Migrating Monolithic E-commerce Systems to Microservices: A Systematic Review of Event-Driven Architecture Approaches.

Abstract:

The transformation from monolithic to microservices architectures in e-commerce systems has gained significant traction as organizations seek enhanced scalability, resilience, and operational agility. This systematic review examines the current state of research on migrating monolithic e-commerce systems to microservices using event-driven architecture (EDA) approaches. Following PRISMA guidelines, we analyzed 11 relevant studies focusing on decomposition frameworks, migration methodologies, and implementation strategies specific to e-commerce contexts. Our findings reveal that event-driven architectures provide superior scalability and fault tolerance compared to traditional synchronous communication patterns, with asynchronous messaging showing 30-40% better performance under high load conditions. Key migration approaches include the Strangler Fig Pattern, Domain-Driven Design (DDD) decomposition, and process mining-based identification of service boundaries. However, challenges persist in data consistency management, service communication complexity, and organizational alignment during migration. The review identifies critical gaps in standardized metrics for evaluating migration success and limited tooling support for automated decomposition in e-commerce-specific contexts. This study contributes to the understanding of event-driven microservices migration patterns and provides actionable insights for practitioners undertaking e-commerce modernization initiatives.