Future Proof Your Retail Business with Composable Commerce

Master Data Management Blog by Stibo Systems logo
| 5 minute read
October 09 2023

For retailers, there is that inevitable moment in business, when the realization sinks in that the way things were working is no longer sustainable. Many retailers are confronting the hard facts that right now when it comes to data management and data orchestration in an omnichannel world where demands are high for personalization and real time product availability.

blog-composable-commerce

Every retailer out there has added new omnichannel services in the last few years to meet the needs of consumers who are increasingly adopting more digitally focused shopping behaviors (See table below). What is now a much more efficient and convenient retail proposition for consumers, including not only BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup in Store), but also return from anywhere and pay with anything - can be a real challenge for retailers from an operational and technical perspective.

The challenge is that many retailers’ front-end applications have become more powerful, providing richer experiences, while the back-end data management systems that supports these efforts, are often overlooked. Many retailers work with monolithic commerce platforms that do some commerce activities really well, but only as well as the data that supports it permits. As a results, retail IT and data management teams have scrambled to create and support homegrown technologies to close deficiency gaps. To make matters worse, teams across the organization often end up having to adopt labor-intensive manual data management activities to ensure business continuity – often negatively impacting employee work satisfaction.

What the industry needs is a different methodology in adopting and updating commerce related technologies, and the prevailing approach is one of Composable Commerce.

Below are omnichannel services that needed to be supported with strong back-end data operations as well as customer facing solutions.

 

Omnichannel Commerce & Operational Services

Type of Service Definition
BOPIS (Click and Collect) Buy online and pick up in store with a specific period
Search In-Store Products Online Ability to understand what items are in store
Shared Cart Ability to share digital cart between mobile and desktop
Loyalty points earned and redeemed across channels Whether in app, in store or on laptop you can earn and redeem points
Return products across channels Items can be returned by mail or in-store regardless of purchase source
Ship from store Customers can order products from kiosks to come from store or online
Consistent pricing across channels Prices online and instore are consistent
In-Store Mobile Payments Flexibility in payment through several different mobile payment options

Source: TotalRetail, Insights Into Total Retail's 2022 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers Report

 

What is composable commerce?

Composable commerce is a modular digital commerce approach based on an architecture that is composed of independent components that are configured the way you need them to be for your specific business. It is in part, an evolution of headless commerce, which separates the customer facing technology layer from back-end technologies to offer more control and flexibility in providing an optimized digital experience for the consumer. Composable goes a step further by providing a method of assembling the specific services into best-in-class solutions for each of the business needs that are connected within an agile technology architecture.

Keys of composability

Composable commerce is a design first approach and as it evolves over time, it is has the flexibility to evolve over time as the organization’s strategies change and more omnichannel tactics are tested and adopted.

  • Component approach: Each part of the commerce and omnichannel technology can be separated into common activities and utilized independently. These components can be upgraded or changed overtime to allow for further enhancement without impact to the broacher technology stack.
  • Open integration: Cloud based SaaS solutions are integrated together with API technology. As the company changes and needs change, the integrations will change with ease.
  • Scalability: All of the modulars within the stack can allow for flexibility to improve or handle more data as company expands to new channels or handles more or different types of data.

 

80%
of businesses that don’t have headless architecture today say they plan to implement it in the next two years
Second Edition of State of Commerce Report by Salesforce

 

Many companies, not just in retail, are now adopting the strategic approach of thinking about composability as they evolve their tech stack, what is so attractive about it from a business and financial perspective? Many companies see the benefits of achieving better satisfaction, more precise control over technology and potentially a lower cost of ownership for the entire span of commerce technologies.

 

Benefits of Composable Commerce

1. Ensure that you are meeting customer expectations

Each business is different and having a single, monolithic commerce solution was perfectly fine in the early years of ecommerce, but as commerce has matured, retailers now have specific capabilities that are of primary importance where they want to deliver 100% customer success and satisfaction. Delivering on a business feature like Search may not be possible on a big commerce platform because it performs at a fair level for most retailers, but as a niche or technical retailer, it is not meeting your customer’ needs. Composable commerce allows retailers to invest in the most important technology components that matter most to their customers’ experience.

