Adobe Commerce (formerly known as Magento) has been and still is a pivotal platform shaping the ecommerce landscape. From its acquisition by Adobe in 2018 to the present day, Adobe Commerce has undergone a remarkable evolution, introducing groundbreaking features and capabilities designed to empower businesses across the globe.

As we delve into the past, present, and future of Adobe Commerce, we uncover the major milestones, innovative features introduced over the years, and the vision that propels Adobe Commerce toward a future of composable commerce. In this post, we will explore the evolution of Adobe Commerce, highlighting its impact on the digital commerce sector and the exciting possibilities ahead with the upcoming 2.4.7 release in April.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Adobe Commerce 2.2 (2018)

Adobe Commerce 2.2 introduced several key features to maximize conversion and sales and improve operations and security. Notable enhancements included B2B-ready functionality and APIs, Instant Purchase, and PayPal in-context checkout, which streamlined the purchasing process. For smarter, faster operations, Adobe Commerce 2.2 focused on business intelligence, content staging, and preview–a huge game changer that enabled more efficient management of ecommerce activities.

Platform, performance and security enhancements were also significant, with improvements in asynchronous and bulk APIs, GraphQL support, and enhanced security tools such as 2FA and ReCAPTCHA.

Adobe Commerce 2.2 was geared towards making ecommerce platforms more efficient, user-friendly, and secure. During this period, we also saw enhancements to Adobe’s Cloud infrastructure and Magento’s Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering.

Major features introduced to the platform during this period

B2B-ready functionality and APIs

B2B functionality in Adobe Commerce is now industry-leading, supporting features like Company Structures and Shared Catalogues (personalized catalogs for companies), Quotes, and Company Credit and Approval Flows, among many others, and it all started with Adobe Commerce 2.2.

Instant Purchase (one-click checkout)

The Amazon-like Instant Purchase feature was released with 2.2.2 (in 2017). This feature was one of the examples of the platform’s rapid innovation, as it was out the day the Amazon patent on one-click checkout expired.1

What we remember

Content Staging, introduced in version 2.1, became a significant game-changer, enabling merchants to automate previously too complex and time-consuming workflows, such as flash sales starting at midnight. Now, it seems commonplace, but this developer remembers waking up at 3:00 am to make changes to the client’s website to support the sale.

Adobe Commerce 2.3 (2018-2020)

Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source 2.3 brought many new features and improvements to the platform.

Major features introduced to the platform during this period

Product recommendations powered by Adobe Sensei (B2C & B2B)

Product recommendation powered by Adobe Sensei was the first SaaS product of the Adobe Commerce suite of products to enhance the core Commerce experience. The feature was included in the Adobe Commerce license and was available as a stand-alone module on Magento Marketplace.2 This was a new model for distributing Adobe Commerce features, as previously they were available as a core package, only to be enabled or disabled from the core code.

Page Builder drag-and-drop content management

In 2016, Magento acquired Bluefoot CMS and its underlying Page Builder technology. Initially, Bluefoot CMS was removed from the marketplace, restricting access to only a few Magento 1 or Magento 2 customers. Three years later, in March 2019, Adobe Commerce 2.3.1 introduced Page Builder to Adobe Commerce customers. Page Builder gained PWA support in version 2.3.4 (January 2020) and was finally made available for Magento Open Source customers in version 2.4.3 in August 2021, marking a five-year journey.

PWA Studio & Focus on API coverage and GraphQL

This was a defining moment for Adobe Commerce as we know it today – an API-first application. And even though the PWA Studio framework and underlying Venia theme are no longer actively developed, the move to the PWA storefront became a pivotal moment in the platform’s development.

Adobe Stock integration

It was, again, a defining moment for the project – the first Adobe product core integration in the back of the Magento ecosystem.

Multi-Source Inventory management

Oh, the MSI… This project is still so dear to my heart, as it was the first community-led project. Sixty-six individual contributors worked on Magento Imagine 2018,3 producing 401 pull requests across the project. Looking back, I see this was a much-needed first step in decoupling the Magento monolith. Much like PWA was in making Magento API-first and headless, MSI was about making Magento microservices-based and composable. Read more on MACH here.4

What we remember

Looking back, Adobe Commerce 2.3 was the release that pioneered a lot of what we see today as defining characteristics of Adobe Commerce products: first AI integration, first Adobe product integration, first headless and API-first implementation, and first microservices-based implementation.

