What is composable commerce?
Composable commerce is a modern approach to digital commerce that allows businesses to create highly customizable and agile ecommerce experiences. Unlike traditional monolithic platforms that bundle all functionalities into a single system, composable commerce enables organizations to select and integrate the best-of-breed solutions that suit their specific needs.
This modular approach empowers businesses to adapt quickly to changing market demands and consumer behavior.
What is the composable commerce approach?
The best composable commerce platform approach is based on the concept of assembling various commerce solutions — such as Product Information Management (PIM), Digital Asset Management (DAM), Order Management, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) — into a unified system.
It follows the “best-of-breed” methodology, allowing businesses to integrate and swap out specific commerce components without being tied to a single vendor.
Key principles of the composable commerce approach include:
- Modularity — Each component operates independently, making it easier to scale and customize.
- Flexibility — Businesses can choose the technologies that best fit their requirements.
- API-first architecture — Ensures seamless integration between different systems.
- Business-centric design — Enables companies to build customer-centric experiences by leveraging tailored solutions.
Composable commerce vs. traditional commerce: What’s the difference?
| Aspect |
Composable commerce |
Traditional commerce |
| Architecture |
Modular architecture, API-driven, best-of-breed approach |
Monolithic approach, all-in-one solution |
| Customization |
High — Businesses can mix and match commerce components |
Limited — Restricted to the platform’s capabilities |
| Scalability |
Scalable — Components can be added or replaced |
Less flexible — Requires major upgrades |
| Vendor lock-in |
Low — Businesses can switch providers easily |
High — Dependent on a single vendor |
| Speed of innovation |
Fast — Agile and adaptable |
Slower — Updates depend on the vendor’s roadmap |
Why is composable commerce a better solution than traditional platforms?
Traditional commerce platforms are rigid and often require significant time and resources for updates and improvements.
Composable commerce, on the other hand, enables businesses to innovate rapidly by integrating specialized commerce solutions.
How is composable commerce changing commerce experiences?
Composable commerce is revolutionizing the way businesses interact with customers by enabling:
- Personalized shopping journeys — Businesses can leverage AI-driven recommendations and omnichannel integrations to enhance customer experience.
- Faster time-to-market — Brands can quickly deploy new features, test different strategies, and scale their commerce ecosystem.
- Seamless integrations — Companies can integrate different commerce platforms, such as PIM, to manage product data and DAM for digital content to create a streamlined experience.
- Omnichannel consistency — Businesses can maintain a consistent brand experience across multiple touchpoints, from web and mobile to social media and marketplaces.
What is the difference between headless and composable commerce?
- Headless commerce separates the front-end presentation layer from the back-end commerce logic, allowing brands to deliver digital experiences across different devices and platforms.
- Composable commerce extends beyond headless commerce by providing the flexibility to integrate various best-of-breed commerce solutions.
| Feature |
Headless commerce |
Composable commerce |
| Architecture |
Decouples front-end from back-end |
Modular architecture with interchangeable commerce components |
| Flexibility |
Allows front-end freedom but limited in back-end choices |
Full flexibility in choosing and integrating any system |
| Scope |
Focused on front-end experiences |
Encompasses the entire commerce ecosystem |
| Use case |
Ideal for brands focusing on customer experience |
Best for businesses needing a fully customizable solution |
While headless commerce is a component of composable commerce, the latter provides a more comprehensive approach by allowing companies to integrate multiple technologies beyond the front-end experience.
How does composable commerce work?
It integrates independent yet interconnected components that collectively create a seamless digital commerce ecosystem.
Instead of relying on a single platform, businesses select and assemble different commerce solutions using APIs.
Key elements of a composable commerce architecture:
- API-driven connectivity — Ensures smooth communication between different systems
- Microservices-based approach — Each commerce component (e.g., checkout, payments, search) operates as a standalone service, allowing independent updates and scalability.
- Cloud-native deployment — Facilitates scalability, security, and performance optimization.
- Best-of-breed solutions — Businesses select and integrate specialized tools for product data, content management, personalization, and analytics.
Which systems can be part of composable commerce?
One of the biggest advantages of composable commerce is its ability to integrate a wide range of commerce solutions, enabling businesses to create a fully customizable digital commerce ecosystem.
Instead of relying on a monolithic platform, organizations can handpick best-of-breed components that cater to their unique needs.
Key systems that make up a composable commerce architecture
- Product Information Management (PIM)
- Centralizes product data across all sales and marketing channels.
- Ensures data consistency and accuracy across the entire commerce ecosystem.
- Enables translation and localization of product information.
- Digital Asset Management (DAM)
- Stores, organizes, and manages digital content such as images, videos, and documents.
- Provides easy access to rich media assets for use across commerce platforms.
- Helps maintain brand consistency across multiple customer touchpoints.
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Manages digital experiences and content displayed on ecommerce websites.
- Enables personalized content delivery based on consumer behavior.
