The market is changing. Customer behavior is changing. There are constantly new trends we need to be aware of. And this places changed demands on the digital presence.
Composable commerce is an approach that enables us to meet the dynamic needs and create digital growth on an agile basis.
It's a bit like with building blocks.
They can create a huge mess all over the floor. There's a jumble of colors, sizes, and shapes. And it can be chaotic - maybe even overwhelming. But in the midst of all that disorder, you can also find solutions, clarity, and structure. It's just about starting to build, seeing the possibilities, and trying things out.
You can assemble the blocks, take them apart, and put them back together. You can remove, add, and discover new possibilities. You can let your creativity run wild and imagine new ways to adapt the many blocks. It's exciting. It can be challenging. But it's innovative. And suddenly, you've created something new.
And that's exactly where the golden solution lies - until you take it apart, try again, and create something else. And something better.
That's how it is with composable commerce. And that's why composable commerce might be e-commerce's answer to LEGO. It's your opportunity to create a unique do-it-yourself e-commerce experience.
It sounds fun - and it is. But it's primarily a strategic choice to do business this way. Therefore, it also requires a solid foundation, extensive knowledge of the many systems out there (it's a full-time job in itself), and perhaps a little courage and a willingness to take risks.
But is it the path to success?
If we take a look at some of the key figures from the E-handelsanalyse for the first half of 2023, it appears that almost half (48%) of Danes have shopped online in the past week, while one in five consumers (20%) can see themselves shopping all categories of goods online.
Not only are consumers turning to e-commerce, but good e-commerce in all industries is more important than ever! Therefore, you should build the solution that caters to your target audience - composable or not.
What is composable commerce? The alternative to a 'one size fits all' solution
Composable commerce is an innovative approach to e-commerce that has gained significant attention in the business world in recent years. It's a solution that, with its flexibility, allows for quick adaptation to market changes and customer needs, and it can promote innovation. All of this can lead to a competitive advantage.
Just think about what that chaos of building blocks can achieve!
With composable commerce, you choose a 'best of breed' approach to your IT architecture. Technical components and business logics are broken down into smaller building blocks. These can then be assembled, customized, and combined to create a tailored e-commerce experience that suits your specific needs and those of your customers. When needs change, you can add, remove, or switch one or more building blocks without having to change the entire solution. The high degree of agility ensures that it's 'easy' to make adjustments in your solution.
This is something that can be an advantage compared to large enterprise solutions, where you often tie yourself to one provider and their licensing - and therefore, their capabilities and limitations. With composable commerce, you become independent of individual systems (though you do have to keep track of several smaller licenses). Composable commerce can mean the freedom to shape your IT landscape as it is most relevant to your business. You can choose the specific services and technologies that fit your unique business needs. And you avoid paying for features and functions that are not relevant to you - right now.
Because that can change too. What was relevant last year may not be relevant next year. With composable commerce, it's easier to integrate third-party applications and services, allowing you to quickly leverage the latest technological advancements and adapt to changing customer needs.
So, it can be your opportunity to truly stand out in the competitive digital marketplace by looking at the different building blocks that a composable approach can consist of.
All the building blocks come in small PBC (Product Building Component) packages
PBCs, or 'Packaged Business Capabilities,' refer to a grouping of microservices and best-of-breed systems that support various aspects of a business model. PBCs are applications built around specific functions and contain business logic. The logics are often developed as separate, independent units, making them usable as building blocks.
Let's simplify it.
PBCs are like small building blocks used in the composable commerce landscape. Imagine you're building something with these blocks. Each PBC is like a unique block that performs a specific task, such as managing a cart in an online store or handling payments. With composable commerce, you can choose the exact blocks you need and assemble them to build your e-commerce solution. PBCs or building blocks make it easy to assemble the e-commerce solution that best suits your business.
Some well-known PBCs include:
- CMS (Content Management Systems)
- PIM (Product Information Management)
- CDPs (Customer Data Platforms)
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
- Marketing automation systems
- E-commerce platforms
- Payment
- Search
With PBCs, you leverage existing, tested, and documented business logics. This means time and resource savings, as you don't have to develop each business function from scratch. Instead, you choose the best tools with the future possibility of replacement in mind.
And you build an adaptable business, so you don't get stuck in a solution that can't be easily changed.