2. Increased control and pace of innovation

As retailers embrace a composable approach to ecommerce, each individual application now has their own specific lifecycle. Retailers are no longer locked into longer innovation cycles as part of a larger roadmap when the evolution of a specific feature is more important to them as a retailer but negligible to the vendor. Additionally, retailers can keep the applications that provide real value and may strip away some features that were in the original Ecommerce platform that they don’t use - buying only what they need. With a composable commerce approach, retailers can strategically plan their management of the applications versus planning for the consequences of modifying the entire solution. The consequences of the re-platforming of a single large ecommerce system can potentially disrupt your business for several years.

3. Lower Cost of Ownership

Large commerce solutions have built out a feature rich offering that meets all the fundamental needs of all retailers. Many of these features are often underutilized or even not used at all as they may not be relevant to the retailer’s market, or the retailer already has a custom inhouse solution that performs better. Either way, retailers find themselves in a situation where they are subsidizing features that they are not using. With composable commerce, you have more flexibility to only purchase the packaged services that are required for your business and to buy the solution that is the right fit financially based on the scalability and functionality of the service.

 

How does a composable commerce look different than headless?

monolithic-ecommerce-vs-headless-commerce

 

How does a solid business foundation help?

The pace of innovation in marketing technologies and commerce service technologies combined with their availability in the cloud via highly performing APIs, make having a composable commerce strategy feasible and an attractive option. Besides the technology - people, process and data are elements that also need to be worked into the foundations of the strategy.

From a people perspective, change management is needed as companies become more digitally oriented and now have more technology in place. Data & IT leaders need to listen to their employees before the change, prepare them for the changes, listen to ongoing feedback and ensure their long-term success throughout the change.

As more technologies are on-boarded, documentation on standard operating procedures becomes more important and do the roles of each individual service, including how they are interconnected. Streamlining APIs to have a logical flow of data from onboarding, creation, decision making, analytics and external personalization ensures that the organization has strong governance and improved agility over time.

Data is the last and arguably the most important foundational element that underpins success of composable commerce. Implementing composable commerce increases the number of technology solutions consuming data, so core data such as product master data, customer data, location data and even reference data or sustainability data must meet high standards for quality, traceability and availability. Furthermore, the master data management solutions that store the data need to have flexibility to evolve as the business changes and open to connect to various applications. Having a clear source of authoritative product and other master data is also important to ensure that the new agility of the organization is fueled with the highest quality data. While a composable commerce approach can yield many benefits, it may also surface more risks if data is not governed correctly. Errors or omissions of key product data information can quickly reach multiple data services and potentially causing confusion or frustration in your organization or with your customers.

To read the first part of this two-part series on the topic of headless commerce, please read the blog post "3 Benefits of Headless Commerce".

With Stibo Systems’ SaaS Master Data Management Solution, enterprises can underpin their accelerated digital transformation, supporting transformation to composable commerce without data interruption and get the right quality data wherever it is needed to realize business goals. Learn more about how we support our retail customers.

Stibo Systems has many technological partners in ecommerce, data management, cloud partners and more to support the quick technological agility needed. For more information about our partnership in headless and composable commerce, please check out ours with Fabric.


Master Data Management Blog by Stibo Systems logo

Driving growth for customers with trusted, rich, complete, curated data, Matt has over 20 years of experience in enterprise software with the world’s leading data management companies and is a qualified marketer within pragmatic product marketing. He is a highly experienced professional in customer information management, enterprise data quality, multidomain master data management and data governance & compliance.

Discover Blogs by Topic

  • MDM strategy
  • Data governance
  • Customer and party data
  • See more
  • Retail and distribution
  • Manufacturing
  • Data quality
  • Supplier data
  • Product data and PIM
  • AI and machine learning
  • CPG
  • Financial services
  • GDPR
  • Sustainability
  • Location data
  • PDX Syndication

Navigating Change: Engaging Business Users in Successful Change Management

9/20/24

What is Digital Asset Management?

9/11/24

How to Improve Your Data Management

9/3/24

The Future of Master Data Management: Trends in 2023-2025

9/1/24

Digital Transformation in the CPG Industry

8/30/24

5 CPG Industry Trends and Opportunities for 2024-2025

8/29/24

What is the difference between CPG and FMCG?

