Composable Commerce For Companies of Different Sizes
BigCommerce shares tips for businesses considering going composable, from small merchant or mid-market company to global enterprise
Thinking about trying composable commerce on for size?
If so, your business is in good company. According to a 2023 survey of 550 retailers in the U.S. and Europe operating both online and physical stores:
- 91% believe composable architecture is important
- 67% are ready to deploy next-gen technologies via composable commerce
- 30% are already midway through adopting a composable infrastructure
They’re heeding the advice of analyst firms like McKinsey, which concluded in a 2022 research report that “moving to a modular, microservice-based architecture…that supports all touchpoints with shared functionalities…can enable organizations to achieve greater flexibility and scalability” and “deliver a distinctive, consistent customer experience.”
What does going composable look like for companies of different sizes? To find out more about the composable journey for small businesses, mid-size merchants, and large enterprises, we spoke to Meghan Stabler, Senior VP, Marketing at BigCommerce.
Composable isn’t just for big companies
“Is composable only for huge global enterprises? No,” says Stabler.
She notes that BigCommerce uses the term ‘enterprise’ to refer to any business doing $50 million or more per year in GMV (gross merchandise value) online.
“Composable is an approach that allows you to future-proof your tech stack by getting rid of that monolithic, one-size-fits-all toolbox,” Stabler explains. “It allows you to select – and have pre-integrated functionality between – best-of-breed solutions for your stack. It’s a great approach to scale fast and be flexible.”
For large enterprises, lower TCO is one common benefit of composability. Many enterprises also like having a flexible plug-and-play environment to try out different technologies in an agile test-and-learn fashion, whether the goal is driving conversions, increasing average order value, or reducing cart abandonment at checkout.
Although composable commerce can benefit companies ranging from small startups to massive multinational corporations, Stabler says it isn’t suitable for a business with annual online GMV below a range of about $500,000 to $2 million.
“If you’re a mom-and-pop shop, it doesn’t really make sense for you to be composable. You’ve probably already got one of those packaged solutions that provides, at that point in time in your growth, all the different features and functionalities you need. And you probably don’t have developers or the technical infrastructure or technical teams to make sure you’re integrated. And you’re probably not out there buying third-party software to integrate with this modular approach.”
There are certain trigger points, however, which do indicate when a composable stack may be a worthwhile option for a small or midsize business.
When to go composable
“That next step is wow, I’m beginning to grow, I’m beginning to scale, I’m looking to expand,” says Stabler. “Maybe I’m expanding globally. Or I’m thinking about new ways of attracting customers, from subscriptions to loyalty programs to payments, or offering up new brands to new geographic markets or new business segments.”
She offered other examples of indicators that it might be time to consider composable. Perhaps your business needs a more integrated and advanced “search and merch” capability, or wants to shift to a larger PIM. When complexity increases, or when your business needs to do new things in new ways that aren’t possible in an easy, scalable fashion with your monolithic tech architecture, composable architecture may be something to explore.
A great roadmap for the path to composability is the MACH model: microservices, APIs, cloud native, and headless. While those four elements are the cornerstones of composability, Stabler suggests going cloud native first and incorporating the rest of the MACH model from there.
More than one way to go composable
Although MACH underpins composable architecture, there’s no one-size-fits-all way to go composable.
For example, Stabler points out some vendors provide the MACH-based tools a company needs to build each composable function they desire, whether it’s checkout, inventory, orders, catalog, etc. On the other hand, BigCommerce provides a SaaS-based platform featuring open APIs and pre-integrations with multiple partners who really specialize in composable commerce.
“If you want somebody to give you all the tools and reference architecture to go build your own thing, you can go do that and be unique. But you can also reduce TCO and probably launch faster by having this very modular approach to composability with BigCommerce,” Stabler says.
“Our approach is that you have a one-stop, all encompassing platform for small to medium-sized businesses available today that has all the functionality: marketing, branding, SEO, content management. But you can scale and add in the apps,” she says.
Since every part of BigCommerce’s platform is open through APIs, its plug-and-play compatibility gives merchants (plus their developers and tech partners) the freedom to adopt new tools and solutions as needed. The business can adapt to changing market conditions and customer expectations, being innovative, creative and even experimental along the way.
Increasingly, companies recognize the needs of different sized businesses and offer different plans to cater to the range of requirements small, medium, and larger companies have. BigCommerce, for example, has their Essentials offering for smaller merchants and Enterprise for larger companies. Regardless of size, you can find a plan to grow your business through:
- marketing tools
- POS
- single-page checkout
- a mobile responsive website
- real-time shipping quotes
- multi-currency capability
- coupons, discounts and gift cards
- a mobile app
Tips for businesses of all sizes
Stabler has some tips to help retail businesses of any size considering a composable approach to their tech stack.
Look ahead to the future - “Take stock of your tech stack and future growth plans. Think about it in terms of where you want to take your company. Where are the gaps in your current technology approach?”
Ask strategic questions - “Why are you doing composable? What are the end goals? What are your KPIs and OKRs? What are you hoping to achieve with it?”
Consider IT friction - “How much IT involvement do you want? Because there’s always friction between IT and marketing. Composable is about removing friction and giving more freedom and flexibility to the hands of the marketer.”
Consult key people - “Make sure you’ve got all stakeholders at the table, not just marketing but also finance, rev ops, sales ops. You’ve got to get your shipping providers included as well.”
Set goals with metrics - “What are the goals when you’re integrating some of these things together in a composable fashion? Why do you want to build that way? What are the expected outcomes, and are you measuring them the right way?”
Hold people accountable - Once you’ve determined the goals to pursue and the metrics to measure your progress, make the appropriate people responsible for reaching them.
Think about customer journey - “What is the customer journey going to be like if you’re integrating these tech stacks? Map out that journey, not only on the front-end systems that you’re building onto but also on the back-end systems, so you can serve up different content and deliver different experiences to each user.”
Seek expert help - Stabler recommends the non-profit industry group the MACH Alliance as a great resource for businesses either contemplating a composable journey or on that path already. Vendors displaying the Alliance’s logo have met the group’s rigorous standards for membership and technology specifications.
Stabler’s final piece of advice? “Don’t go buy technology just for the sake of buying it,” she warns.
As Stabler mentioned earlier, composable commerce may not be the right fit for very small businesses, and there are even different approaches to take towards composability. She says the starting point for any company considering composable technology, however, is self-reflection.
“I think everybody in today’s economic headwinds is beginning to look at their tech stack and say, ‘Do we really need that? Do we really use that tool? Why do we have stuff sitting on a server?’ So the idea of composability gives you a good chance to pull back, look at your entire tech stack and see what’s working and what’s not. Figure out what’s really needed and what’s not.”
Whatever size your company is today, it’s worth exploring whether composable architecture is the best way to help it grow and continue to meet the needs of your customers tomorrow.
Christine Wong
Senior Technology Staff Writer, Orium
I've been telling enterprise technology stories for almost three decades in print, online, and on television. I started out in journalism, covering the telecom boom, the birth of social media and the emergence of digital commerce. I'm always looking for the human angle in every technology story I write.