Composable commerce
Assembling a commerce solution from interchangeable best-of-breed components (PBCs) instead of buying one monolithic suite.
Composable commerce is an architectural and operating approach where a commerce solution is assembled from interchangeable, best-of-breed components called Packaged Business Capabilities (PBCs) — Search, Cart, Promotions, Checkout — rather than a single all-in-one suite. Gartner coined the term in a 2020 research note. PBCs sit between rigid monoliths and overly granular microservices: each represents a recognisable business function with its own data, APIs, and events. The commercial point is optionality and speed — swap or upgrade a capability without replatforming the whole stack.
"Composable is just microservices for commerce."
"Composable is assembling best-of-breed business capabilities so the business can move at its own pace, not the vendor's roadmap."
"The value of composable isn't the architecture — it's the optionality and speed-to-market it buys the business."