8/27/24

Responsible AI relies on data governance

8/27/24

6 Features of an Effective Master Data Management Solution

8/15/24

Great Data Minds: The Unsung Heros Behind Effective Data Management

8/13/24

A Data Monetization Strategy - Get More Value from Your Master Data

8/6/24

Introducing the Master Data Management Maturity Model

8/4/24

What is Augmented Data Management? (ADM)

7/31/24

Data Migration to SAP S/4HANA ERP - The Fast and Safe Approach with MDM

7/30/24

Data Governance and Data Protection: A Match Made in Heaven?

7/17/24

The Difference Between Master Data and Metadata

5/26/24

Master Data Management Roles and Responsibilities

5/20/24

8 Best Practices for Customer Master Data Management

5/16/24

What Is Master Data Governance – And Why Do You Need It?

5/12/24

Guide: Deliver flawless rich content experiences with master data governance

4/11/24

Risks of Using LLMs in Your Business – What Does OWASP Have to Say?

4/10/24

Guide: How to comply with industry standards using master data governance

4/9/24

Digital Product Passports - A Data Management Challenge

4/8/24

Guide: Get enterprise data enrichment right with master data governance

4/2/24

Guide: Getting enterprise data modelling right with master data governance

4/2/24

Guide: Improving your data quality with master data governance

4/2/24

Data Governance Trends 2024

1/30/24

NRF 2024 Recap: In the AI era, better data can make all the difference

1/19/24

Building Supply Chain Resilience: Strategies & Examples

12/19/23

How Master Data Management Can Enhance Your ERP Solution

12/14/23

Shedding Light on Climate Accountability and Traceability in Retail

11/29/23

What is Smart Manufacturing and Why Does it Matter?

10/11/23

Future Proof Your Retail Business with Composable Commerce

10/9/23

5 Common Reasons Why Manufacturers Fail at Digital Transformation

10/5/23

How to Digitally Transform a Restaurant Chain

9/29/23

Three Benefits of Moving to Headless Commerce and the Role of a Modern PIM

9/14/23

12 Steps to a Successful Omnichannel and Unified Commerce

7/6/23

CGF Global Summit 2023: Unlock Sustainable Growth With Collaboration and Innovation

7/5/23

Navigating the Current Challenges of Supply Chain Management

6/28/23

Product Data Management during Mergers and Acquisitions

4/6/23

A Complete Master Data Management Glossary

3/14/23

4 Ways to Reduce Ecommerce Returns

3/8/23

Asset Data Governance is Central for Asset Management

3/1/23

4 Common Master Data Management Implementation Styles

2/21/23

How to Leverage Internet of Things with Master Data Management

2/14/23

Manufacturing Trends and Insights in 2023-2025

2/14/23

Sustainability in Retail Needs Governed Data

2/13/23

NRF 2023: Retail Turns to AI and Automation to Increase Efficiencies

1/20/23

5 Key Manufacturing Challenges in 2023

1/16/23

What is a Golden Customer Record in Master Data Management?

1/9/23

Innovation in Retail

1/4/23

Life Cycle Assessment Scoring for Food Products

11/21/22

Retail of the Future

11/14/22

Omnichannel Strategies for Retail

11/7/22

Hyper-Personalized Customer Experiences Need Multidomain MDM

11/5/22

What is Omnichannel Retailing and What is the Role of Data Management?

10/25/22

Most Common ISO Standards in the Manufacturing Industry

10/18/22

How to Get Started with Master Data Management: 5 Steps to Consider

10/17/22

What is Supply Chain Analytics and Why It's Important

10/12/22

What is Data Quality and Why It's Important

10/12/22

An Introductory Guide: What is Data Intelligence?

10/1/22

Revolutionizing Manufacturing: 5 Must-Have SaaS Systems for Success

9/15/22

An Introductory Guide to Supplier Compliance

9/7/22

What is Application Data Management and How Does It Differ From MDM?

8/29/22

Digital Transformation in the Manufacturing Industry

8/25/22

Master Data Management Framework: Get Set for Success

8/17/22

Discover the Value of Your Data: Master Data Management KPIs & Metrics

8/15/22

Supplier Self-Service: Everything You Need to Know

6/15/22

Omnichannel vs. Multichannel: What’s the Difference?