There is no manual - is it a challenge in composable commerce?
Just like with a custom-built PC, composable commerce requires a higher level of technical competence to ensure that the right building blocks are assembled. When successful, there are many benefits to reap, but it also comes with several challenges.
Here are some of the most significant ones to consider:
Complexity
The more different PBCs are integrated, the more advanced the solution becomes to work with. It often requires a significant level of technical expertise and allocated resources to manage and maintain the various elements, both individually and in relation to the many integrations.
Integrations
Achieving integrations can also be challenging. There may not be an out-of-the-box integration between systems, as each system may have its own set of APIs and data structures. This may require extensive development work because it's crucial that the different building blocks function seamlessly together for your composable approach to be successful.
Compatibility
Managing compatibility between different systems during upgrades or changes can be challenging. Choosing systems that are inherently compatible can provide an advantage.
Security
When multiple systems are combined, there are just as many different security methods to consider. Protecting data and preventing security breaches is always essential to maintain customer trust. Each time you adopt a new building block, you should familiarize yourself with its data usage.
Scalability
Scaling with a composable solution can be a complex exercise. The ways in which the many different building blocks scale can vary, making it challenging to ensure they grow in alignment with both your business and each other.
Costs
While choosing a composable solution can lead to savings in some respects, it can also be costly in other cases. Particularly when managing and maintaining a wide range of different systems, and when regular replacements are needed, which can involve new processes for integration, administration, and maintenance.
Overwhelm
With so many different systems to choose from for a composable solution, it can be challenging to make the right choices. This can lead to the adoption of incorrect and unnecessary systems, resulting in a less efficient solution.
Composable commerce is, therefore, a complex solution compared to a traditional all-in-one platform. It's not just the Duplo blocks you're building with, but the blocks for one of the largest LEGO sets ever (perhaps the Eiffel Tower, consisting of 10,001 pieces).
Mix and MACH your way to your own unique e-commerce experience.
In addition to PBCs (Packaged Business Capabilities), composable commerce also consists of an underlying foundation, the MACH principles. It's precisely MACH that makes composable commerce a future-proof solution, where each building block is its own microservice that communicates via APIs.
MACH stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless.
Microservices
Microservices are small, independent pieces of code, each handling a specific task in your solution. When you select the specific functions your solution should have, the microservices that fit those functions are subsequently composed. PBCs are then built around the microservices that need to work together.
API-first
APIs allow your systems to communicate across backend, frontend, and between your PBCs. This makes your solution flexible, ensuring that one change or error in the system doesn't affect the entire system. If an error occurs in, for example, the search function, the rest of your solution can continue to operate without being affected.
Cloud-native
Being hosted in the cloud provides more power and security. For instance, if you have a great offer for Black Friday, your cart function may experience high demand while the search function is hardly used. With composable commerce and MACH, you can scale each function as needed.
Headless
When a solution is headless, the frontend and backend are not tightly coupled. They communicate through APIs, giving you the freedom to develop in the backend while designing in the frontend. This makes it easier to make changes, run tests, or adjustments, resulting in a shorter time-to-market for new products, digital initiatives, features, and designs.
Composable commerce vs. headless commerce
You might be thinking, "Isn't composable commerce the same as headless commerce?" The answer is, "Not quite."
However, headless commerce (e.g., Umbraco Heartcore) is always a great starting point for composable commerce. If you want to test whether composable commerce is a good solution for your business, you can take the first steps with a headless solution.
Composable commerce and headless commerce are two different approaches to developing modern e-commerce platforms, each with its unique characteristics and advantages.
Headless commerce was the fundamental, innovative technology that introduced the separation between frontend and backend, allowing greater flexibility in design, while composable commerce is an evolution of this technology. It adds an extra layer by allowing a business to break down its commerce platform into individual services (PBCs).
In a headless system, it's typically the case that the frontend system depends on a single backend. In a composable system, each PBC can function independently. Composable commerce, therefore, offers a higher degree of modularity, allowing companies to assemble and customize their e-commerce solution by choosing the exact building blocks they need.
Composable commerce provides companies with more flexibility to tailor their e-commerce experience and quickly adapt to changing customer needs. Meanwhile, headless commerce is more suitable for companies that want to separate their frontend from their backend but may not necessarily need the same level of modularity.
