MarketNation unlocks scale with Platform.sh to challenge centralized ecommerce

02 June, 2025

Overview

Challenge

To find a hosting platform to support a fast-scaling, distributed ecommerce model built on Magento, eliminating infrastructure instability, long support delays, and performance bottlenecks.

Solution

Migrating the +Shop marketplace platform to Platform.sh's fully managed PaaS with dedicated cluster architecture.

Results

Sub-3-second page load times across all storefronts
Zero major outages since launch, with 24/7 infrastructure peace of mind
Full developer autonomy through environment-as-code and CLI tools
On-demand development environments accelerate feature testing
~ Daily production deployments using integrated CI/CD pipelines

Building a distributed marketplace model without the infrastructure headaches, helping them empower others to host shops directly on their websites and socials.

When MarketNation set out to launch +Shop, it wasn't just launching another marketplace. It introduced a bold new ecommerce model: a distributed marketplace designed to return power to brands, creators & influencers, and schools & nonprofits by enabling them to host shops on their websites and socials. Instead of drawing traffic to a single platform, +Shop would spread commerce across hundreds, potentially thousands, of partner domains, making performance, scalability, and infrastructure resilience not just nice-to-haves but business-critical.

"We're not a centralized player like Amazon. +Shop is about empowering others to monetize their traffic by private labeling a distributed but unified ecommerce system, where we do all the hard stuff as the retailer and the hosting site just promotes" said MarketNation President and CEO Steve Dueck. "That vision of enabling anyone to be a Shopkeeper demands a platform that can scale effortlessly, integrate deeply with our tech stack, and give our developers full control." But their previous hosting solution was holding them back. And things were getting worse, not better.

Stuck in a contract. And stuck with downtime.

Before Platform.sh, MarketNation hosted its Magento application on a custom Azure deployment managed by Webscale. On paper, this setup looked scalable. However, it was plagued with downtime, poor support, and spiralling technical debt.

"We were constantly firefighting. Page loads were taking five to ten seconds, a death sentence in ecommerce," said Geoff Douglas, MarketNation VP of Engineering. "And when something broke, we'd wait days for a fix. That's not support—that's abandonment."

The infrastructure wasn't just underperforming—it was unreliable. Steve Dueck recalls getting midnight alerts for downtime, only to be left in limbo. "I'd get a call that our systems were down, and then… nothing. We were just waiting for someone, somewhere, to notice and care. Locked into a two-year contract, I counted the days to get out."

The Webscale environment was built as an initial proof-of-concept test. As MarketNation prepared for a full production launch, it was clear that the foundation wouldn't hold. The tech stack was too rigid, the response times were slow, and the confidence in future scalability was practically nonexistent.

Finding a platform that could grow with them

When the team returned to the drawing board, they knew they needed more than hosting. They needed a true Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider that understood Magento's nuances, supported complex deployments, and offered integrated tooling for modern development workflows.

That's when Geoff Douglas reconnected with Platform.sh.

"I'd worked with Platform.sh years ago when Magento Cloud was powered by it. I knew the architecture, I knew the developer experience—and I knew it could handle what we were building now," he said.

Migration was a well-thought-out decision. MarketNation evaluated multiple vendors, comparing everything from cost and support responsiveness to deployment tooling and Magento compatibility. But Platform.sh stood out as the only option offering deep Magento support, baked-in CI/CD, and a truly managed hosting experience.

"The other vendors we looked at were either too barebones or too inflexible. With Platform.sh, we got the benefits of managed hosting without sacrificing control. That balance was critical," Geoff Douglas explained.

Seamless onboarding, and a 30-day migration

Despite being pressured to launch quickly, the onboarding process with Platform.sh went smoothly. The team had just 30 days to migrate off their existing infrastructure, create new environments, and go live with a production-ready +Shop deployment.

The transition was faster and cleaner than expected, thanks to clear onboarding checklists, real-time collaboration via a shared Slack channel, and direct support from a dedicated onboarding engineer.

"Platform.sh was a dream regarding clarity of engagement," Steve Dueck shared. The onboarding process was super clean and sharp. You could tell immediately that they've done this a lot—and done it well."

MarketNation launched right on schedule.

Tech stack transformation: complete control, faster deployments

MarketNation built +Shop on Magento open-source, as its modern development workflow emphasizes flexibility, speed, and robust observability.

The team is deployed to a dedicated cluster using Platform. sh's 3-tier architecture—development, staging, and production—giving them complete pipeline control. Built-in Fastly and Varnish caching dramatically improved site performance, while Blackfire provided real-time performance profiling in production. The Platform.sh CLI and console gave developers deep visibility into deployments and services.

"One of the big wins for us was the ability to control the environment entirely in code. With Webscale, we were always guessing. With Platform.sh, it's transparent and predictable," Geoff Douglas said.

On-demand development environments were another game-changer. The team could spin up fully isolated stacks to test major features without impacting production or staging environments.

"This morning, we launched a new development environment to test a disruptive feature. That would've been a huge ordeal in our old setup," said one developer. "Now it's just part of the workflow."

Even deployment downtime improved. With the MarketNation Magento setup streamlined on Platform.sh, the team reduced maintenance windows to just three minutes—a significant gain for a site serving live transactions.

Real results: stability, scale, and sleep

Since switching to Platform.sh, MarketNation has resolved its infrastructure issues and unlocked new potential for growth. First and foremost, uptime is no longer a concern.

"I haven't had a single call in the middle of the night since we went live on Platform.sh," Steve Dueck said. "Honestly, it's been the best thing in the world. It's just not something I worry about anymore."

Performance has also improved. Thanks to optimized caching and enhanced infrastructure, page load times have dropped to the targeted 2–3 seconds. Code is deployed more frequently, updates are shipped daily, and developers have more confidence in the system they're building on.

Crucially, Platform.sh has removed the infrastructure burden from MarketNation's small team, allowing them to focus on scaling the business and improving the +Shop product.

"We're able to deploy every day, with new features going live constantly," Geoff Douglas said. “That agility would've been impossible in our previous environment.”

Scaling the distributed revolution

With a strong foundation now in place, MarketNation is ramping up +Shop adoption and expanding its vision of distributed commerce. As more brands, creators & influencers, and schools & nonprofits adopt the platform, MarketNation is confident in its ability to meet demand without infrastructure bottlenecks.

"Platform.sh just works. And that allows us to focus on what matters, building a better ecommerce model," Steve Dueck concluded.

For digital commerce teams grappling with legacy hosting, rigid platforms, or unreliable support, MarketNation's story reminds them that the right managed hosting partner doesn't just solve technical problems but unlocks business potential.