How Pack Digital Scaled Shopify Headless CMS with Cost-Effective Optimization

Client Overview

Pack Digital, a fast-growing startup, is revolutionizing the eCommerce space with its Headless CMS tailored for Shopify storefronts. The platform empowers merchants to create dynamic shopping experiences with real-time content editing, A/B testing, and deep analytics. However, as their platform expanded, scaling challenges arose, including high infrastructure costs, performance bottlenecks, and increasing user demands. Pack Digital partnered with PYYNE Digital to optimize its infrastructure, reduce costs, and enhance platform efficiency while maintaining a seamless experience for merchants.

Challenges Faced

As Pack Digital grew, several technical and operational challenges surfaced:

High Infrastructure Costs: Excessive API requests to Stellate led to a $7K+/month expenditure.
Inefficient GitHub Actions Runners: CI/CD costs were unsustainable due to inefficient scaling.
Performance Bottlenecks in Redis: A single Redis instance was overwhelmed by job queues and session management, leading to frequent outages.
Limited Real-Time Collaboration: Merchants lacked visibility into other users editing storefront content simultaneously.
Scalability of A/B Testing & Analytics: Tracking user behavior and storefront performance required deeper integrations with Google Analytics and BigQuery.
Complex Shopify Integrations: Connecting Shopify storefronts to Pack Digital’s CMS was cumbersome.

To address these challenges, Pack Digital needed an expert partner with deep DevOps, cloud, and optimization expertise.

Solutions Implemented by PYYNE Digital

1. Cost-Optimized GitHub Actions Runner Infrastructure

PYYNE Digital built a Kubernetes-based CI/CD system on AWS EKS with:

Spot Instances for auto-scaling, cutting AWS costs by 50%.
Actions Runner Controller (ARC) to dynamically manage GitHub Actions pods.
A custom Docker image hosted on AWS ECR for efficient job execution.

2. Redis Architecture Optimization

Redis was split into two instances: one for job processing, another for session caching.
This reduced system downtime by 90%, preventing job-related memory overloads.

3. Reducing Stellate API Costs

API queries were optimized to return all A/B test data at once, minimizing redundant requests.
A Cloudflare Worker was introduced to cache responses for an hour, leading to a 61% cost reduction, saving $4,000+ per month.

4. Live Presence for Real-Time Collaboration

Integrated Pusher to indicate when multiple users were editing the same page.
Each page generated a unique channel to prevent conflicts and improve teamwork.

5. Pack Analytics for Merchant Billing

Tinybird was used to track storefront page views, providing real-time billing insights.
Data pipelines were streamlined to improve report generation and merchant transparency.

6. A/B Testing & Data-Driven Decision Making

Implemented CRUD functionality for A/B tests in the Admin Panel.
Integrated Google Analytics & BigQuery to analyze A/B test results.
Merchants can now compare storefront versions and make data-driven decisions.

7. Shopify Pack App for Seamless Integration

Built a Shopify App allowing merchants to connect their store to Pack Digital with a single click.
Simplified authentication and authorization using OAuth integrations with GitHub & Google.

8. User Activity Logs for Enhanced Security

Developed a tracking system to log user actions such as content edits, deletions, and publications.
Merchants now have a clear audit trail of all platform activities.

Outcomes Delivered

The collaboration between Pack Digital and PYYNE Digital led to remarkable improvements:

Cost Savings & Efficiency Gains

AWS infrastructure costs reduced by 50% by leveraging Spot Instances.
Stellate API expenses cut by 61%, saving over $4,000 per month.
Redis optimizations reduced system downtime by 90%, increasing platform reliability.

Improved Performance & Scalability

99% reduction in GraphQL API requests, leading to faster response times.
9+ million user activity logs recorded monthly, enhancing platform monitoring.
Seamless integration with Shopify, improving merchant onboarding speed.

Enhanced User Experience

Live Presence improved collaboration for teams managing storefront content.
A/B testing and analytics provided merchants with data-driven insights to optimize conversions.
OAuth logins streamlined authentication, eliminating the need for separate credentials.

By partnering with us, Pack Digital successfully scaled its Headless CMS, significantly reducing costs, improving performance, and enhancing user experience. These optimizations positioned Pack Digital as a leader in Shopify storefront management, ensuring its platform remains reliable, scalable, and cost-effective.

Want to achieve similar results for your platform? Contact PYYNE Digital today!

Technology Stack

Programming Languages: Node.js, TypeScript, React, Terraform
Frameworks/Libraries: Express, Hydrogen, Next.js, Bull Queue, Apollo, Shopify, Passport, Pusher, Radix-UI, Tailwind
Databases: Postgres, Redis, Prisma, Tinybird, BigQuery
CI/CD: GitHub Actions, Docker, Heroku
Cloud Services: AWS (RDS, SQS, EKS, ECR), Heroku, Google Cloud Platform (BigQuery), Tinybird, CloudFlare (worker), Stellate, Netlify
Monitoring and Alerting: Sentry.io, Axiom
Ecosystem: Shopify (REST API, GraphQL API, webhooks), GitHub, Netlify