How AI Is Creating the Composable Commerce Enterprise
(And What to Watch For Ahead of MACH X)
It’s always good to step away and take a break. I returned from holiday to find my calendar stacked with conferences, and as I prep for MACH X next week, I'm struck by how much the AI conversation has evolved.
We’ve moved past if AI will reshape commerce. The question now is how to make it work at scale without the usual false starts, wasted investment, and "innovation theatre" that so often follows new tech trends.
And that’s what excites me most about MACH X next week. It’s not about the shiny promise of AI. It’s about making it operational. Turning ideas into architecture. Proof-of-concept into performance. It’s the shift from “AI can do anything” to “Here’s what it’s doing for us right now.”
The Enterprise AI Reality Check
AI-driven commerce is no longer experimental. Real-time personalization, generative content, and predictive analytics are now table stakes. But here’s the thing nobody on stage will say loudly enough: architecture matters more than algorithms.
Composable commerce has quietly become the foundation that makes this all possible. MACH principles (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless) give you the ability to plug in, test, and replace AI services as they mature. You’re not locked into a single vendor’s roadmap or forced into a six-month replatform every time a new model appears. You’re building an ecosystem that evolves as fast as AI does.
The smartest brands I’m seeing don’t talk about “adding AI.” They talk about designing for it. They’ve built systems where intelligence can be integrated, tested, and swapped out just like any other service. It’s modular thinking for a modular world.
What Decision-Makers Should Be Asking Right Now
Working across both enterprise and agency sides, I’m seeing the same questions again and again. The tech is there but what’s missing is clarity. Here’s what I’ll be watching for in London:
Are you orchestration-ready?
AI doesn’t just personalise, it coordinates. It needs data from inventory, pricing, and content in real-time. If your architecture is still siloed, AI won’t fix it. It’ll just amplify the gaps.
Can you prove ROI beyond “it feels smarter”?
The pilots that survive the boardroom are the ones that tie directly to numbers. Reduced abandonment, higher AOV, lower cost per acquisition. MACH X will be full of real examples, not hypotheticals.
Do you have the operational muscle?
AI-readiness isn’t just technical. Who owns it? Who governs the data? How fast can you deploy a new model? Most enterprises don’t need more data scientists, they need faster routes from experiment to production.
What’s your composability threshold?
Not every business needs to go fully composable tomorrow. But you do need a plan. Where can modularity deliver the most value first, is it CMS, checkout, customer data, or pricing? Start there and expand outward.
From Innovation Theatre to Actual Transformation
This year, MACH X's positioning is the emphasis on what works now. No more futuristic demos. Just practical, working patterns.
Predictive inventory. Generative content. Dynamic pricing. Visual search.
These aren’t future capabilities anymore. They’re live, measurable, and driving results inside composable stacks right now.
The question isn’t whether to adopt AI. It’s how to do it and add value without creating new debt.
And that’s where composable architecture shines: it gives you the freedom to evolve without breaking what already works.
We’re still early in the journey but the brands that get this right in 2025 will have a serious advantage as AI capabilities accelerate. Every new model, every innovation, every tool becomes something you can integrate, not something you wish you could use.
Let’s Compare Notes at MACH X
If you're heading to MACH X next week, I'd love to connect. Whether you're leading transformation at a brand, building solutions at an agency, or providing the infrastructure that makes it all possible, this is the moment where our collective experience becomes invaluable.
What AI implementations are you seeing deliver real business impact? Where are the unexpected challenges? What patterns are emerging in how enterprises actually structure themselves around composable commerce?
The conversation has moved beyond theory. Now it’s about execution.
See you in London.
