Even the best products won’t sell if your customers are battling slow load times, complicated checkout processes, and confusing pricing.
Industry-leading products need industry-leading eCommerce solutions.
Composable commerce gives enterprises the tools to deliver seamless, frustration-free experiences while building a scalable, flexible foundation for sustainable growth.
Breaking free from monolithic, legacy platforms, businesses can use composable commerce to advance a step further and meet evolving customer expectations.
But the shift away from monolithic is about more than just customer experience. In today’s fast moving commerce landscape, monolithic platforms just can’t keep up with the intricate needs of complex operations. The features companies want take far longer to develop compared to the rapid innovation from new eCommerce platforms, niche systems, and specialized solutions. For some businesses, these emerging technologies are the only way to access critical functionality. Not to mention, they’re often more cost-effective than traditional monoliths as well.
What is Composable Commerce?
Before we dive into composable commerce, we need to talk about monolithic architecture and headless commerce.
Monolithic architecture refers to one software platform running all services on one system. All components and modules are closely connected and dependent on each other, making changes and customizations difficult.
Headless commerce addresses the downsides of monolithic architecture, decoupling the frontend from the backend. This approach allows for changes to either side without disrupting the other.
Now that we covered those terms, let’s get into composable commerce.
While headless separates the frontend from the backend, composable commerce takes it to the next level by breaking down a platform into modular components. Businesses can mix and match, taking advantage of different best-of-breed solutions like checkout, product search, and pricing to meet specific needs.
Imagine — or maybe this is your reality— your business offers thousands of products, each with multiple variations. Customers may struggle to find exactly what they’re looking for, leading to frustration as they spend more time searching. Integrating a solution like AI-powered search can streamline the process, helping customers find the right products faster while also driving growth through personalized recommendations.
Plug and Play
With a composable commerce solution like Shopify, you get a platform that’s often more cost-effective than an all-in-one system, along with the freedom to choose best-of-breed tools.
Coveo for AI-powered search, Pricefx for advanced pricing, and Contentful for content management are a few examples of these tools. While these tools aren’t a full eCommerce platform, they play essential roles in improving the overall commerce experience.
Many of these tools also offer tiered plans, so you can start with what fits your needs today and easily upgrade as your business grows. This way you get the exact features you need, with the flexibility to expand when the time is right — without disrupting everything else, since each tool works independently.
In a monolithic solution, you’re often stuck with whatever the platform offers, even if the search feature is slow and the pricing tool falls short. With everything bundled together in one system, if you do decide to upgrade one of these areas, it can be a complicated, costly, and time consuming process. That’s why businesses often hesitate to invest in specialized tools when they’re already paying a considerable amount for a monolithic platform.
Where Does MACH Come in?
You’ve probably heard the term “MACH” thrown around and wondered how it fits into the world of eCommerce, or specifically composable commerce.
MACH stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless. Combining the benefits of these elements, MACH architecture enables flexibility, scalability, and agility for businesses. 87% of organizations that have adopted MACH claim it plays a critical role in meeting customer expectations, and 72% report that it gives them a competitive advantage.
Think of MACH as the blueprint for building a house. It provides the design principles and rules that shape the entire structure. And similar to building a house, MACH is a big commitment that touches every system in your technology stack, not just commerce. It’s an all encompassing architectural transformation that requires complete follow-through.
While composable commerce is like choosing your appliances and furniture, unlike MACH, you don’t have to dismantle and start again. Instead of buying everything from one store, you pick the best stove from one brand and the perfect fridge from another — tailoring each piece to your specific needs.
Shifting to Composable Commerce
Composable commerce has its advantages, but completely overhauling your technology stack doesn’t happen overnight and may not be the most practical option for your business right now.
That doesn’t mean you can’t start small. By incorporating solutions into your existing technology stack, you can gradually make your enterprise more composable over time without a full-scale overhaul.
With tools like TMG Fuse, an integration platform as a service (iPaaS), taking a piecemeal approach and connecting new solutions into your legacy systems is easier than ever.
But becoming a more composable organization shouldn’t stop at technology; it’s an opportunity to evaluate your internal processes and identify areas of improvement. Are there silos between teams or departments? How are you collecting, sharing, and using data? Taking the time to address issues like this will ensure you get the most out of your technology.
Customer expectations will evolve. The market will shift. Competitors will catch you off guard. While you can’t control these changes, you can control how quickly and effectively your enterprise responds to them. Composable commerce gives businesses the flexibility and agility to select solutions tailored to their needs — so they’re ready in advance of whatever comes their way.
Be prepared. Talk to our eCommerce experts and build your roadmap to composable success.
