Pure Composability Wasn’t the Final Destination. What Comes Next?

TL;DR

• Headless and Composable Commerce brought flexibility - but also complexity and rising costs.
• Commerce Orchestration goes a step further, enabling business process control with no-code tools.
• Companies can reduce their reliance on IT and intelligently automate operations.
• Emporix’s Orchestration Engine offers visual workflow modeling and prebuilt connectors.
• A gradual transition to orchestration is possible—no need for full replatforming.

The Rise (and Limits) of Headless Commerce

A few years ago, Headless Commerce was hailed as a breakthrough for digital commerce. In our 2021 blog, we explained how decoupling the frontend from the backend allowed companies to be more flexible and improve their digital customer experiences. Headless was the antidote to rigid monolithic systems where even minor changes required massive effort.

But times have changed. The companies that embraced Headless are now facing a new set of challenges:

• High development effort: Business process changes still require code—and thus IT resources.
• Mounting complexity: Integrating many microservices leads to architectures that are hard to manage.
• Rising costs: Running many Headless setups has proven to be more expensive and complicated than expected.

So the question is no longer: Should you go Headless?
It’s: How can you gain flexibility without getting tangled in technical dependencies?

The answer isn’t more microservices or more flexible APIs. It’s a new mindset: Commerce Orchestration.

This concept builds on—and goes beyond—Headless and Composable Commerce. It empowers companies to control digital business processes with no-code tools, apply automation intelligently, and drastically reduce IT dependency. In other words, the agility Headless promised is finally becoming reality.

In this article, we’ll explore why Headless and Composable aren’t enough—and how Commerce Orchestration points the way forward.

Why Composability Alone Doesn’t Solve the Problem

As the limitations of Headless Commerce became clear, Composable Commerce emerged as the logical next step. Instead of relying on one monolithic platform, businesses could mix and match modular, API-first services to build a tailored solution. On paper, it seemed like the perfect answer to Headless Commerce’s challenges.

In reality, many companies that adopted Composable Commerce are now struggling with unexpected complexity and high costs.

More flexibility? Absolutely. Less effort? Not even close.

The core idea of Composable is compelling: use best-of-breed solutions rather than one-size-fits-all platforms. Choose specialized services for product management, checkout, personalization, loyalty, and so on. But here’s the catch:

• Every interface needs to be integrated—often with heavy custom coding.
• Updates and changes require deep technical expertise, as there’s no centralized process control.
• Business processes become fragmented because each service brings its own logic that doesn’t fit seamlessly into the whole.

The result? Companies end up writing tons of custom code to tie their microservices together—exactly what they were trying to avoid.

Composable Shifted the Problem—It Didn’t Solve It

Rather than reducing reliance on big platforms, Composable Commerce introduced a new kind of dependency: the custom code trap.

In monolithic systems, everything was bundled in one place. In Composable architectures, companies have to stitch together all their own processes. What’s often overlooked:

• Integration effort grows exponentially with each additional service.
• Specialized developer skills become a must to maintain and scale the stack.
• Business teams lose control—every change has to go through IT.

The result? Slower innovation cycles, higher maintenance costs, and architectures so complex they become nearly unmanageable.

Composable was supposed to make companies more agile. But for many, the opposite happened: IT is overloaded with integrations, business processes can’t be adapted quickly, and development costs are spiraling out of control.

What’s needed is a fresh approach—one that retains Composable’s benefits while avoiding the custom code trap. That’s where Commerce Orchestration comes in.

AI-driven Commerce Orchestration

How can businesses leverage Composable’s flexibility without falling into the custom code trap? The key isn’t more microservices—it’s a smart layer that orchestrates them all. No extra code. No manual integrations. No IT bottlenecks.

We call this layer: Orchestration

From System Integration to True Process Control

While Composable focuses on connecting services via APIs, Commerce Orchestration goes further. It lets you automate business processes intelligently—without writing a single line of code.

Say you want to add a new payment method. In a typical Composable architecture, you’d need to:

1. Have your IT team integrate the new payment API.
2. Rewrite existing workflows.
3. Test and sync multiple systems.

With Commerce Orchestration, it’s different: The new payment method is added via a no-code interface. The process remains fully controllable—with zero developer involvement.

Three Core Benefits of Commerce Orchestration

1. Decoupling Processes from Technology

• No more process logic buried in code—everything is transparent and controlled in a central orchestration layer.
• Business teams can own and update workflows without waiting on IT.

