Businesses require flexible, scalable, and future-proof solutions to stay competitive in digital commerce. Two of the most prominent architectural approaches in modern commerce are composable commerce and headless commerce. Understanding their differences and determining the best fit for your organization is critical to building an efficient and effective digital commerce strategy.
Understanding Headless Commerce
Headless commerce refers to the decoupling of the front-end and back-end of a commerce platform. The front end—often managed by a content management system (CMS)—controls the customer experience, while the back end—your commerce engine—handles product data, transactions, and business logic.
With Microsoft D365 Commerce, businesses can utilize the Commerce Scale Unit to power their commerce engine while integrating a third-party front-end solution tailored to their specific needs. This decoupled architecture allows for greater flexibility in delivering unique and highly customizable user experiences.
D365 Commerce operates on top of ERP Data Storage and ERP Runtime, ensuring that all products, customer data, and categories defined within the ERP can be seamlessly assigned to retail channels. Additionally, Microsoft provides customers with RESTful APIs, enabling businesses to implement a composable front-end solution that best aligns with their strategy.
The Composable Commerce Approach
Composable commerce takes modularity a step further by allowing businesses to select and integrate best-in-class commerce capabilities from different vendors. Instead of relying entirely on a single platform’s native capabilities, organizations can replace specific functionalities with specialized third-party solutions.
D365 Commerce is inherently composable, giving businesses full control over which built-in features they want to leverage and which they prefer to replace. For example, companies might integrate:
- Experlogix for Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solutions.
- Blue Horseshoe for shipping logistics.
- Evenica’s e4Dynamics suite, which includes microapps designed to enhance commerce operations.
Some of Evenica’s microapps designed for composable commerce include:
- B2B Customer Hierarchy Contact Model – Enables multiple users from the same organization to register, shop, and create orders under a shared customer record, ensuring seamless access to pricing, catalogs, and order history.
- Quick Order Upload Tool – Simplifies bulk ordering by allowing customers to enter SKUs directly or upload order files for automatic cart population.
- Order History Search – Enhances order management by enabling users to search past purchases using key criteria such as order number or date.
While most aspects of D365 Commerce can be customized in a composable manner, workflows, extensibility, security, and performance remain integral to the platform.
Evaluating the Best Approach for Your Business
Choosing between headless and composable commerce depends on your business model, operational complexity, and digital strategy.
- Headless commerce is ideal for businesses that require precise control over the front-end experience. This approach is particularly beneficial for retailers and brands seeking to create highly differentiated and engaging customer experiences beyond Microsoft’s Site Builder.
- Composable commerce is suitable for businesses that need custom integrations and specialized functionalities to enhance their commerce platform. Industries such as beverage, cannabis, and manufacturing frequently adopt composable solutions to meet regulatory requirements, manage complex inventories, and optimize their commerce operations.
Evenica’s e4Platform serves as a headless e-commerce solution that can function independently or as a CMS and front-end layer for D365 Commerce, providing the flexibility businesses need to adapt to changing market demands.
Combining Headless and Composable Commerce
For businesses requiring both a flexible front-end and a modular back-end, a hybrid approach can be the most effective strategy. D365 Commerce can serve as the commerce engine, Evenica’s e4Platform can act as the web front-end, and third-party vendors can be integrated to replace or enhance specific functionalities. This combination results in a highly customized and scalable commerce solution.
Leveraging the Right Technology for Your Commerce Strategy
Most organizations rely on D365 Commerce as the foundation of their digital commerce solution while incorporating third-party applications to optimize their platform. Whether through Evenica’s proprietary IP or other partner solutions available on Microsoft AppSource, businesses can tailor their commerce environments to align with their unique requirements.
As the commerce landscape continues to evolve, headless and composable commerce offer distinct advantages that cater to different business needs. Evenica specializes in helping organizations navigate these strategies by developing industry-specific e-commerce solutions that integrate seamlessly with Microsoft’s technology stack.
For organizations seeking a future-ready commerce solution, adopting headless, composable, or hybrid commerce strategies can drive operational efficiency and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Let’s discuss the best commerce strategy for your business.