If the kings and queens of yesteryears could time-travel to the present and see how simple it has become to order iconic outfits or even a seven-course meal, they would probably call it a miracle. The rapid rise of eCommerce platforms has transformed the way consumers engage and transact with brands.
Composable commerce:
The next big eCommerce (r)evolution?
The stunning ascent of eCommerce
According to a Statista report, global online retail sales are set to reach 6.51 trillion dollars in 2023. In fact, Amazon—ranked as the third largest eCommerce business in terms of gross merchandise value—clocked over 5.6 billion direct visits to its website in May 2022 alone.
Undeniably, the eCommerce landscape is evolving at an incredible pace. Customers are demanding compelling, authentic, and personalised experiences in real-time across touchpoints. And orchestrating this journey for each customer is not easy, even for large enterprises.
Reimagining eCommerce strategy has become key
“How can our brand stay in the minds of our customers, and how can we ensure we give exactly what they want when they want it?” It’s perhaps in the quest to answer this question that organisations, especially large enterprises are moving to a more flexible, agile, and scalable eCommerce architecture with composable commerce.
Unlike traditional commerce which builds eCommerce platforms as a single integrated system, composable commerce involves decomposing eCommerce functionalities into individual services or microservices, each responsible for a specific function in the eCommerce ecosystem.
While both traditional and composable architectures have their merits, large enterprises often prefer composable architecture with headless (de-coupled front-end and back-end development) capabilities to accelerate digital commerce.
Doing it right: Three strategies
Implementing composable commerce is not as simple as installing a plug-in feature. It includes transforming your entire digital commerce approach with data management, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) and cultivating internal agility to deliver personalisation at scale. Here are three strategies that can help you make the implementation and adoption of composable commerce a reality for your organisation.
1. Build a business-focused eCommerce foundation
Launching new capabilities or deploying advanced features to meet the ever-evolving expectations of your customers across diverse marketing channels demands considerable time and effort unless you have an eCommerce foundation that’s primed for innovation.
The key here is to build your eCommerce infrastructure on a cloud-native, auto-scalable environment. This approach enables you to swiftly introduce new capabilities, leveraging services that seamlessly integrate with your composable architecture. Think about powerful features, like live search, personalised product recommendations, and smooth payment options. Additionally, you must ensure that your environment is resilient, secure, and fully compliant so you can effectively manage data while minimising risks.
2. Simplify the integration of services
For orchestrating an end-to-end customer journey and meeting your diverse business goals, all components of your digital commerce platform need to be seamless, flexible, and agile.
To ensure this, embracing an open ecosystem approach with composable commerce becomes imperative. It gives brands the freedom to put together the best-of-breed solutions using nifty things called application programming interfaces or APIs. These APIs help different services and third-party systems talk to each other and share data seamlessly.
The best part? No more dealing with lengthy and complicated implementations. Composable commerce is all about delivering immediate value to your business while reducing the cost of ownership. You can activate microservices that work straight out of the box, leading to significant savings on integrations and customisations.
For example, the Live Search powered by Adobe Sensei, available in Adobe Commerce, can enable you to quickly set up and deliver an intuitive search experience to your customers. The AI-powered service uses algorithms, such as "recommended for you," "trending," and "most viewed" to personalise search result rankings for each shopper in real time.
3. Engage a team of experts
While composable commerce offers numerous advantages, it also requires proper planning, governance, and integration efforts to ensure all services work harmoniously together. According to a Forrester report, one-third of digital businesses will regret playing “software company”. This suggests that businesses without organisational processes and deep technical expertise in place will struggle with the complexities of moving from their legacy systems to a more nuanced technology.
Achieving a certain level of digital maturity and adopting an API-first approach can go a long way in building a cohesive omnichannel eCommerce strategy for organisations that are on their journey to expand their digital footprint.
Lastly, and most importantly, it is imperative to align your people and organisational processes to maximise the potential of your eCommerce platform. To ensure the best results, consider engaging a team of experts skilled in data and change management, as well as optimising operational costs.
Take the next step. Contact Adobe Professional Services to prepare, launch, and scale your composable commerce architecture today.
