The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the retail industry exponentially and presented retailers with several new challenges. The global retail market reached a value of nearly $20,331.1 billion in 2020, having increased at a CAGR of 2.4% since 2015. Further, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2020 to reach $29,446.2 billion in 2025 and $39,933.3 billion in 2030, at a CAGR of 6.3%.
It is essential for businesses to adapt and bolster their digital experiences now more than ever, especially with rapidly changing customer expectations and omnichannel presence. In order to navigate the dynamic landscape successfully, businesses require a flexible architecture with technologies, tools, and teams to support new experiences.
Reimagining retail with MACH architecture
When looking to enhance their digital offering, businesses have largely relied on traditional monolithic platforms. The pandemic has exposed the limitations and rigidity of such platforms in terms of user experience, visual design, pricing, technology, and features. A MACH-based approach can deliver an agile and flexible solution with quick scalability and an improved end-user experience.
Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless (MACH) is an open and best-of-breed technology ecosystem that offers true flexibility and allows you to implement a fully headless checkout. Although several monoliths are starting to promote a headless approach, their APIs for these platforms were designed for plugins and are not extendable. A report from Gartner suggests that by 2023, organizations that have adopted a composable commerce approach enabled by MACH architecture will outpace their competition by 80%.
Leveraging MACH: Key Reasons
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Supporting omnichannel
A MACH-based technology allows retailers to manage and add storefronts and multiple frontends efficiently, projecting a true omnichannel approach and streamlining content production and delivery. MACH relies on moving parts and enables retailers with the freedom to choose vendors and solutions without intense replatforming.
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Powering a personalized experience
Retailers can leverage unique third-party solutions that are purposely built for delivering personalized efforts across different channels. The personalization tools can capture data and deliver personalized content using AI and ML by adapting to customer's behaviors, drivers, and preferences in real-time. It ensures a seamless customer experience, and secures more revenue and loyal customers.
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Enabling flexibility
Contrary to legacy systems with guidelines and pre-defined templates in terms of functionality, a MACH-based approach does not conform retailers to one-size-fits-all developments but offers flexibility to design and build as you deem fit. The hyper-flexible nature of MACH maximizes customer satisfaction by facilitating micro changes to POS and allowing singular customer catering.
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Scaling agility and self-sufficiency
Being a composable enterprise, the MACH architecture is self-sufficient and modifiable, and does not require any specialized, third-party expertise to make changes. This is a long-term investment and a significantly cost-effective strategy.
Propelling into the future of digital commerce at supersonic (MACH) speed
The future of e-commerce is about being nimble, pivoting to the rapidly changing market, and providing an effective omnichannel experience. The MACH architecture offers just that with its out-of-the-box functionality. It also provides the building blocks necessary to digitally transform and future-proof a business.
Though migrating from existing monolithic systems to MACH can seem like a daunting task, leveraging the power of the four strategies can provide the indispensable tooling and stability to support business processes, driving agility at supersonic speed.
Interested in learning more and wondering if MACH architecture is the right fit for your business? Reach out to our subject matter expert to learn more.