- Works seamlessly with PIM and DAM to ensure a consistent commerce experience.
- Order Management System (OMS)
- Tracks and processes customer orders across multiple sales channels.
- Integrates with inventory management to ensure real-time stock updates.
- Supports omnichannel fulfillment, including Buy Online, Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) and ship-from-store capabilities.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Collects and analyzes customer data to improve customer experiences.
- Helps personalize marketing efforts through data-driven insights.
- Enhances customer engagement and builds long-term brand loyalty.
- Ecommerce platform
- Facilitates online transactions and shopping experiences.
- Supports a headless commerce system, leveraging APIs for a seamless front-end experience.
- Integrates with other components to provide a modular approach.
- Personalization and AI-driven solutions
- Uses machine learning algorithms to optimize customer experiences.
- Provides dynamic pricing, product recommendations, and predictive analytics.
- Enhances customer journeys based on real-time behavior tracking.
- Payment and checkout solutions
- Supports multiple payment gateways to provide frictionless transactions.
- Integrates with fraud detection and security tools to ensure safe ecommerce transactions.
- Offers buy now, pay later (BNPL) and other flexible payment options.
- Search and merchandising engines
- Enhances product discovery with intelligent search functionality.
- Uses AI-driven search to provide relevant product results.
- Optimizes product merchandising to maximize conversion rates.
- Analytics and business intelligence tools
- Provides real-time analytics on customer behavior, sales trends, and website performance.
- Helps businesses make data-driven decisions to optimize their commerce strategy.
- Integrates with PIM, DAM, and CRM to enhance overall commerce performance.
How these systems work together
In a composable commerce ecosystem, each solution operates independently but communicates seamlessly via APIs.
This allows businesses to:
- Scale their commerce platforms without disrupting existing operations.
- Experiment with new technologies without committing to an all-in-one solution.
- Provide personalized, omnichannel experiences for their customers.
Benefits of composable commerce
Monolithic commerce requires businesses to rely on a single vendor for all functionalities, while composable commerce empowers organizations to build customized commerce solutions that cater to their specific needs.
Flexibility and customization
- Allows businesses to select best-of-breed components and integrate them seamlessly into their commerce stack.
- Enables businesses to add, remove, or modify components as needed, unlike fixed monolithic platforms.
- Supports the creation of personalized experiences, tailoring the customer journey to specific audiences.
Faster time-to-market
- Enables companies to quickly deploy new commerce solutions without overhauling their entire tech stack.
- Reduces development time by enabling teams to work on independent microservices.
- Supports rapid A/B testing and experimentation to optimize customer experiences.
Improved scalability and performance
- Ensures scalability to handle traffic spikes and seasonal demand with a Cloud-native architecture.
- Allows businesses to upgrade or replace individual components without downtime.
- Reduces infrastructure costs by leveraging API-driven solutions instead of maintaining bulky monolithic platforms.
Reduced vendor lock-in
- Enables businesses to switch or upgrade commerce components without major disruptions.
- Encourages innovation and competition by enabling businesses to choose from a variety of best-in-class solutions.
- Provides greater control over commerce strategies, preventing dependency on a single technology provider.
Enhanced omnichannel experiences
- Ensures a seamless customer experience across multiple channels, including web, mobile, social media, and in-store.
- Integrates PIM and DAM to provide consistent product information and digital assets across all touchpoints.
- Supports headless commerce, enabling brand consistency while offering tailored digital commerce experiences across devices.
Increased agility and innovation
- Allows businesses to adopt new commerce solutions without requiring a complete system overhaul.
- Encourages agile development, enabling companies to adapt quickly to changing consumer behavior and market demands.
- Supports AI-driven personalization and machine learning to optimize the customer journey.
Cost efficiency
- Reduces reliance on monolithic platforms, often requiring costly upgrades and maintenance.
- Optimizes operational costs by allowing businesses to only pay for the commerce components they need.
- Improves resource allocation, ensuring that investments are directed toward high-impact solutions.
How businesses benefit from adopting composable commerce
| Business need |
How composable commerce helps |
| Rapid market expansion |
Enables businesses to scale quickly by integrating new commerce platforms |
| Personalized customer experiences |
Leverages AI and customer data to deliver tailored recommendations |
| Better product data management |
Integrates PIM and DAM for centralized product content management |
| Future-proof technology |
Allows businesses to adopt emerging technologies without vendor limitations |
| Operational efficiency |
Reduces overhead costs by using best-of-breed commerce solutions |
What is an example of composable commerce?
To see composable commerce in action, let’s look at Aetrex, a global leader in foot scanning technology, orthotics, and comfort footwear.
Aetrex initially relied on a traditional setup — legacy PIM systems, manual data handling, and cumbersome integrations with Salesforce Commerce Cloud. However, as their product catalog expanded and they entered new sales channels, maintaining data accuracy and efficiency became a challenge.
