Architecture for composable commerce with Dynamics 365 Commerce for e-commerce success

2025-08-19

Applies to: Dynamics 365 Commerce

Composable commerce lets businesses deliver flexible customer experiences across platforms and devices, and it's changing e-commerce solutions. This article explains options for e-commerce architecture with Dynamics 365 Commerce, defines headless and composable commerce, compares them, lists benefits, and describes how composable commerce transforms e-commerce. Learn how composable commerce creates new opportunities for businesses to grow and adapt quickly.

Design options for commerce architecture

You can customize your e-commerce platform in three ways:

A Monolithic architecture tightly couples all components and is an outdated approach.
A Headless architecture lets you build and update the front end and back end separately, so it's easy to adapt to market changes.
Composable commerce lets you choose different components from various vendors to create a tailored e-commerce setup that fits your needs.

Headless commerce

Headless commerce is an e-commerce architecture where the front end (the head) and the back end (the body) are separate. It's the accepted term for decoupled commerce software architecture, where the system's front end is separate from the back end business logic. In a traditional e-commerce setup, the front end, which includes the user interface and presentation layer, is tightly connected to the back end, which handles business logic, databases, and server-side operations.

Headless commerce is part of the composable commerce approach, where an e-commerce platform communicates with other apps and services using an API-first approach. These tools include apps and services like payment solutions, analytics tools, loyalty programs, and search engine solutions.

Tip

The terms headless commerce and composable commerce are often used interchangeably.

Composable commerce

Composable commerce is a modern way to build e-commerce systems. It separates the front end (what customers see) from the back end (how the store works). Unlike older systems, where everything is tightly connected, composable commerce lets these parts be developed separately. This approach makes it easier for businesses to update and customize their platforms quickly without affecting other areas.

Traditional e-commerce systems often come as one big package, making it hard to change one part without affecting everything else. Updating the look and feel or user experience can take a lot of time and be complicated. Composable commerce solves this problem, making it easy to add new features or update designs without causing issues elsewhere.

Benefits of composable commerce

A decoupled setup like composable commerce gives businesses flexibility and agility, so they can quickly adjust to changes in customer preferences. By keeping the front end and back end separate, companies ensure a consistent look, feel, and functionality across all channels—whether it's a website, mobile app, social media, voice engagement, or loyalty program.

Composable commerce also improves scalability and performance, so businesses can handle more traffic and sales without slowing down their websites. This approach leads to faster loading times and a better user experience.

Benefits for customers

With composable commerce, customers get a smooth, personalized experience no matter how they interact with a brand—through a website, mobile app, voice assistant, marketplace, or social media. Faster loading times and better performance create a responsive, user-friendly interface. Customers use products and services easily from any device, like a desktop, smartphone, tablet, or voice assistant. This consistent, cross-channel experience meets today's customer expectations and makes shopping convenient and enjoyable. Dynamics 365 Commerce lets businesses deliver this seamless, connected experience.

Learn how Dynamics 365 Commerce and composable commerce help your business grow and meet customer needs.

The power of Dynamics 365 Commerce

Many companies use Dynamics 365 Commerce, a powerful composable commerce platform, to connect their online, in-store, and back-office operations. It also acts as a central hub for integrating external tools and systems. This lets businesses choose the best solutions for their needs and creates a smooth omnichannel experience for their customers.

The following table describes how Dynamics 365 Commerce supports the different scenarios.

Type of channel	Channel	Dynamics 365 Commerce
Traditional and emerging channels	In store	Store registers hosted across multi-form factor devices and platforms.
	Call center	Rich order capture and processing capabilities in call center.
	Digital commerce	Globally accessible e-commerce storefront.
	Marketplaces	Integrate into traditional and merging marketplaces.
	Social	Integrate into emerging channels such as social media.
	Conversational	Performant runtime that supports real-time requests in channels with high throughput, such as conversational commerce.
Customer and business-facing channels	Store clerk	Checkout flows managed by the store worker on behalf of the shopper.
	Consumer or shopper	End user experiences on the web and on mobile platforms.
	Customer service representative	Order assistance and sales flows managed by the representative on behalf of the shopper.
	Bots or agents	AI agents that automate the self-service scenarios.
	Business user or buyer	Business facing the web and call center experience.

Conclusion

Composable commerce with Dynamics 365 Commerce changes how businesses approach e-commerce. It offers flexibility, scalability, and a seamless customer experience across different channels, so companies stay ahead in a fast-changing market. By choosing solutions that fit their needs and quickly adapting to customer preferences, businesses give great service and build customer loyalty. Dynamics 365 Commerce provides the tools to build a connected, efficient, and future-ready e-commerce platform that drives success. Explore composable commerce to take your business to the next level.

Contributors

This article is maintained by Microsoft. It was originally written by the following contributors.

Principal author:

Noman Saeed | Dynamics 365 Technical Architect and Microsoft Recognized FastTrack Solution Architect

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