Across B2B and B2C, commerce has reached a point of life-centricity for customers. And as the demand for anytime, anywhere commerce grows, it is unlocking opportunities for richer digital experiences and more seamless transactions.

Today’s consumers expect personalized experiences as standard. Think of the way a customer can now order an item through their preferred social media app, then track it in real-time from the moment they check out their basket to the second it arrives at their door. The businesses that will triumph in this evolving commerce landscape will be those that provide individualized interactions that reflect their customers’ distinct needs.

To deliver personalized, intuitive customer experiences, businesses need to have the right infrastructure in place. A composable commerce platform enables you to build a flexible, scalable, best-of-breed stack to optimize user experiences, reduce costs, remove strategic dependencies, and accelerate ROI. It helps you to stay relevant in consumers’ lives and closes the gap to changing channels.

This blog explores composable commerce and why a branded commerce strategy is crucial in today’s landscape. You can also get a head start on seizing the new era of commerce with our Branded Commerce Foundation Accelerator. It’s designed to help you achieve a future-proof commerce strategy with Sitecore Commerce Cloud in only eight weeks.

The changing face of retail
Meet today’s customer. They’ve gotten used to the seamless, personalized experiences offered by monolithic online shopping brands and they think your business should deliver life-centric, dynamic experiences too – with over two-thirds (67%) of consumers expecting companies to address their needs in new ways.

The opportunity that comes with getting this right is huge. By 2025, it’s expected that total global e-commerce retail spending will exceed $7 trillion. In the age of anywhere, anytime commerce, you need to generate the experiences that will help you gain the spend and loyalty of the discerning consumer.

How can you meet shoppers where they are? According to Accenture Song research, more than 70% of buyers aged 18 to 39 purchase from businesses in an omnichannel way. By delivering omnichannel shopping experiences, you’re enabling digital buyers to research, browse, shop and purchase seamlessly between different devices and on various commerce platforms.

The future of e-commerce will hold a diverse range of capabilities, including offering robust customer journeys and personalization, AI-enabled shopping, social shopping, mobile commerce and digital currencies. Now is the time to start making these experiences a reality – with a solution that offers the ability to scale, integrate and innovate.

Capitalize on the customer-first era with composable architecture
We already know that commerce is more customer-centric than ever. Customers expect personalized, dynamic experiences across their preferred channels and devices. A branded commerce strategy is critical for delivering on these expectations, and it’s composable commerce that makes it possible while maximizing ROI.

Composable commerce is flexible and scalable, with the power to seamlessly integrate best-of-breed products with existing technology. Businesses can now finally create optimal user experiences, eliminate technical debt and remove any dependencies from their commerce strategy.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach that will win out in this new commerce era. It’s the power of speed, agility, flexibility, iteration and responsiveness that will help organizations keep pace with consumers and stay a step ahead of competitors.

For example, imagine your business starts in one country but expands into a global operation. Commerce through a composable architecture would enable a seamless rollout by personalizing language and currency options while maintaining overall brand coherence. It could also unlock possibilities for self-service, increased repurchase rates, improved cross and upsell opportunities and launch new features and channels quickly for faster time to market.

Compose your commerce, on your customers’ terms
You can support your omnichannel approach with Sitecore Commerce Cloud, through the Sitecore OrderCloud component. A next-generation headless commerce platform to future-proof and scale modern commerce strategies, it enables businesses to take commerce directly to customers through brand-differentiated storefronts and sell across any digital or physical channel – supporting your omnichannel approach.

Together with Sitecore’s technology, we can help you keep every customer at the core of your business through unique, branded commerce experiences. So, whatever your customer’s next great experience is, it will come from you. Branded commerce can help you to meet the e-commerce needs of today’s agile, anywhere customers and fast-track you to a future-proof commerce strategy.

You can take your first, or your next, step to your future-proof commerce strategy by downloading our Branded Commerce Foundation guide and start composing your commerce success story.