<img src="https://secure.leadforensics.com/133892.png" alt="" style="display:none;">

Today the buyer's journey is integrated across channels and touchpoints. If you want to stand out from the crowd you need to be flexible enough to create services and user experiences that makes the buyer’s journey simple, quick, and inspirational enough to the clients. Modern commerce architecture is an architecture based on a more modular approach using microservices. It’s virtually the opposite of a “monolith” all-in-one application.

There are multiple definitions connected to Modern Commerce Architecture such as:

  • MACH – CommerceTools concept stands for Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless.
  • Composable Commerce – Gartners definition recommends this approach to “strangle the monolith”. The concept builds on an incremental approach to build towards a more modular architecture. Gartners recommends approaching this in three dimensions - Customer Journey, Business Capabilities Tech stack – to “compose” your digital experience.
  • Connected Commerce – like Unified Commerce, means a seamless shopping experience across channels devices. This has been an aspiration for many companies – but now the technology is here to support this strategy.
Modern-Commerce-MACH-Columbus-Unified

Here are 7 things that will make it easier for you to understand modern e-commerce architecture:

  1. Drivers
    The digital commerce market and landscape shift incredibly fast. Consumer behavior can shift completely from one day to another and all companies that want to stay relevant need to be prepared to adapt to these changes.
    The coronavirus pandemic has affected this development – and increased the importance of online sales channels.
  2. Numbers
    According to Gartner, by 2023 companies that have adopted a “composable commerce” approach will be up to 80% faster in their implementation of new features.
  3. Enablers
    Over the past decade – several new technologies have seen the light of the day that enables Modern Commerce Architecture. Most important is the rise of Cloud and API-technology.
  4. Benefits of implementing a modern commerce architecture for your company:
    - Flexibility market responsiveness
    - Time to market
    - A better foundation for innovation
    - TCO – less spend on upgrades maintenance – and more on things that drive sales customer experience
  5. Best-of-breed vs. Hybrid
    Just because you choose a modular architecture does not mean you have to do everything modular and choose best-of-breed platforms for all functionalities. A hybrid approach is probably the way most companies will go. Choose best-of-breed solutions for functionality that makes a difference, and can prove ROI, and choose packaged functionality for more standardization.
    Always put the customer first, they do not care about your complexity – but you should. Legacy IT or a complex business organization is no excuse for a bad customer experience. Always assume a customer-first approach – and truly find out what your customers want to create a world-class customer experience.
  6. Reality
    Let’s be honest – all companies have some form of legacy-IT to relate to. Most companies already have several e-com/MarTech applications running with multiple integrations. A rip-and-replace approach is rarely conceivable, nor motivated. Instead – most companies will have to lay out a road map to successively build towards a more modern commerce architecture. This requires organizations to break down silos and work cross-functionally.
  7. Implementation organization
    There are several trends today in how to build a team to support your digital channels. Some companies have an in-house strategy – to have full control over the strategy development.
    Some companies outsource everything to digital consultancies. In between, there are many variations of mixed teams. The important part is to choose competence that can handle the complexity that a modern commerce architecture brings. There are many consultancies out there that can implement a website or a webshop – but fewer that can implement and evolve a modular eCommerce platform.

We hope that this blog found you well, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Join our Webinar Series on this Topic

Discuss this post

Recommended posts

To navigate your digital commerce business through the latest data protection regulations and guidelines, it’s important to understand the distinction between privacy and tracking requirements on the one hand and cookie and consent management on the other.   The former is primarily concerned with what data is collected, how it is transmitted and where it is stored, which are all integral parts of the GDPR. This is at the center of the latest controversies surrounding the legality of Google Analytics in Europe. Inadequate protection of personal data by US-owned services has not yet been resolved with a new legal framework.  Updated on: 02-2023
On March 1st Google will automatically move properties from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. Why is this a problem? If you don’t prepare for this move, the adjustments and settings you have made outside of the basic settings will be lost and you will be left with new, unnecessary and messy properties. But there is a simple way to stop it.  Here's everything you need to know.
Increasing numbers of B2B companies are investing in customer portals where they can offer the customer a personalised buying experience that includes digital assistance and information. But there are still companies that take orders via telephone or email and close new deals using salespeople out in the field.
What your customers don’t have enough of is more time. So it’s no surprise that online self-service is increasing in popularity. With a customer portal, you can increase sales, offer new services and simultaneously streamline and reduce costs for customer service. Being able to offer your customers a portal is starting to become a hygiene factor, particularly today where your customers have more options, more products to choose between, more information facilitating the buying decision and an increased range of channels for handling aftermarket issues.
The digital transformation has changed our purchasing behaviour. Because modern consumers collect information, compare and weigh up the advantages and disadvantages by themselves before making a buying decision, they have often come a long way in the purchase process before approaching a supplier. To create business opportunities and gain repeat custom, you need to achieve an experience that extends across and is the same in all channels. This is particularly clear in the B2B sector. To succeed here, it's best to start at the other end and collect information about your customers to achieve a 360-degree view.
right-arrow share search phone phone-filled menu filter envelope envelope-filled close checkmark caret-down arrow-up arrow-right arrow-left arrow-down