Edge Commerce Journal glossary
Network edge
The layer of globally distributed servers between shoppers and a store's origin - the closest point to the user where pages can be served and decisions enforced.
Origin server
The store's actual backend infrastructure. Every request the edge cannot answer makes the full trip here, paying latency and compute cost.
Full-page caching
Storing the complete rendered HTML of a page - not just static assets - so it can be served without touching the origin. The highest-impact edge technique for dynamic storefronts.
Cache invalidation
Purging or refreshing cached content when underlying data changes. For commerce, event-driven invalidation tied to catalog updates keeps cached pages accurate.
Hole-punching
Serving a cached page shell while fetching small dynamic fragments (cart count, inventory) separately - preserving personalization without sacrificing the cache.
Point of presence (PoP)
A physical location hosting edge servers. The density and geography of a provider's PoP network determine how close 'the edge' actually is to a given shopper.