Case Study: Reducing Query Latency with Edge‑Cached Pre‑Aggregations — A Microbrand Story

Case Study: Reducing Query Latency with Edge‑Cached Pre‑Aggregations — A Microbrand Story

Hook: Small teams can achieve remarkable latency improvements without expensive infrastructure by combining smart pre‑aggregations, edge caching, and targeted cost controls. This case study shows exactly how one microbrand achieved 80% latency reduction and 45% cost savings.

Background

A DTC microbrand had slow dashboards and rising cloud bills as traffic spiked seasonally. The team adopted a pragmatic plan: identify heavy queries, pre‑aggregate at ingestion, and push frequently accessed aggregates to CDN/edge caches.

Implementation Steps

1. Run query profiling to find the top 100 costliest queries.
2. Design pre‑aggregations aligned to product and time buckets.
3. Serve aggregates from an edge cache with short TTLs to balance freshness.

Technical Notes

The edge cache removed 60% of direct hits to the analytics store. Engineers used the edge caching techniques described in the performance deep dive as a blueprint: Edge Caching Deep Dive. They also ran local simulations using the definitive local dev environment practices: Definitive Local Development Environment.

Outcome

Results after 90 days:

• Median dashboard latency fell from 1.8s to 220ms.
• Monthly cloud bills for analytics dropped 45% despite 2x traffic growth.
• Developer time freed up to work on customer features.

Lessons Learned

Key lessons that applied to other teams:

• Start with targeted fixes rather than full refactors.
• Instrument cost attribution early to show ROI.
• Edge caching works best with predictable access patterns and pre‑aggs.

Related Resources

Practical guides and case studies that helped the team:

• Edge caching deep dive: edge caching
• Local dev strategies: local development guide
• Predictive sales case study: maker predictive sales case study
• Composable docs for internal discoverability: composable SEO

Closing Thoughts

Microbrands can achieve enterprise‑grade performance improvements with the right architectural choices. If you’re working with constrained teams and budgets, prioritize targeted pre‑aggregations, edge caching, and clear cost attribution to make the case for further investments.

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