Traditional, monolithic software platforms are struggling to keep up with the pace in our increasingly digital world. As technology advances, legacy e-commerce platforms aren’t advancing at the same rate, and you’ll suddenly find they’re lacking capabilities that you didn’t know your business needed.
You need a commerce stack that adapts to the unique intricacies of your business, and your customer trends. Due to the impact of recent years and the effects of digital acceleration, time is of the essence. That’s why many businesses are moving towards composable commerce.
Is it time to replatform?
Not every digital commerce challenge requires a complete rebuild. If your current platform can support new experiences, integrate with your existing technology stack, and adapt to changing customer expectations, modernization may be enough. However, if high maintenance costs, limited flexibility, performance issues, and disconnected customer experiences are holding your business back, it may be time to consider a commerce platform transformation.Why consider a composable commerce solution?
No doubt you’ll be aware of the growing popularity of composable commerce platforms.
Composable commerce is a development approach of selecting best-of-breed commerce components and combining or ‘composing’ them into a custom application built for specific business needs.
For businesses evaluating whether a website rebuild will deliver long-term value, it can be difficult to find and agree on a single vendor. Composable commerce can eliminate the risk of buying basic out-of-the-box capabilities and give you more control of your commerce experience.
Composable commerce applications are often leaner, faster, and more flexible. Think efficient content management, slick product discovery, reliable payment processing, seamless marketing automation, and beyond.
Here are 5 reasons to consider replatforming from monolithic to composable commerce:
- Legacy costs
Existing commerce stacks may not have adapted quickly enough to how an organization has evolved, the change in customer behaviors, or the strategy that supports both factors. Operational costs to maintain and upgrade can spiral, ultimately leading to customer experiences suffering when you don’t – or can’t – pay. If you're evaluating a replatforming project, this should be reflected in your RFP. Ask vendors how maintenance, upgrades, infrastructure, and ongoing platform management will affect total cost of ownership over the next three to five years, not just implementation costs. - Inefficiency
We see it in all aspects of life. Things evolve and change and, in some cases if we don’t keep up, our experience suffers. This is the same with commerce platforms. Without future-proof capabilities in place, legacy systems can contribute to costly inefficiencies, impacting both staff and customers. - Lack of customizability
Traditional commerce software options often align to one process or service. This means that any customizations or integrations can affect the whole system. The knock-on effect is that it’s much more difficult to implement updates and changes without putting the entire platform as risk, making it almost impossible to adapt to the new commerce landscape. - Far from omni-channel
Internally, legacy systems cause unnecessary, truncated processes and increase operational costs. It also often means that the seamless end-to-end experiences customers expect are not in place. These inefficiencies and disconnected experiences can impact brand perception, customer relationships, and ultimately, your profits. Omnichannel capabilities should be a core consideration in any replatforming RFP. Evaluate whether the platform can deliver consistent experiences across web, mobile, commerce, email, and emerging customer touchpoints from a shared foundation. Organizations often replatform because disconnected channels create operational complexity and inconsistent customer experiences. During platform evaluations, it's important to assess how content, commerce, search, and personalization work together across the customer journey. - Siloed commerce experiences
Traditional “out-of-the-box” commerce platforms force your businesses to fit inside the confines of the package. This can lead to multiple different solutions and software packages throughout the organization, meaning that key stakeholders and organizational leaders do not have a clear or joined up picture of performance.
What should a replatforming RFP include?
A successful replatforming project starts with clear business objectives and a shared understanding of what success looks like. While every organization has unique requirements, most commerce teams evaluate platforms across the same core areas.
2. Flexibility and composability.
Flexibility is key to any replatforming evaluation. The platform you choose should make it easier to adapt to changing customer expectations, integrate new capabilities, and support future growth without extensive redevelopment. When The Tile Shop modernized its digital commerce architecture, it moved from siloed systems to a composable approach that reduced development time by up to 50% and improved content deployment velocity by up to 25%, making it easier to adapt and evolve the experience over time.
3. Omnichannel customer experience.
Customers expect consistent experiences whether they're researching products online, shopping in-store, or moving between channels. Replatforming requirements should account for how content, commerce, and customer journeys connect across every touchpoint. Before replatforming, The Tile Shop was looking to extend its premium in-store experience online and enable omnichannel marketing across more than 140 stores. Its move to a composable architecture helped create a more connected experience across digital and physical touchpoints.
4. Personalization and product discovery.
Personalization and product discovery increasingly influence conversion, loyalty, and revenue. Look for capabilities that help customers find relevant products, receive helpful recommendations, and move smoothly through the buying journey. Cytiva achieved a 50% increase in online revenue through more relevant digital experiences, highlighting the value of including personalization requirements in a replatforming evaluation.
5. Scalability and future growth.
Replatforming is also an opportunity to build for future growth. Evaluate whether the platform can support changing customer expectations, increasing complexity, peak demand periods, and new business requirements without creating additional operational burden. Bachman's modernized its ecommerce environment to support personalization, advanced search, multiple fulfillment options, and ongoing innovation. The resulting composable architecture delivered higher conversion rates, improved performance during peak buying periods, and made content and site management easier for internal teams.
Common re-platforming risks to avoid
Replatforming creates an opportunity to modernize your commerce experience, but success depends on more than technology alone. Many projects run into challenges when business goals, customer needs, and platform decisions aren't aligned from the start. Some of the most common risks include:
1. Focusing on features instead of outcomes. A new platform should help your business achieve specific goals, whether that's improving conversion rates, reducing operational complexity, launching new experiences faster, or supporting future growth.
2. Underestimating content and data migration. Moving products, content, customer data, and integrations can be one of the most complex parts of a replatforming project. Planning early helps reduce disruption and maintain continuity for customers.
3. Recreating legacy complexity. Migrating existing processes without evaluating whether they still serve the business can carry old challenges into a new environment. Replatforming is an opportunity to simplify where possible.
4. Overlooking customer experience. Replatforming should improve how customers discover products, move between channels, and complete purchases. Technology decisions should always support the experience you want to deliver.
5. Building only for today's requirements. Customer expectations, channels, and business priorities will continue to evolve. Look for a platform that can adapt with your business rather than one that only solves current challenges.
The most successful teams planning a major website and commerce modernization initiative start with a clear vision for the customer experience and a shared understanding of the business outcomes they want to achieve. When requirements, stakeholders, and technology decisions are aligned around those goals, teams are better positioned to realize long-term value from their investment.
Is composable commerce right for you?
With customer demands continuously evolving, composable commerce could be the best solution if your organization is looking to...
- Accelerate your digital capabilities
- Become more agile and flexible
- Leverage existing investments in other back-end systems while you move to more modern technology
- Gain confidence in your ability to deliver the desired user experiences your customers are demanding today—and tomorrow.
To find out more about how replatforming could benefit your business, check out our guide: “Replatforming: The what, why, and how of migrating from monolithic to composable commerce”.