If composable commerce is on your radar but you’ve been concerned about the implementation time and developer resources required, you can rest easy! B2B manufacturers prove that adopting a composable approach is a straightforward process that can be achieved at speed and with lean development resources.
Since the early days of composable commerce, many executives have had misconceptions about how complex and time-consuming this new approach could be. Scores of professionals have recognized the benefits of composable but fretted that they’d need to hire tens — if not hundreds — of developers with deep expertise in emerging technologies, causing IT costs to skyrocket.
While those concerns are understandable (composable technology is a paradigm shift, after all), as more organizations modernize their tech stacks with composable solutions, it becomes evident that those perceptions aren’t really aligned with reality. In other words, composable commerce isn’t as complex, time-consuming or resource-intensive as many initially believed.
The realization that implementing composable commerce can be a straightforward affair is crucial for the B2B sector. Traditionally, B2B organizations are less digitally mature compared to B2C retailers, and many of those firms lack an eCommerce presence altogether. Even today, a significant portion of B2B organizations conduct transactions with buyers primarily via sales representatives.
As the imperative to digitize commerce grows, manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers making the move to digital aren’t choosing the supposedly “easier” solutions advertised by all-in-one platforms. On the contrary, many B2B firms have come to understand that legacy platforms are actually much more complex than composable solutions. While legacy, aka monolithic, platforms may provide a lower barrier of entry with standardized templates and features, they ultimately become too inflexible to perform changes and updates with ease. As a result, there’s a massive impact on developer productivity, increased technical debt and a reduced rate of innovation releases.
As we were developing it [the monolith], we just knew it wouldn’t work. It wasn’t a good fit for our team. We have a small team, so we have to find technologies that drive the business forward with new ideas instead of following the same path everyone else is on.
TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER, ACE SOUTHERN
Recent data from Forrester Research supports this argument, as 81% of B2B practitioners cited that they’re utilizing eCommerce platforms that lack features, can’t handle the complexity of products, collect customer data or scale effectively. Consequently, 65% of respondents cited that eCommerce is broken within their organizations.
While B2B organizations, particularly manufacturers, are now embracing composable solutions in larger numbers attracted by the benefits they can reap now and in the future, concerns about implementation times and developer resources are still a part of the conversation. Let’s take a deeper look at how long it took for B2B manufacturers such as ACE Southern, Normet and Loomstate to transition to composable and the developer resources they needed to make that move.
How ACE Southern simplified the path to eCommerce success with composable
Project type: Migration from Adobe Commerce
Implementation time: 6 months
Technical resources: Via system integrator partner Hero Digital and 1 full-time developer
A leading manufacturer and distributor in the oral surgery space, with a specialization in bone grafts, ACE Southern is the result of a 2022 merger between ACE Surgical Supply and Southern Anesthesia and Surgical (SAS), both subsidiaries of Henry Schein. It operates independently as a small company with a very small tech team. After the merger, each company had different versions of Magento (now Adobe Commerce), which needed to be upgraded and combine two instances of the same version.
However, even after the upgrade, the company realized the system still couldn’t support its goals. That’s when ACE Southern’s leadership decided to adopt a composable infrastructure to automate commerce, become more agile and, as a result, compete with larger organizations.
Initially, the company’s leadership had concerns over the perceived complexity of composable, especially regarding the ability to seamlessly connect with a separate PIM, ERP, frontend and a homegrown application for taking orders. However, after signing up for the commercetools Free Trial, the developer in charge created a proof of concept (POC) that proved that implementing a composable solution can be as easy as 1, 2, 3.
The initial reaction [from leadership] was. 'Oh, a move to something like commercetools, that’s not like the monolithic platforms we're used to where it's a one-stop shop. This is more complex, this is harder.' For us, it was simpler. It actually simplifies our processes — we offload all that complexity to commercetools. Everything is an API now.
TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER, ACE SOUTHERN
ACE Southern signed a deal with commercetools in December 2022 and seven months later went live with its new composable system. Since then, the company has been able to move at a much faster pace than in its monolithic days, 100% focusing on crafting customer experiences instead of fixing bugs or maintaining an old system. As a result, ACE Southern is seeing returns on the average order value size 2.5 times what they had pre-commercetools.
