Navigating the Complexities of Composable Commerce: Lessons from easyJet holidays
How easyJet left legacy approaches behind for their new business model and found success with a composable technology stack.
Launched in 1985, easyJet is a household name in air travel. As the company grew over the last 40 years, so did its ambitions and in 2018 easyJet was keen to explore new business horizons. Offering customers an all-in-one travel booking option would be a natural extension for the airline, so the next horizon they wanted to explore was parlaying their success as an airline into a holistic holiday business.
According to Paul Curtis, easyjet holidays’ CTO, the plan was to leverage their existing technology stack and partner with a hotel provider, enabling them to launch easyJet holidays as quickly as possible. Though expedient, this approach meant tying the company to a rigid, monolithic third-party platform that offered little room for flexibility or growth.
Recognizing that this strategy wouldn’t allow them to meet their ambitious goals—£100 million profit before tax and £2 billion in turnover business within five years—easyJet made a bold decision: spin off easyJet holidays as a separate entity, granting its leadership the autonomy to build the business from scratch. This move opened the door to a greenfield opportunity, allowing easyJet holidays to eschew legacy constraints and pursue a more innovative, scalable approach.
The Decision to Adopt MACH: People and Process at the Forefront
The decision to adopt MACH architecture was not driven by a desire to experiment with new technology. Instead, it was a strategic move grounded in the need to enable autonomous product teams. easyJet recognized that to achieve the rapid pace of development required, they needed to structure their teams in a way that allowed them to operate independently yet in sync with each other.
“It wasn’t a decision that was led by a bunch of tech enthusiasts that wanted to play with new technology,” says Curtis. “It was actually driven by people and process. The idea was that we wanted these autonomous product teams stood up to own their end-to-end solution."
This focus on people and process was critical. By giving each product team control over their specific components and data, easyJet ensured that these teams could innovate without being hampered by the complexities of a monolithic architecture.
The introduction of Voucherify, a MACH Alliance certified ISV, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic exemplified this approach. Within just eight weeks, easyJet was able to integrate this solution to quickly issue credits to customers whose holidays had been canceled, demonstrating the agility that MACH architecture can provide.
The Evolution of Product Ownership: Aligning with Business Needs
One of the key lessons from easyJet’s experience is the importance of aligning product ownership with business objectives. Initially, all product owners were housed within the digital function, focusing on the digital estate. While this worked well in the early stages, it quickly became clear that this approach was too narrow for a business that required end-to-end product development.
To address this, easyJet began embedding product owners within the business units themselves. A prime example of this shift is the development of a new generative AI-powered chatbot, designed to enhance customer service by automatically responding to queries based on website content. The product owner for this project was sourced from the customer team, rather than the digital team, ensuring that the chatbot was developed with a keen understanding of customer needs.
“If you get the right people, they’re very willing to learn enough about the technology that they can have the right influence and understanding as to what needs to be built,” notes Curtis. “But they’ll also look at the products in a very, very different way to traditional technologists."
This approach yielded significant benefits. The chatbot quickly evolved into a critical digital channel for easyJet, capable of handling sensitive customer interactions with care. The decision to implement a hybrid solution—whereby certain sensitive or legislative topics would trigger a pre-canned response — was driven by the customer service team’s deep understanding of the importance of brand-aligned communication. This evolution would not have been possible if product ownership had remained solely within the digital domain.
After the success of their initial trial of this approach, easyJet holidays adopted this across the board. Curtis says they’re now doing this with all of their product teams. “We actually center things in the business domain and train people up in terms of the technology, rather than taking someone who is more technology-driven and trying to educate them on who the key business stakeholders are."
Curtis was quite frank, saying "We’ve gone through an emotional cycle where, at the trough, we were asking, ‘Why did we build it this way?’” Change, as we all know, is hard. But he was emphatically clear that they’re well past thost feelings of uncertainty now, and that adopting a composable approach has been an enormous reason for the success of easyJet holidays.
“We’ve now come out the other side,” says Curtis. “We’ve reassessed our product teams, made it really clear what those boundaries are, and effectively have product teams contracting with each other. They’re really, really clear on what they’re responsible for, but also what they’re not responsible for."
As easyJet’s experience shows, the success of a composable architecture like MACH is not just about initial implementation—it’s about sustaining that success over time. The complexity of the MACH architecture requires engineers who are not only skilled, but who also deeply understand the principles of autonomy and decoupling.
Looking Ahead: The Future of MACH in Complex Environments
“The real benefits we’ve seen on easyJet holidays came from spending a lot of time engaging the business, giving them a real understanding of what a product owner does and how they work, and figuring out how we can make those product teams truly end-to-end in terms of the tech stack they’re responsible for," states Curtis. In making the roles and responsibilities clear for the organization as a whole, the benefits came into sharper focus, too.
The success of easyJet holidays has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the company. As the holiday business now contributes significantly to the company’s profits, easyJet Airlines is looking to apply MACH principles to its far more complex and legacy-laden environment. This presents a new set of challenges, particularly in breaking down monolithic systems and transitioning to a more flexible, composable architecture.
For easyJet—and for other companies in the travel and retail sectors—the next frontier in MACH adoption will be about sustaining the momentum of initial successes while building resilience into the architecture. This means focusing not just on technology, but also on people, processes, and operational sustainability.
"There’s been a real focus on technology and far less on people and process. Actually, it’s the people and process side that if you don’t get that right, then you can end up in a really difficult place,” notes Curtis.
Organizations like the MACH Alliance, which initially set out to define technical standards, now face the task of helping companies navigate the long-term challenges of composability. This includes managing an increasingly complex array of SaaS providers, ensuring end-to-end support, and avoiding the pitfalls of burnout and operational failures.
5 - Monitor and optimize continuously: Once the composable OMS is in place, continuous monitoring and optimisation are essential. Businesses should regularly review performance metrics, gather feedback from users, and make necessary adjustments to the system. This iterative approach allows businesses to stay agile and responsive to changes in the market or customer behavior.
A composable OMS such as OneStock provides the adaptability, scalability, and interoperability that modern e-commerce businesses need to thrive. By enabling businesses to integrate best-of-breed components, scale operations seamlessly, and deliver superior customer experiences, a composable OMS is not just a tool for managing orders, it’s a strategic asset that drives business growth.
As businesses continue to navigate the complexities of omnichannel retail, the adoption of a composable OMS will be instrumental in enabling them to meet the demands of today’s consumers while staying ahead of the competition. By following best practices and focusing on continuous improvement, businesses can maximize the benefits of their composable OMS and achieve greater agility, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
Balancing Innovation with Sustainability
easyJet’s journey with MACH architecture offers a compelling case study for any business leader considering a move towards composable commerce. The key takeaways are clear: success in this space requires more than just a technological shift—it demands a fundamental rethinking of team structures, product ownership, and operational processes.
As easyJet continues to evolve, the lessons they’ve learned will undoubtedly shape the future of composable commerce. For businesses looking to embark on a similar journey, the challenge will be to balance the excitement of rapid innovation with the need for long-term sustainability. By focusing on high-caliber talent, aligning product ownership with business goals, and maintaining operational excellence, companies can navigate the complexities of composable commerce and emerge stronger on the other side.
Leigh Bryant
Editorial Director, Composable.com
Leigh Bryant is a seasoned content and brand strategist with over a decade of experience in digital storytelling. Starting in retail before shifting to the technology space, she has spent the past ten years crafting compelling narratives as a writer, editor, and strategist.