2. Automation Instead of Manual Integration

• Instead of wiring up every microservice manually, workflows are orchestrated automatically.
• You don’t have to chase every API update—Orchestration handles it.

3. Lower IT Costs and Faster Innovation

• Less custom code = lower maintenance.
• Faster changes = shorter time-to-market.
• IT teams can focus on true innovation—not fixing integrations.

Commerce Orchestration in Action: The Emporix Orchestration Engine

Emporix’s Orchestration Engine is one such orchestration layer for commerce. It lets you design digital workflows with drag-and-drop simplicity—instead of drowning in code.

• Automated workflows: Processes like customer onboarding, order handling, and pricing can be modeled visually and adjusted in real time.
• 2,000+ prebuilt connectors: Whether it’s ERP, CRM, or payment providers—OE integrates them instantly.

The Future Is Orchestrated

Composable Commerce made digital business more flexible—but at the cost of rising complexity. Commerce Orchestration removes that complexity and enables true agility.

To stay competitive, businesses need more than just the right tools. They need a commerce platform with an intelligent layer that orchestrates their systems. That’s what makes Commerce Orchestration the next big leap in digital commerce.

Real-World Use Cases: How Companies Benefit from Commerce Orchestration

Theory is good, but real business cases are better. Let's take a look at how companies are using commerce orchestration to reduce complexity, automate processes and respond faster to market changes.

Case 1: acr (AmerCareRoyal) – Automating B2B Order Management

The Challenge

• Manual order processing and slow approvals.
• Fragmented IT landscape with disconnected ERP, CRM, and e-commerce systems.
• Heavy IT dependency for changes in ordering and approval processes..

Die Solution

With Emporix, AmerCareRoyal automated its entire order handling—without writing a single line of custom code.

• Incoming orders are matched in real time with inventory and delivery windows.
• Approval workflows are automated—no manual sign-offs, no delays.
• Pricing, promotions, and quote processes can be adjusted in a few clicks—without IT.

The Result

Faster order cycles, reduced manual work, and a more agile business model.

Case 2: HABA – Growing Without a Costly Replatforming

The Challenge

• HABA relied on a rigid, legacy monolithic commerce system.
• Full replatforming was too costly and risky.
• Business teams couldn’t adapt processes themselves.

The Solution

Using the “Strangler Fig” approach, HABA modernized step-by-step:

• Legacy features were gradually replaced with modern API-first services.
• The orchestration layer connected old and new systems—no outages, no disruption.
• Business processes like promotions, inventory, and payments could be controlled without IT.

The Result

HABA modernized its stack without replatforming—and now has a flexible system that grows with the business. The TCO, or total cost of ownership, has been reduced by 50%.

Case 3: High-Growth B2B Company – Scaling Without Exploding IT Costs

The Challenge

• Manual, non-scalable pricing and discount strategies.
• Every market launch required regulatory tweaks and IT changes.
• Many integrations with payment and logistics partners that consumed developer resources.

The Solution

Emporix enabled:

• Automated pricing and discount strategies by market, segment, and demand.
• Compliance rules baked directly into business workflows—no coding needed.
• New integrations activated via plug-and-play connectors—no months-long dev cycles.

The Result

Faster market entry, lower IT costs, and a scalable architecture.

How to Transition to Orchestration—Without Full Replatforming

Like HABA, many companies want to modernize without tearing down everything they’ve built. Full replatforming isn’t always realistic—too costly, too risky.

Commerce Orchestration enables a smooth transition: Instead of replacing your platform all at once, you “wrap” it piece by piece with modern services. This “Strangler Fig Pattern” allows for safe, controlled modernization where legacy and new systems work together.

Learn more in our deep dive:

1. The Strangler Fig Pattern – A Safe Path to eCommerce Modernization
2. Modernization Without Disruption – How Emporix Enables Incremental Commerce Transformation

For HABA, this meant phasing out legacy system functions over time—avoiding a big bang replacement while still achieving modernization.

Final Thought: Don’t Fear Transformation

Many businesses hesitate to adopt new technologies out of fear of expensive replatforming projects. But Commerce Orchestration offers an alternative—a low-risk, step-by-step path to modernization that builds on what you already have.

With this approach, companies can evolve their digital infrastructure flexibly and cost-effectively—without the burden of massive migration projects.

Ready for the Next Step?

Digital commerce is evolving fast. Headless and Composable were important milestones—but many businesses are now stuck in a spiral of complexity and mounting IT costs.

Commerce Orchestration is the way out of the custom code trap—and the path to truly future-proof digital business.