Composable commerce: changing the ecommerce platform landscape

The future of ecommerce is MACH. That’s something which Patchworks, as an integration provider, has pioneered since the company was formed. Gone are the days when out of the box, static solutions were the pinnacle of ecommerce technology.

Now, it’s all about composable commerce and taking a MACH approach. That means microservice based, API-first, cloud-native, and headless architecture.

As a MACH enabling technology, we’ve been approached by a lot of companies looking to create a flexible storefront integrated with best of breed technology to engage with end customers, enabling a more profitable retail experience. Integrations are a core part of connecting disparate systems for a composable experience.

But this means that monolithic ecommerce platforms risk being left behind as MACH architecture becomes more accessible and accepted. A suite-based approach is convenient, sure, but do the benefits outweigh the advantages of composable commerce?

And if legacy platform providers want to remain top of their game, how can they prepare for a composable future?

How Shopify are adapting for the future

Monolithic ecommerce platforms being left behind isn’t a certainty. There’s huge immediate benefits to partnering with established platforms like Shopify, SAP Hybris, Magento/Adobe Commerce, and the rest.

And in fact, the resources and insight available to these huge industry names means they have a unique opportunity to develop new features and strategies to keep customers considering a move to composable commerce happy.

Shopify is one platform which has already started considering how to attract merchants who desire composability.

Recently, they announced their Commerce Components feature. This will allow businesses to pick and choose some elements from Shopify’s suite of solutions, but go elsewhere for others.

This is a huge step forward for monolithic ecommerce platforms. Whilst this doesn’t adopt many of the fundamental aspects of a MACH approach, what it does do is enable ecommerce merchants to pick best of breed apps and take more control of their operation.

For example, Shopify’s checkout services are refined and extremely useful for most businesses. But a merchant might find that the options for logistics within Shopify’s modular ecosystem don’t suit their specific needs. With Commerce Components, they can integrate with an unrelated tech partner to get the best of both worlds.

But there’s more that can be done by monolithic ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, to retain success as we move into a MACH future. And with companies who adopt a composable architecture expected to outpace monolithic competition by 80% this year, it’s more important than ever to adapt.

What can monolithic ecommerce platforms do?

Despite the increasing popularity of composable commerce and MACH platforms such as commercetools and BigCommerce, monolithic providers are still an important part of the ecommerce ecosystem.

However, to retain their relevance, they need to adapt to the times and constantly evolve to keep up with the benefits MACH architecture offers. Here’s a few things monolithic ecommerce platforms can do to adapt.

Expand their out of the box solutions

One of the benefits of a suite-based approach to ecommerce is the amount of out of the box solutions monolithic ecommerce platforms can offer.

From marketing tools to supply chain solutions, these providers typically have huge libraries of established tech partners which can be easily implemented with a merchant’s store.

But this also happens to be a disadvantage of these platforms when compared to composable commerce, as businesses are limited to what a provider can offer.

It might be easier said than done, but a workable solution to this could be for platforms to focus on expanding their tech offering, particularly on making it more diverse so every type of business is catered to.

Equally, these platforms could just follow in the footsteps of Shopify - and allow clients to go elsewhere for specific systems and applications.

Become cloud-native

Many ecommerce platforms are already cloud-native and reap the benefits from that. Cloud-native platforms can develop applications and services in the cloud rather than just hosting them on it, which provides a more connected and holistic ecosystem.

But some platforms are cloud-compatible rather than native. That means, whilst they can run in the cloud, they can’t take full advantage of its capabilities. These platforms are less scalable and flexible.

Monolithic platforms which aren’t already cloud-native might find it beneficial to consider restructuring to take full advantage of the cloud.

Be more modular and flexible

Microservices are a core tenet of composable commerce, and platforms such as commercetools. The MACH approach involves dividing your system into a set of independent microservices, each of which is responsible for a specific function and capability.

But some monolithic ecommerce platforms have a rigid approach which makes it difficult for new features and functionality to be added. But by breaking their codebase into independent microservices, they could attempt a hybrid approach between composability and traditional architecture.

Invest in API infrastructure

Monolithic ecommerce platforms need to build a robust API infrastructure to stay ahead. This enables easy integration, as well as powerful and secure data transfer between apps.

Some providers, such as Shopify, have a reliable API infrastructure already which allows for custom integrations. But to hold their own against composable commerce, further investment in API capabilities will be necessary to ensure a wide range of services.

BigCommerce has demonstrated this with membership of the MACH alliance and heavy investment in the APIs required.

The role integrations play

Ecommerce platforms will need a powerful integration partner to help clients get set up with the right tech quickly, easily, and reliably. Especially as they expand their offering outside of their own out of the box solutions to adopt the composable commerce approach.

Often the hardest part of moving to a composable architecture is the legacy integration tech. The adoption of a modern iPaaS platform can provide a facade of services to existing technology, unlocking the benefits of a composable commerce stack to a merchant.

For more information on the role integrations play in the composable commerce ecosystem, get in touch for a free consultation and demo of the Patchworks platform.