Say hello to the new flexible.
While it may sound like yet another trend in a long line of trends in e-commerce, Composable Commerce actually points toward a much larger idea. It isn't really about the way we buy and sell things online, but about the technological foundations we do it on.
In a nutshell, composable commerce means building flexible, adaptable system architectures that integrate a multitude of specialized software services, each deemed the best for the requirements at hand.
What is "Composable Commerce"?
Composable commerce describes a flexible approach to building ecommerce applications: Companies select best-of-breed, independent components and combine them to build applications tailored to their specific requirements, gaining adaptability and speed in development along the way.
Houston, we have options.
Companies used to go for one-stop e-commerce solutions, putting their trust in commerce software suites that contained all the features they needed in one package. "In recent years, the dominant paradigm in e-commerce technology has shifted away from an 'off-the-shelf' approach and towards a 'best-of-breed'-mentality", explains Christopher Möhle, COO at Turbine Kreuzberg. Today, when selecting vendors and their technologies, companies are increasingly able to choose specialized solutions, each the best at what they do, and combine them to build custom commerce set-ups.
"Companies have realized that being at the enterprise level doesn't mean they need that one huge commerce suite. You can be much quicker and more adaptable when you combine a stack of tools that each do just one thing – or a few things – extremely well. All the while, of course, playing nice with software offered by other vendors", Möhle says. This new level of customization is made possible by open APIs, laying the foundation for flexible system architectures.
What makes commerce composable?
Composable Commerce means taking charge of your tech stack. And becoming flexible and adaptable in return.
Get maximum flexibility.
Modern commerce platforms are highly modular, use open, standardized APIs, and increasingly run in the cloud. This allows companies to more easily integrate a multitude of different services and orchestrate how they interact. In turn, this has created a boom in commerce software ecosystems, which have become more diverse and specialized. In the end, composable means having options – and options make companies much more flexible in building their commerce architectures.
Quickly adapt to change.
Leveraging composable commerce makes your running systems much more responsive to changing external and internal circumstances. This means companies can shape their tech stacks much more actively. Plus: they can integrate changes quickly, validate solutions and reduce the time-to-market. And when certain components have outlived their use or better services become available, replacing them becomes much easier – without the need for long, complex replatforming projects.
Less vendor lock-ins mean lower risk.
Monolith commerce software and suite solutions often involve a high degree of vendor lock-in. When you choose a one-size-fits-all suite, you're usually bound to use what comes in the box – regardless of whether the individual systems are actually the best at what they do. Composable commerce architectures make you less dependent upon one vendor, because you can pick and choose which tools are right for you. And that helps distribute risk across a multitude of services.
Want to find out more? Check out our Expert Guide »Composable Commerce«.
Ready to start
composing?
Let's talk.
Christopher Möhle, COO
christopher.moehle@turbinekreuzberg.com
+49 175 321 0 941