From 5s to under 500ms with Sections CMS

This story begins in 2020 when Maiori, a renowned French designer of solar lighting and outdoor furniture, approached us for an in-depth review of their eCommerce website. Despite strong offline sales, the brand’s online performance was lackluster. Maiori suspected that their existing online store was not meeting modern user expectations, ultimately hurting conversions.

We started with a technical audit of their store and could notice multiple issues:

1. Their user experience wasn't up to date with today's users expectations
2. Their website was slow
3. Some of their major user journeys were clunky and sometime too confusing for most users

We addressed each problem separately but in this article we'll focus on the speed issue.

When speed matters

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, speed is a deciding factor for eCommerce success. Multiple studies echo this point:

• According to a 2023 Google study, 53% of mobile users leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.
• Data from Deloitte indicates that even a 0.1-second improvement in load time can boost conversions by 8%.
• Research by Akamai shows that every one-second delay in page response can reduce conversions by 7%.

This data makes it clear that performance must be a top priority for any online store. A slow website can undermine marketing campaigns and tarnish the overall user experience. Speed, therefore, directly impacts sales, brand perception, and long-term customer loyalty.

How we reduced page open time

To dramatically improve Maiori’s website performance, we migrated their online store from Prestashop—a monolithic platform—to Sections CMS, a decoupled application powered by a microservice API gateway. This modern approach allows for faster response times by:

• Separating backend services from the front-end experience.
• Splitting application layers into smaller services that can scale independently
• Leverage Sections CMS concurrency model, rendering multiple content in parallel

Another benefit is an increased resilience by creating an event driven order service.

The results

Before the migration, it took an average of 5 seconds for the Prestashop-based site to respond. After our interventions, server response times plummeted to under 500ms when first opening the website. Afterwards, when visitors browse the site, this metric typically hovers in the 200–300ms range.

Below are further insights into the specific improvements we achieved.

Home page

The home page is typically the most visited page and sets the tone for user experience:

Prestashop (Before):

• First time anonymous visits: ~5s to receive a response.
• Return anonymous visits:~ 3.5s
• Connected users: ~4-4.5s

Sections CMS (After):

Stable response time of 300–400ms on average, regardless of whether the user is first-time, returning, anonymous, or logged in.

Collection page

Collection pages help users filter and navigate product categories. Speed is crucial here to maintain engagement

Prestashop (Before):

• Average time to load: ~5s
• Connected users: ~5.5s

Sections CMS (After):

Stable average of 550ms

Product page

Product pages often serve as landing pages for promotions, and they’re the final step before adding items to cart.

Prestashop (Before):

Anonymous user load time: ~3s

Sections CMS (After):

Load time: ~550ms on average

Conclusion

By transitioning Maiori’s store from a monolithic platform to a microservice-driven, decoupled architecture, we significantly enhanced site speed and stability. This upgrade not only boosted conversions but also improved customer satisfaction—vital elements for sustained eCommerce growth. As these results show, investing in modern, performance-centric solutions can drastically shape the future of online retail.

For eCommerce decision makers, the takeaway is clear: speed sells. Embracing innovative technologies and prioritizing user experiences can help you stand apart from competitors, drive higher conversions, and build lasting customer loyalty.