How Normet digitized an extensive product catalog for the first time in only 4.5 months
Project type: New-to-digital organization
Implementation time: 4.5 months
Technical resources: Via system integrator partner Columbus Global
Backed by over 60 years of experience, Normet is a manufacturer and service provider of underground mining and tunneling equipment. The Finland-based company has had decades-long relationships with customers, nurturing those connections via one-to-one interaction with sales reps involving emails and phone calls. Predictably, the ordering process was inefficient and time-consuming for customers and sales reps alike.
With a 65,000-product catalog of highly specialized spare parts, it was time for Normet to deliver improved experiences by enabling customers to find and order products online. As a first step, Normet digitized the extensive product catalog and automated the purchasing process, allowing customers not only to order but also to check the availability and pricing for single products quickly. Finally, Normet is also collecting customer feedback on the new digital experiences continuously so that they can iteratively develop new features molded to their buyers’ needs.
You need to have the agility to adapt to your changing requirements and needs. I believe that the MACH® approach suits that quite well. If we are thinking about 2… 3… 4 years into the future, we need to be prepared in case something changes, for example, in customer behavior or connecting to IoT. If we would have built the system with a traditional monolith eCommerce system, we would have lost that agility for the future. This is why we chose composable architecture.
DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL SERVICES, NORMET
Normet’s implementation process with partner Columbus Global — from the first line of code to full production deployment — took only 4.5 months and stayed within budget. The system integrator partner delivered two weeks earlier than planned.
How Orbia Wavin created its first-ever webshop in 8 months
Project type: New-to-digital organization
Implementation time: 8 months for its first webshop, 2 years for 35 localized webshops
Technical resources: Via a system integrator partner and 2 internal architects
Orbia Building & Infrastructure (Wavin), an innovative solutions provider for the global building and infrastructure industry, started to digitize its commerce operations for the first time as part of a global expansion strategy. With composable technology, the manufacturer created a pilot webshop for one of its core markets catering to merchants in eight months. Next, the company launched 35 localized webshops across Europe, Latin America and APAC, delivering an average of 1.5 localized webshops per month over the course of two years.
As we plan to have 60% of global sales being digital, Orbia Building & Infrastructure (Wavin) is now poised to keep up with the pace of change thanks to composable commerce. From creating personalized journeys and integrating with a multitude of systems to rolling out eCommerce internationally, we now have the flexibility and scalability our business needs.
GLOBAL PRODUCT MANAGER - DIGITAL ORDERING, ORBIA BUILDING & INFRASTRUCTURE (WAVIN)
As a result, the manufacturer witnessed continuous growth in revenue generated through digital channels, amassing a 9-digit turnover in 2023. Notably, the manufacturer generated these tremendous results with relatively low investment in development resources by engaging a system integrator and only two internal architects.
Composable implementations are getting EVEN easier
While numerous B2B organizations have implemented composable commerce within a short timeframe and with lean development teams, businesses — especially manufacturers — are keen on further minimizing the inherent complexity of B2B through even faster and more efficient implementations. That’s why we’re expanding commercetools Foundry, a pre-composed solution, to cater to the needs of B2B manufacturing.
commercetools Foundry further simplifies the adoption of composable commerce and accelerates implementation by offering a diverse array of tools and resources. These include a comprehensive blueprint, best practice guides, store launchpads, AI-powered developer assistants and expert services with personalized guidance.
Coming soon, commercetools Foundry for B2B Manufacturing will further knock down barriers for composable implementations, empowering manufacturers to expedite their digital commerce initiatives while helping to scale digital efforts in the future.
Stay tuned! commercetools Foundry for B2B Manufacturing is coming soon. If you’d like to get ahead, contact us to start learning how your business can adopt composable commerce.
Julia is a Senior B2B Product Expert at commercetools. With over a decade of experience across product and marketing teams in the tech world, she is an expert at creating innovative, customer-first strategies, and excelling in cross-functional growth & GTM initiatives.
Manuela Marques Tchoe is a Content Writer at commercetools. She was a Content and Product Marketing Director at conversational commerce provider tyntec. She has written content in partnership with Facebook, Rakuten Viber and other social media platforms.