By adopting a composable approach, Aetrex integrated best-of-breed solutions like Contentserv’s PIM into their tech stack, creating a flexible and scalable ecosystem.
With this composable approach, Aetrex achieved:
- Consistent and accurate product data across all channels, reducing errors and manual corrections
- Automated workflows, streamlining data entry, validation, and updates
- Advanced search functionality with filters and categorization for improved product discovery
- Faster marketing execution, enabling automated promotional material production and reduced time-to-market
- Seamless Salesforce Commerce Cloud integration, ensuring daily synchronization of product data with ecommerce platforms
- Scalability for future growth, supporting new sales channels like Facebook and TikTok
By leveraging composable commerce principles, Aetrex improved operational efficiency, enhanced data accuracy, and positioned itself for long-term growth in the competitive footwear and orthotics market.
How do PIM and DAM come into play?
In a composable commerce ecosystem, Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) play critical roles in ensuring a seamless, scalable, and efficient commerce experience.
Together, they provide centralized control over product data and digital content, enhancing customer experiences while improving operational efficiency.
The role of PIM in composable commerce
In a composable commerce architecture, a PIM system ensures that businesses can:
- Maintain data accuracy and consistency – A single source of truth for product descriptions, pricing, attributes, and specifications across all touchpoints.
- Streamline product updates - Automate the distribution of updated product data to ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, and catalogs.
- Support omnichannel commerce – Ensure that product details remain consistent across web, mobile, social commerce, and in-store experiences.
- Improve localization and translation – Simplify global expansion by managing multilingual product content in a single system.
The role of DAM in composable commerce
In a composable commerce approach, a DAM system helps businesses:
- Ensure brand consistency – Store and manage approved logos, images, videos, and digital content in a single repository.
- Optimize media for different channels – Deliver high-quality visuals while ensuring fast loading times and responsiveness.
- Automate asset distribution – Seamlessly connect with PIM, CMS, and ecommerce platforms to push updated digital assets across all channels.
- Enable collaboration – Improve efficiency by allowing teams to access, edit, and distribute content globally.
How PIM and DAM work together in composable commerce
| Function |
PIM |
DAM |
| Manage product data |
✔Stores and organizes product descriptions, attributes, pricing, and specifications. |
❌ Not responsible for product data management. |
| Manage digital assets |
❌ Does not specialize in managing images, videos, or rich media. |
✔ Organizes and distributes images, videos, and other digital content. |
| Ensure consistency |
✔ Maintains accurate and up-to-date product data. |
✔ Maintains brand consistency across all marketing materials. |
| Support omnichannel commerce |
✔ Distributes product data to ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, and catalogs. |
✔ Provides optimized assets for web, mobile, and social channels. |
| Improve collaboration |
✔ Helps teams manage and distribute product information efficiently. |
✔ Enables teams to access, edit, and share digital content in real time. |
Why PIM and DAM are essential for composable commerce
- Unified data and content management – Businesses can efficiently manage both structured product data and unstructured digital assets without relying on a single monolithic platform.
- Seamless integration with other systems – Both PIM and DAM connect with ecommerce platforms, CMS, ERP, CRM, and marketing automation tools.
- Enhanced customer experiences – Provides accurate product data and high-quality visuals for an optimized commerce experience.
- Scalability for business growth – Enables businesses to expand into new markets and adapt quickly to changing customer demands.
How Contentserv drives composable commerce
As businesses shift toward composable commerce, the need for flexible, scalable, and best-of-breed solutions becomes essential. Contentserv plays a key role in enabling businesses to streamline product data and digital asset management, ensuring a seamless and future-proof commerce ecosystem.
Centralized product data with Contentserv PIM
- Ensures businesses can manage accurate, enriched, and structured product data across all channels.
- Eliminates data silos, ensuring a single source of truth for product details.
- Supports omnichannel commerce by distributing data to ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, and catalogs.
Supports omnichannel commerce by distributing data to ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, and catalogs
- Centralizes rich media assets, enabling businesses to maintain brand consistency.
- Automates the delivery of optimized images, videos, and marketing content across commerce platforms.
- Enhances collaboration by allowing teams to store, edit, and distribute digital assets efficiently.
API-first and cloud-native architecture
- Enables businesses to integrate PIM and DAM seamlessly within their composable commerce ecosystem.
- Ensures scalability and flexibility, allowing organizations to adopt best-of-breed solutions.
- Provides real-time data synchronization, improving operational efficiency and customer experiences.
Optimized for digital transformation
- Helps businesses transition from monolithic platforms to a flexible, composable commerce strategy.
- Enables faster time-to-market, allowing companies to adapt quickly to changing customer demands.
- Supports global expansion with advanced localization and translation capabilities.
Contentserv provides the essential building blocks — PIM and DAM — to create a centralized, efficient, and scalable commerce ecosystem. With seamless integration, real-time updates, and centralized control, businesses can stay agile and deliver standout customer experiences that set them apart.