Adobe Commerce 2.4 (2020-2024)

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 is the current version of Adobe’s commerce platform as we stand here in February 2024. This version of the platform is mature and solid-built for enterprise businesses and mid-size enterprises with the ambition of scaling. Adobe introduces more security enhancements, fixes, and technical advances with each new point release.

However, major developments of the platform happen on the integration layer. Now, more than ever, Adobe Commerce leverages new SaaS Commerce Services (like Catalog Service), third-party (Store Fulfillment for Adobe Commerce by Walmart Technologies), and first-party integrations (like Payment Services and Live Search). Modern Adobe Commerce is built on integration frameworks like Adobe I/O Events and leverages Adobe Developer App Builder to enable API-first development of the platform.

Major features introduced to the platform during this period

Live Search powered by Adobe Sensei (B2C & B2B)

Live Search is included with an Adobe Commerce license. It is a great alternative to Open Search that defaults to Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source. It can potentially be a competitor to products like Algolia and Klevu due to its native integration with Adobe Commerce and Product Recommendations by Adobe Sensei.

Seller Assisted Shopping

Allowing admin users to log in as customers provides great opportunities for impersonation in B2C and B2B scenarios. This functionality also works with headless storefronts via GraphQL.

Payment Services

Payment services for Adobe Commerce provide a first-party option for Adobe Commerce merchants to use an all-in-one payment solution. It includes analytics and integrations with the commerce workflows and enables PayPal Pay in 4 for Adobe Commerce merchants.

Catalog Service for Adobe Commerce

Catalog Service is a multi-tenant SaaS service that allows you to display product and category information faster to power exceptional storefront shopping experiences.

slide depicting example of catalog and price service for adobe commerce

Source: Adobe Summit 2023 – Adobe

Site-Wide Analysis Tool

The Site-Wide Analysis Tool is a proactive self-service tool and central repository that includes detailed system insights and recommendations to ensure the security and operability of your Adobe Commerce installation. It provides 24/7 real-time performance monitoring, reports, and advice to identify potential issues and better visibility into site health, safety, and application configurations. It helps reduce resolution time and improve site stability and performance.

Adobe I/O Events for Adobe Commerce (API Mesh)

Communication, an event-based framework for Adobe Commerce, allows integration with various first-party (e.g., AEM) and third-party (e.g., ERP) systems.

Adobe Developer App Builder for Adobe Commerce

App Builder allows developers to build modern Adobe Commerce applications and extend the functionality of core applications. For example, Amazon Sales Channels can now be integrated using App Builder.5

What we remember

I can’t stress enough how important services like Catalog Service are for Vaimo’s enterprise-grade customers, enabling better performance and reliability of the system. On the other hand, features like Seller Assisted Shopping enable whole impersonation workflows, previously impossible. All of that works as an API-first experience, allowing us to leverage technologies like Vue Storefront to their fullest potential.

The latest Adobe Commerce release

Moving forward, Adobe Commerce customers deploy Core (e.g., 2.4.7) + SaaS (e.g., Live Search and Recommendations) + App Builder for extensibility. The latest release was on February 13, 2024. It included a patch update (2.4.6-p4) for the core platform and a lot of SaaS product releases and updates that we will cover in-depth in future articles. Here is a short overview of the most interesting features.

Adobe Commerce’s latest SaaS products

HIPAA-ready solution

This allows you, the merchant, to launch ecommerce experiences for healthcare products and services by protecting patient data using Adobe Commerce’s new HIPAA-ready solution.

Payments

You can now collect payments using headless commerce APIs using Adobe Payments’ new headless APIs.

Subscriptions

The Zuora Subscription Management extension is now available as an App Builder app.

Live Search updates

The latest release of Live Search focuses on making these features easy to use and lets users fully customize the search experience to fit unique needs. You can now apply AI re-ranking rules to cover all queries, not just specific searches.

Many more updates are now available; learn more here.

