other flexible technologies. If you would like to speak to someone on our team to support your goals, please reach out, and we’d be happy to help. 

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