6/14/22

Create a Culture of Data Transparency - Begin with a Solid Foundation

6/10/22

The 5 Biggest Retail Trends for 2023-2025

5/31/22

What is a Location Intelligence?

5/31/22

Omnichannel Customer Experience: The Ultimate Guide

5/30/22

Location Analytics – All You Need to Know

5/26/22

Omnichannel Commerce: Creating a Seamless Shopping Experience

5/24/22

Top 4 Data Management Trends in the Insurance Industry

5/11/22

What is Supply Chain Visibility and Why It's Important

5/1/22

The Ultimate Guide to Data Transparency

4/21/22

How Manufacturers Can Shift to Product-as-a-Service Offerings

4/20/22

How to Check Your Enterprise Data Foundation

4/16/22

An Introductory Guide to Manufacturing Compliance

4/14/22

Multidomain MDM vs. Multiple Domain MDM

3/31/22

Making Master Data Accessible: What is Data as a Service (DaaS)?

3/29/22

How to Build a Successful Data Governance Strategy

3/23/22

What is Unified Commerce? Key Advantages & Best Practices

3/22/22

How to Choose the Right Data Quality Tool?

3/22/22

What is a data domain? Meaning & examples

3/21/22

6 Best Practices for Data Governance

3/17/22

5 Advantages of a Master Data Management System

3/16/22

A Unified Customer View: What Is It and Why You Need It

3/9/22

Supply Chain Challenges in the CPG Industry

2/24/22

The Best Data Governance Tools You Need to Know About

2/17/22

Top 5 Most Common Data Quality Issues

2/14/22

What Is Synthetic Data and Why It Needs Master Data Management

2/10/22

What is Cloud Master Data Management?

2/8/22

How to Implement Data Governance

2/7/22

Build vs. Buy Master Data Management Software

1/28/22

Why is Data Governance Important?

1/27/22

Five Reasons Your Data Governance Initiative Could Fail

1/24/22

How to Turn Your Data Silos Into Zones of Insight

1/21/22

How to Improve Supplier Experience Management

1/16/22

​​How to Improve Supplier Onboarding

1/16/22

How to Enable a Single Source of Truth with Master Data Management

1/13/22

What is a Data Quality Framework?

1/11/22

How to Measure the ROI of Master Data Management

1/11/22

What is Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS)?

1/7/22

The Ultimate Guide to Building a Data Governance Framework

1/4/22

Master Data Management Tools - and Why You Need Them

12/20/21

The Dynamic Duo of Data Security and Data Governance

12/20/21

How to Choose the Right Supplier Management Solution

12/20/21

How Data Transparency Enables Sustainable Retailing

12/6/21

What is Supplier Performance Management?

12/1/21

What is Party Data? All You Need to Know About Party Data Management

11/28/21

What is Data Compliance? An Introductory Guide

11/18/21

How to Create a Marketing Center of Excellence

11/14/21

The Complete Guide: How to Get a 360° Customer View

11/7/21

How Location Data Adds Value to Master Data Projects

10/29/21

How Marketers Should Prepare for the 2023 Holiday Shopping Season

10/26/21

What is Supplier Lifecycle Management?

10/19/21

What is a Data Mesh? A Simple Introduction

10/15/21

How to Build a Master Data Management Strategy

9/26/21

10 Signs You Need a Master Data Management Platform

9/2/21

What Vendor Data Is and Why It Matters to Manufacturers

8/31/21

3 Reasons High-Quality Supplier Data Can Benefit Any Organization

8/25/21

4 Trends in the Automotive Industry

8/11/21

What is Reference Data and Reference Data Management?

8/9/21

What Obstacles Are Impacting the Global Retail Recovery?

8/2/21

GDPR as a Catalyst for Effective Data Governance

7/25/21

All You Need to Know About Supplier Information Management

7/21/21

5 Tips for Driving a Centralized Data Management Strategy

7/3/21

Welcome to the Decade of Transparency

5/26/21

How to Become a Customer-Obsessed Brand

5/12/21

How to Create a Master Data Management Roadmap in Five Steps

4/27/21

What is a Data Catalog? Definition and Benefits

4/13/21

How to Improve the Retail Customer Experience with Data Management

4/8/21

How to Choose the Right Master Data Management Solution

3/29/21

Business Intelligence and Analytics: What's the Difference?

