We hear about “Composable Commerce” everywhere. Okay, but what is it actually? How it works ? Who is concerned ? Jean-Charles Bordes, Chief Revenue & Offers Officer and e-commerce specialist at SMILE tells us about a conversation he had very recently and explains to us in this article that ultimately, & Composable Commerce is like a good cooking recipe...
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The “Composable what?”
"Last Thursday evening, I met two long-time friends in our usual restaurant. One is a Digital IT Director and the other is an E-commerce Director. During dinner, one of them said to me: “that Good thing you're here this evening, my boss asked me to explain " Composable Commerce " to him... Can you explain it to me in 3 minutes?
It's true that most articles on the subject are either unintelligible to ordinary e-commerce mortals or filled with promises without explaining the why and how. I share my keys with him to explain the approach simply. But above all, we must understand the path that takes us to Composable Commerce !
“It’s a cooking story”
We are in a restaurant, what could be better than to take the analogy of the kitchen? For many of our clients, I find that mastering e-commerce is like practicing cooking.
At the beginning, we follow a recipe scrupulously, line after line on the type and quantity of ingredients to use, the cooking to be done, the dish in which to serve... The final creation looks exactly like the recipe for book, but ultimately also like two drops of water to that of any other cook who would have followed the same recipe.
E-commerce is the same. Initially, we were all guided by the best practices of a platform, this is what we call the “ one-fit-all-model platform ” and the “monolithic architectures” approach . They were supposed (on paper) to accommodate 80% of e-commerce needs. For example, the product catalog or the orchestration of orders were managed, year after year, in the basic e-commerce solution. As the projects progressed, we felt at SMILE that it was starting to pose some difficulties in terms of volume or consistency with the other sales channels which were multiplying .
In cooking, over time, the more we test, the more complex the game becomes! We no longer prepare for 2 people but for 10. And your guests become demanding: you have to reinvent yourself and bring uniqueness to your dishes.
“Concretely, what does that mean for e-commerce?”
For several years, our clients have moved away from the monolithic architectures that limited them to build a unique experience different from their competitors . They were able to offer greater quality in the customer experience, increase their conversion rates, better performance scoring, etc.
Indeed, stronger competition, multiple points of contact and more demanding customers have pushed them to acquire new, high-performance tools in a particular area . This is the advent a few years ago of PIM , OMS, CDP, Search , etc. solutions. At that time, we were talking about “ best-of-breed ”.
Then, competition obliges, it's the first big leap... our clients use new technological possibilities to be more efficient in their omnichannel strategy . Change can be gradual! These are what we call “hybrid” architectures, which aim to separate the “backend” from the “frontend”, or “headless” for short. At this stage, we keep the back end (the e-commerce solution) and more and more components communicate directly with the front end of the solution which is no longer used, via an API platform and are independent. of the transactional engine. For example, you pass product data through a Search tool like Gally which exposes personalized content to the front end without the intermediary of the e-commerce solution.
The advantage is a decomposition of the ecosystem which allows greater independence from the e-commerce platform . The services are more easily interchangeable, the "vendor lock-in" (this dependence which can exist between a buyer and a seller) is limited and our clients gain in performance without calling into question, the still most sensitive application for them, the e-commerce engine.
This is the case of LVMH, Cultura, Weldom, Snowleader or Kaporal for example, which have moved from a monolith eCommerce to a more flexible and decoupled architecture.
“So what about Composable Commerce?”
It's like being a finalist on Top Chef! It integrates the benefits of best-of-breed and goes further than headless.
On the one hand, the e-commerce solution is restricted to a transactional engine and is no longer the main component , or even there is no e-commerce solution at all for some of our clients. Each component is very open to communicate with the rest of the ecosystem. These components are “cloud native”, that is to say designed to maximize the scalability capabilities (also called “elasticity”) of a cloud, the version upgrade is managed and they offer very high performance. This is sometimes called MACH architecture .
This offers maximum technological AND business agility. We can interface or uninstall services more quickly and simply than if they went through a monolithic or hybrid architecture. The search for additional performance and experience gains is always viable but it must still be measured carefully.
Finally, when an IS already has a strong legacy, the advantage of looking at Composable or Microservices architectures is to be able to integrate without disrupting IT too much. We only integrate THE missing component (for example: the transactional engine). At Renault, we have built a digital and e-commerce platform that addresses all countries for the group's 5 brands (offers, products, services, etc.). It is not a market solution but a microservices architecture which relies on numerous repositories and internal services.
It is also a good opportunity to insert the development in the cloud of specific components linked to a particular context and business needs. It is very agile, adapted to their specific needs and to an IS that is difficult to move.
“So, concretely, what are the advantages of Composable Commerce?”
Composable Commerce has become the subject you need to know and study for your digital and omnichannel business . So if you only have to remember the main advantages to explain them to your boss and your teams, I'm sharing my top 5 here:
- A unique and differentiating experience : no compromise, you choose the market components/services/technologies that are most appropriate for your customers, your business and your internal or external constraints.
- Easily integrated into the IS : the Composable architecture is an API library by definition very open for exchanging data and the functionalities they carry with other components and at the front.
- More agility : this is linked to the advantages of the first two points. This type of architecture makes it possible to integrate new services much more easily than a monolith and limit side effects on the eCommerce ecosystem and IT. This allows you to test and adapt quickly.
- Performance : they are cloud native, i.e. scalable by nature and what's more, the client front only displays the necessary components. All of this makes the site, in theory, faster. In theory because it is also a matter of integration and “non-composable” architectures also demonstrate good performance, sometimes quite sufficient.
- Omnichannel : the objective is to benefit from the intelligence of the components (the product catalog and merchandising recommendation for example) across all customer contact points and not just on a web interface.
The bonus: rarely noted by tech companies, this is a great opportunity to offer design and UX without being restricted by the template of a monolithic solution and without complicating the front part of the project. Also used for headless, we use the opportunities of javascript development for this.
“Do we all have to do Composable?”
Obviously, not everyone should choose Composable Commerce. Sometimes it's even a mistake. You must know how to identify the benefits for the organization beyond the main market messages. This is sometimes not adapted to the internal context, business expectations or even the budget to be allocated. As you have understood, one of the biggest limits of Composable Commerce is the ability to finance this entire ecosystem of publishers . It's like in the kitchen, you perhaps don't need to buy a 5-burner stove, 3 ovens and a grill which will be totally out of budget and from which you won't really get the full value! Maybe it's even better for you to use just a knife and a pan.
Another limitation is certainly its overall cost. The more components there are, the more publishers there are, the more licenses there are … the ROI must be measured. There are the components but also their integration, flow management and the necessary front-end developments.
We can also note the lack of possible customization. You often have to buy the components as is with “only” configuration. The flexibility of the architecture exists but there is a limit to the component itself. It is rarely possible to develop additional functionality specifically for you, apart from a few publishers on the market, some of whom we work with. This is why some of our customers develop certain critical microservices themselves instead of going through an editor.
One last point but not the least. Composable Commerce alone does not ensure the success of your customer experience and business performance. The exploitation and valorization of your data are also essential. Good tools do not necessarily make good craftsmen.
To go further, I invite you to read the article by Guillaume Lanthier “ DXC Vs. DXP: understanding the architectural differences for a unified user experience ”. If you would like to know more about the advantages and limitations of the different approaches, prepare to explain them to your boss or push the analysis further by integrating other issues around digital, UX and data, contact us !”
