Are you wondering if Adobe (Magento) works with composable architecture? Or does a marriage between the classic ecommerce platform and a new method of crafting ecommerce solutions sound downright dangerous?

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As the old saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Composable architecture (more on that later) is making waves in the world of ecommerce because it promises us the world. What e-retailer wouldn’t want to easily update their website and switch out tools and functionality relatively fast?

It all boils down to delivering the best customer experiences in all corners of the digital world—whether on a mobile app, website, social media, marketplace, Livestream shopping, in-store, or even text message.

We can promise that the number of channels and venues allowing purchases and communication with customers will continue to snowball.

What does this mean for retailers and brands?

Ecommerce businesses need a viable solution that works well today and allows them to scale and grow into the future. The solution must allow you to implement new features and functionalities easily and quickly to meet your customers.

That’s where composable architecture comes in. This fresh approach promises retailers the agility and efficiency they crave from their ecommerce solutions.

Does it work with Adobe Commerce?

What about the die-hard Magento lovers who want to keep using the powerful platform they love but are curious about the new approach?

We will answer these questions and more in today’s post. But first, let’s review the terminology to ensure we’re all on the same page.

Microservices

Microservices refer to internal and external services that communicate through their APIs. Within a composable or microservices architecture, each microservice operates independently and fulfills a specific business goal. In contrast to a platform-based approach that runs from one engine, we can work on or replace a single microservice instead of building an entire system from scratch.

Microservices form a way for applications to talk with one another.

Microservices allow you to transmit a significant amount of data in a short space of time. They are also helpful for retailers processing high volumes of transactions. For example, processing a transaction a few seconds faster makes a significant impact in the financial industry.

Headless refers to the practice of separating the backend (the technical part responsible for the operation of the application) from the frontend (what your end-users see). This divorce makes optimizing your website more manageable by letting you experiment on the frontend without disturbing the back end.

MACH

MACH is an industry term for Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. These technologies support an open and flexible ecosystem that empowers companies to make changes to their solution efficiently.

Composable Architecture

Composable architecture blends all the previously mentioned elements into a modern approach to ecommerce. Composable architecture is about efficiency, speed, ease of use, launching new features quickly, and creating better customer experiences across all touchpoints.

It uses modern technologies such as headless commerce, Microservices, and APIs to stay ahead of the rapidly evolving ecommerce market.

Composable architecture, also known as microservices architecture, refers to services and features that act as independent building blocks within your ecommerce solution. Composable architecture allows you to select the best-of-breed building blocks to supplement your infrastructure.

A traditional platform-based architecture comes loaded with features and functionality out-of-the-box.

What are the benefits of composable architecture?

In a platform-based world, with players like Adobe, Salesforce, and SAP Commerce, all components sit within an application managed by a partner or a single internal team.

Composable architecture allows you to deconstruct and establish best practice elements that serve the customer experience. It lets different teams retain control over individual elements and replace microservices seamlessly without touching the rest of the solution.

Composable architecture drives performance across your channels, whether the speed of the site, the reliability of the integrations with third parties, or rapid, personalized performance to meet your shoppers anywhere.

Who’s a good candidate for composable architecture?

If you fit the following criteria, composable architecture may be a good fit for your organization:

  • You own a medium to large ecommerce business
  • You want to retain control of the individual building blocks that form your ecommerce experience
  • You want to maintain control of your respective building blocks that form your ecommerce experience
  • You need a new platform or ecommerce solution
  • You have the organizational maturity to be able to manage multiple work streams and technologies
  • You are taking on a new ecommerce venture, such as forging a D2C channel

Can I go composable with Adobe Commerce?

Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento, is one of the market’s most flexible commerce platforms. Put simply, it offers endless possibilities.

Magento historically always allowed for modules and extensions to sit within the application. Over the years, Magento began developing its headless architecture by enabling clients to run their frontend and attach an external CMS to it. Magento has always offered robust integrations with search, catalog management, PIM, CRM, and more.

As an application, Adobe Commerce sits comfortably within the composable arena. Our portfolio contains numerous examples of clients opting to use the backend of Magento exclusively, a powerful and feature-rich engine in its own right.

As a vendor, you’re free to use any external tools, functionality, and external services with Adobe Commerce that will scale with your solution.

What are the benefits of going composable with Adobe Commerce?

Adobe provides an excellent building block for a hybrid composable model. Through a composable approach, you ensure that the ecommerce engine (Adobe) is not the heart of the solution. This means that it will not become overloaded due to processing all the bells and whistles of an ecommerce solution, such as an enterprise resource management (ERP) system, a digital asset management (DAM) system, etc.

And while you’re only using a part of it, you’re using the most powerful part.

What’s more, thousands of people worldwide use Adobe Commerce to manage orders and more. Thousands of support agents and a whole ecosystem of developers are there for you. Conversely, smaller platforms may be weaker in this area because they’re intended for developers.

What are the critical building blocks to own outside of Adobe Commerce?

Here are a few building blocks to consider when going composable with Adobe:

  • A product information management (PIM), a central management hub to consolidate, manage and enhance your product information, such as Akeneo
  • A headless content management system (CMS) such as Contentful or Bloomreach to manage your multi-channel digital content
  • A payment solution provider such as Adyen or Klarna which is suited to integrating into this architecture
  • A frontend commerce framework such as Vue Storefront designed to support complex commerce requirements and rich content
  • Alternatively, build a frontend from scratch using React
  • Custom modules to support your unique business case outside of the application
  • A search engine designed to support both product and content search
  • A personalization component
  • Optionally, a digital asset management (DAM) system

Finally, the joy of composable architecture means that the building blocks are up to you.

What will happen in the future?

As commerce engines become smaller, someone could fill the gap of composable with an extensive new application that does several things like PIM, DAM, personalization, and search. Eventually, that could very well become the new platform.

However, composable architecture’s beauty still lies in cutting and pasting your solution to function exactly as you want it.

How can I venture into composable architecture with Adobe Commerce?

We’ve been Magento specialists from the beginning. Vaimo opened its doors in 2008 and offered ecommerce solutions solely on the Magento platform. Today, with 14 years of experience under our belts, we know Magento deeply.

But we also expanded to provide you with much more. We work with the best partners in the field to ensure that your unique business needs are met. But don’t listen to us–our work speaks for itself.

Boost your customer experience and grow your business with Vaimo. Talk to us today about your unique ecommerce needs!

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