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Apr 1, 2022 | 4 minute read
written by Emily Kathi
Since spearheading the Composable Commerce movement and advocating for its game changing tenets and architecture, we’ve made it our mission to reimagine eCommerce for leading brands.
By definition, Composable Commerce refers to a modular digital commerce approach utilizing composable architecture. The API-first, microservices-based architecture powers solutions to achieve unique business needs in a customized tech stack.
Composable Commerce enables marketing, merchandising, and sales teams to bring a brand's unique digital vision to life by launching and continuously optimizing digital commerce experiences that leverage multiple, best-of-breed vendors composed together into a complete business-ready solution.
Digital commerce footprints no longer fit the one-size-fits-all model from one vendor. Back in the first wave of the eCommerce revolution businesses ventured online with standardized platforms and minimal control over outcomes.
The eCommerce landscape of today is far more demanding. With far more touchpoints, a saturated market, and consumer expectation for modern digital experiences, businesses can no longer rely on outdated legacy platforms that can’t keep up. Out of this demand for innovation in the eCommerce space is the Composable Commerce movement.
But, what if the Composable Commerce approach isn’t for everyone? You may have heard Gartner’s prediction that by 2023 organizations who have adopted a Composable Commerce approach will outpace competition by 80% in the speed of new feature implementation.
A compelling case, but let’s take a look at the reasons why a company may not fit the Composable Commerce model. First and foremost, you may be completely happy with the out-of-the-box functionality of your platform. If your existing solution checks all the boxes for your business for where you are right now, you may not see a reason to replatform.
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Smaller operations don’t require multiple vendor partners and integrations that composability affords. New businesses, home startups, and small mom and pop shops (10K and under of GMV), don’t have complex business requirements that would necessitate all the functionality and capabilities of a composable solution.
You have low digital maturity if you have little to no in-house technical expertise, and no intention to hire a partner with technical expertise. In addition, your business is likely new to digital commerce and does not yet see it as a fundamental driver of business success. Being low in digital maturity is not a bad thing at all – it’s about finding the best vendor solutions to match your needs. For low maturity companies, out-of-the-box eCommerce solutions are your best investment.
If your catalog is fairly simple with limited product variations you don’t need functionality to manage multiple brands, geographies, or hierarchies. In addition, if you’re operating solely in the D2C or B2C channels, without a plan in the short term to expand into new markets (B2B, B2B2C), a flexible, fast, and scalable architecture is not necessary. Again, an out-of-the box solution you can manage without a development team is a better choice. You can always re-evaluate (and replatform) as your business grows.
Adding multiple services and vendors requires a certain level of management. You’re dealing with numerous sales and support teams and integrating with their software.
Our answer to that challenge is Composable Commerce XA™, proprietary monitoring technology enabling Elastic Path to monitor integration data flow to quickly and easily identify the source of an issue across a multi-vendor solution. And in the event of an identified issue, we serve as the primary point of contact throughout the process of managing issue resolution across a multi-vendor solution.
With the complexity of multiple vendors are these sub factors:
Each vendor will have their own Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in a composable solution. With an open ecosystem of vendors, it can be a challenge to predict consistent service levels.
Within an eCommerce composable solution, you’ll need to work across separate interfaces and tools. This takes investment of time and money and is daunting to a less technical team. Many companies who are ready to adopt the approach choose a system integrator or agency to provide guidance with the process in lieu of an in-house technical team.
Today’s eCommerce landscape is fiercely competitive. You’ll need to leverage every tool to remain in the game. Wondering about your next move when it comes to eCommerce? Check out our eCommerce evaluation tool.