The future of Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce 2.4.7

As already mentioned, the latest release of Adobe Commerce 2.4.7 is scheduled to be out in April 2024. Beta release notes can be found here. I am highlighting this latest release, including a handful of valuable features and security and technology updates.

Adobe Commerce Extension meta package

This is an important feature that I wanted to highlight as it streamlines upgrade paths, including first-party modules. This addresses the question, “How can I keep the whole Adobe Commerce project, including all the software used, up to date,” – this is how.

Seller initiated quotes

B2B Sales representatives can now initiate a quote directly from the Quote and Customer grids in the Admin. See Request for Quote. This allows for more diverse B2B selling options.

ApplePay, GooglePay, and PayPal credit

Native, out-of-the-box availability of these payment options brings the platform up to date with the current, mobile-first landscape.

API Mesh, Adobe I/O, and App Builder

Each of the Adobe Summit 2023 sessions mentions three services — Adobe I/O, App Builder [Adobe I/O Runtime], and API Mesh. These services help Adobe realize the future vision of its commerce platform.

Here is an example of how these services can be leveraged in the Order Management flow use case:

slide from Adobe Summit 2018 depicting example flow for order management

Source: Adobe Summit 2023 – Adobe

  • We can use Adobe I/O [access via Adobe Developer Console] to send Events from Adobe Commerce to App Builder to enable event-driven architecture;
  • We can use API Mesh to send Adobe I/O events from third-party apps (e.g., VueStorefront);
  • We can execute some logic or let the event pass through via an app in App Builder to other Micro-Services (e.g., SAP, PIM, etc.)

These services enable developers to extend Adobe Commerce (App Builder), communicate with Core (via Adobe I/O), and integrate with third-party services (via API Mesh).

Composable commerce

PWA Studio components will be used in different Adobe Products, like AEM, enabling Commerce Workflows. We also know that Zuora Revenue and Subscription Management (is unavailable) and Salsify Product Information Management are coming to Adobe Commerce. We can now expect SaaS product updates and releases with each Adobe Commerce release.

Slide from Adobe Summit 2023 depicting composable commerce integrations

Source: Adobe Summit 2023 – Adobe

Performance and Lightweight Platform

Performance is king, especially when you have millions of SKUs in your catalog. Adobe Commerce’s performance and functional bottlenecks are to be solved by introducing more Commerce. In the future, more first-party modules will be removed from the core code and moved to Adobe Authored Extensions and Adobe Commerce Marketplace Extensions. At the same time, features like Adobe Commerce AR Viewer are already being introduced as Adobe Commerce Marketplace Extensions. We will see more of that in the future.6

More feeds

As Walmart, Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram feeds are now part of the Adobe Commerce offering, we will see YouTube, TikTok, and more coming in the future.

Final thoughts

Looking back to what Magento and then Adobe Commerce did for ecommerce in general and the platform in particular, I have no doubt that the company will continue to play its role as a platform owner well – innovating in challenging areas like composable commerce and B2B, and providing best practices and good examples in its current and future products. After all, Vaimo is here to help them succeed.

How Vaimo can help

Embracing these advancements requires not just technology but a partner skilled in harnessing Adobe Commerce’s full potential. Vaimo is ready to guide your business through the evolving digital commerce landscape powered by Adobe.

With extensive expertise and experience in Adobe Commerce’s ecosystem, Vaimo ensures that businesses leverage the platform’s latest features effectively. From B2B functionalities to cutting-edge integrations like PWA Studio and Adobe Sensei, our team can craft tailored solutions that align with your unique business goals.

Global bridal wear giant Pronovias wanted to migrate its B2B operations to Adobe Commerce to offer a better user experience to its customers, increase site performance, and streamline its operations. Discover how Vaimo helped the B2B giant handle the complexity of selling made-to-order wedding dresses, with a tailored solution that accommodates a massive number of configurable products and customer data. Read the Pronovias case study here.

Sources

1 – Magento Releases Instant Purchase – randwmedia.com
2 – Product Recommendations – commercemarketplace.adobe.com
3 – Image 2018 – slideshare.net
4 – What is MACH? – machalliance.org
5 – adobe amazon-sales-channel-app-builder – github.com
6 – AR Viewer – commercemarketplace.adobe.com