Modernising SAP with Composable Commerce
September 2024
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Businesses are increasingly turning to headless and composable commerce solutions to stay agile, scalable, and customer-centric. One shining example of this transformation comes from Winparts, a leading car parts retailer, which undertook a major project to modernise its outdated eCommerce system. This transition, involving the integration of Storyblok, SAP, and other key technologies, offers valuable insights into the power of composable commerce.
The need for modernisation
Winparts had been growing steadily at a rate of 30% year-over-year, but their legacy e-commerce platform, burdened by outdated architecture and spaghetti code, could no longer support their ambitious growth. The limitations were clear: the existing system was preventing further scalability and innovation, compelling Winparts to make a pivotal decision—adopt a more flexible, modern eCommerce architecture.
What is composable commerce?
At the heart of this transformation is the concept of composable commerce. In essence, it decouples the front-end user experience from the back-end processes, allowing businesses to integrate best-of-breed solutions for each component of their eCommerce stack. Whether it’s plugging in a new content management system (CMS), an advanced search engine, or AI-driven product recommendations, composable commerce offers unparalleled flexibility. This approach is quickly becoming popular because it enables businesses to evolve and innovate without being tied to a monolithic system.
A modern customer experience
For Winparts, the shift to a composable architecture has dramatically improved the customer experience. Their new system allows for A/B testing and rapid iterations, meaning they can make daily improvements based on real-time customer data. This level of agility wasn’t possible with their legacy system. Now, Winparts can experiment with new features and optimise the user journey continuously, ensuring a more personalised and efficient shopping experience.
For example, with composable commerce, they’ve integrated a multi-lingual, multi-market strategy that allows them to reach new global markets while still delivering localised experiences. This adaptability has been crucial as the company continues to scale, enabling them to support over 10 languages and a vast array of product pages without breaking a sweat.
Leveraging best-of-breed solutions
One of the key benefits of composable commerce is the ability to integrate the best solutions for specific tasks. In Winparts' case, the company chose Storyblok as its CMS due to its ability to handle large-scale content management across multiple languages. They also opted to retain their existing search solution, Elastic search, because it was already deeply integrated and provided the product discovery experience they wanted.
This flexibility extends to other areas like payment processing, where Winparts integrated Mollie to offer more payment methods and improve checkout conversion rates. Composable commerce gives companies the freedom to swap out components without disrupting the entire system, ensuring they can always choose the best tool for the job.
Overcoming challenges
However, the transition wasn’t without its challenges. One of the hurdles Winparts faced was integrating Storyblok with their chosen front-end framework. Although this wasn’t an out-of-the-box solution, the flexibility of composable commerce made it possible for them to build the necessary integrations themselves.
Additionally, coordinating multiple moving parts for a successful go-live is always a complex task. Winparts had to ensure that all their integrated systems—SAP for back-end processes, Storyblok for content management, Elastic for search, and Mollie for payments—worked seamlessly together.
Scalability and future-proofing
With the new architecture in place, Winparts is well-positioned for the future. The scalability of their composable system allows them to continue expanding their product offerings and entering new markets without hitting technological roadblocks. Their back-end, powered by SAP, can now allocate resources more efficiently, ensuring they have the capacity to handle increasing customer demand.
As AI continues to evolve, the future of eCommerce will likely be shaped by even more sophisticated tools for personalisation, product recommendations, and customer interaction. Winparts is already exploring how to leverage AI-driven solutions, such as using image recognition to help customers identify car parts by simply pointing their phone camera at the item in question.
The future of composable commerce
The shift toward composable commerce is gaining momentum, not just in B2C environments but also in B2B settings. While many organisations have struggled with the complexity of transitioning to a headless architecture, modern composable solutions are making it more accessible than ever before. As businesses continue to adopt these flexible frameworks, the ability to quickly test, learn, and adapt will become a competitive differentiator.
In a world where customer expectations are higher than ever, businesses like Winparts are leading the way in showing how composable commerce can unlock new possibilities. With the agility to scale, innovate, and offer highly personalised experiences, the future of e-commerce is undoubtedly composable.