3/25/21

Spending too much on Big Data? Try Small Data and MDM

3/24/21

What is a Data Lake? Everything You Need to Know

3/21/21

How to Extract More Value from Your Data

3/17/21

Are you making decisions based on bad HCO/HCP information?

2/24/21

Why Master Data Cleansing is Important to CPG Brands

1/20/21

CRM 2.0 – It All Starts With Master Data Management

12/19/20

5 Trends in Telecom that Rely on Transparency of Master Data

12/15/20

10 Data Management Trends in Financial Services

11/19/20

Seasonal Marketing Campaigns: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

11/8/20

What Is a Data Fabric and Why Do You Need It?

10/29/20

Transparent Product Information in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

10/14/20

How to Improve Back-End Systems Using Master Data Management

9/19/20

8 Benefits of Transparent Product Information for Medical Devices

9/1/20

How Retailers Can Increase Online Sales in 2023

8/23/20

Master Data Management (MDM) & Big Data

8/14/20

Key Benefits of Knowing Your Customers

8/9/20

Women in Master Data: Kelly Amavisca, Ferguson

8/5/20

Customer Data in Corporate Banking Reveal New Opportunities

7/21/20

How to Analyze Customer Data With Customer Master Data Management

7/21/20

How to Improve Your 2023 Black Friday Sales in 5 Steps

7/18/20

4 Ways Product Information Management (PIM) Improves the Customer Experience

7/18/20

How to Estimate the ROI of Your Customer Data

7/1/20

Women in Master Data: Rebecca Chamberlain, M&S

6/24/20

How to Personalise Insurance Solutions with MDM

6/17/20

How to Democratize Your Data

6/3/20

How to Get Buy-In for a Master Data Management Solution

5/25/20

How CPG Brands Manage the Impact of Covid-19 in a Post-Pandemic World

5/18/20

5 Steps to Improve Your Data Syndication

5/7/20

Marketing Data Quality: Why Is It Important and How to Get Started

3/26/20

Panic Buying: Navigating Long-term Implications and Uncertainty

3/24/20

Women in Master Data: Ditte Brix, IMPACT

2/20/20

Get More Value From Your CRM With Customer Master Data Management

2/17/20

Women in Master Data: Nagashree Devadas, Stibo Systems

2/4/20

How to Create Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Success for CPG Brands

1/3/20

Women in Master Data: Anna Schéle, Ahlsell

10/25/19

Women in Master Data: Morgan Lawrence, Infoverity

9/26/19

Women in Master Data: Sara Friberg, Acando (Part of CGI)

9/13/19

Improving Product Setup Processes Enhances Superior Experiences

8/21/19

How to Improve Your Product's Time to Market With PDX Syndication

7/18/19

8 Tips For Pricing Automation In The Aftermarket

6/1/19

How to Drive Innovation With Master Data Management

3/15/19

Discover PDX Syndication to Launch New Products with Speed

2/27/19

How to Benefit from Product Data Management

2/20/19

What is a Product Backlog and How to Avoid It

2/13/19

How to Get Rid of Customer Duplicates

2/7/19

4 Types of IT Systems That Should Be Sunsetted

1/3/19

How to Use Customer Data Modeling

11/15/18

How to Reduce Time-to-Market with Master Data Management

10/28/18

How to Start Taking Advantage of Your Data

9/12/18

6 Signs You Have a Potential GDPR Problem

8/16/18

GDPR: The DOs and DON’Ts of Personal Data

6/13/18

How Master Data Management Supports Data Security

6/7/18

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About the GDPR

5/30/18

Understanding the Role of a Chief Data Officer

4/26/18

3 Steps: How to Plan, Execute and Evaluate Any IoT Initiative

2/20/18

How to Benefit From Customer-Centric Data Management

9/7/17

3 Ways to Faster Innovation with Multidomain Master Data Management

6/7/17

Product Information Management Trends to Consider

5/25/17

4 Major GDPR Challenges and How to Solve Them

5/12/17

How to Prepare for GDPR in Five Steps

2/21/17

How Data Can Help Fight Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals

1/24/17

Create the Best Customer Experience with a Customer Data Platform

1/11/17