Coined by Gartner in 2020, composable commerce is a modular approach that allows businesses to tailor their tech stacks with best-of-breed solutions to suit their unique business requirements. At the core of this approach are Packaged Business Capabilities (PBCs), which are pre-configured modules that deliver specific business functions.
Thus, composable architectures essentially provide a “box of Legos” for your business — meaning you can choose your preferred technologies for each specific business need, which can then be assembled into a custom, agile tech stack.
Benefits of composable commerce for B2B
By breaking down the monolithic barriers of traditional systems, composable commerce unlocks the potential for innovation, efficiency, and growth, allowing businesses to craft unique, customer-centric journeys that drive results.
One of the key advantages of composable commerce that is specifically relevant for B2B brands is that it simplifies complex systems. If you’re a larger wholesaler, chances are you’re dealing with some complex systems in your tech stack. Luckily, a composable approach to ecommerce helps streamline the management of intricate systems by breaking them down into modular, self-contained components. It simplifies integration and scalability, allowing you to efficiently handle complex ecommerce needs and environments with ease.
Additionally, a composable architecture allows you to choose best-in-breed solutions that meet your specific business needs, which means less time and resources spent on unnecessary technologies. Should your business want to replace other commerce components down the line, they’re never locked into a system or a way of doing things. More things possible with less friction — fewer intended consequences, lower costs and increased innovation.
Use case: MKM Building Supplies
To meet the needs of a younger, mobile-first audience, MKM Building Supplies — one of the UK’s largest independent brands for builder supplies — adopted a MACH-based, headless architecture, enabling the business to build a tailor-made and future-proof tech stack.
“Using headless technology meant we could do rapid improvements and change directions quickly, adding new features or categories without being limited by the technology,” said Andy Pickup, Digital Director at MKM Building Supplies.
MKM utilised BigCommerce, Bloomreach, and Vue Storefront, leading to significant performance improvements: the B2B brand saw a 23.1% increase in year-on-year traffic, a 31% increase in total web orders, and a 31.5% revenue uptick.
Recommendations for B2B companies
Experience shows that, in many cases, it is impossible to switch directly from one technology to another. The market is in a constant state of flux, and technologies are constantly evolving. So there are always opportunities to take steps toward composability to gain the flexibility to meet the demands of tomorrow. When selecting future backend systems, look for strong APIs and suitability for a modular architecture.
Source: BigCommerce
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