What is our primary use case?
My main use case for commercetools is majorly B2C, and I have completed multiple B2C projects with commercetools.
A specific example of a B2C project I completed with commercetools is for an Australian customer for whom we executed a large project. It is a composable commerce implementation where commercetools serves the commerce information, but the front end is built using Node.js and React, specifically using Next.js for that project. It is a large, multi-year project that we delivered.
Regarding my main use case and that particular project, we were enabling the project with backend for frontend. We introduced backend for frontend for that company, connecting multiple systems including commercetools, their PIM platform, ERP, and CRM platforms. This backend for frontend served as middleware between the frontend and backend, creating quite an architecture that performed well.
What is most valuable?
The best features commercetools offers include recent AI-specific implementations on the MCP part. They have introduced two major areas: one is on Agentic Commerce and the other is on the AI agent. They refer to Agentic Commerce as Agentic Lift and for the AI agent as Autonomous, with the frontend for Autonomous being Mosaic. These two features are what we are currently exploring, and they seem quite interesting, focusing on aspects many other e-commerce platforms are also considering.
These two new features are gaining traction, but aside from those, commercetools has pioneered the composable commerce part of the architecture. It has all the necessary APIs to develop a B2C or B2B platform, utilizing GraphQL and offering good speed. I do not see many competitors having the same pioneering approach.
Commercetools has positively impacted our organization as a service company by allowing us to execute multiple projects and bring in a good amount of business for us.
The kind of business impact I have seen includes delivering commercetools projects for various customers, and as a partner, our company has built multiple accelerators. These accelerators help us sell commercetools internally, enabling us to speed up processes for customers. For example, a new customer we are currently in the discovery phase with found our customer service accelerator very useful, and we are helping them understand and initiate things. This illustrates the opportunities commercetools provides us, which we leverage when paired with the platform.
What needs improvement?
Improvements for commercetools could focus on their major initiatives around Agentic Commerce and the AI agent. They may need to enhance their marketing strategy as they currently do not host large-scale marketing events. While technology-wise they are solid, a better marketing strategy could benefit them.
On the technical side, commercetools operates robustly as a composable commerce platform. They have an excellent roadmap and strong technology, so I do not see major trouble there. Support is also good overall, although they may be a bit slow with our queries at times.
Improvements for commercetools that have not been discussed yet could include a broader feature set. They offer a good range of features for building B2C or B2B platforms, but enhancing their capabilities could yield a more competitive platform, especially when they face questions regarding why to choose commercetools over others. Their strengths lie in composable commerce and the recent Agentic Commerce, but expanding their feature list would create a more rounded offering.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using commercetools for around two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Commercetools is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, commercetools provides a set of APIs for functionality, and with their MCPs, we can access all areas of commercetools effectively. The cloud infrastructure allows for flexible scaling up or down as needed.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support from commercetools receives positive feedback, as customers generally consider it to be quite good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used CCV2, an SAP-based e-commerce platform, which necessitated developing all required APIs manually, unlike the flexibility offered by commercetools, where all APIs are typically built in. Transitioning to commercetools allowed for a much smoother approach aligned with a headless composable MACH architecture.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment because development time has significantly reduced with AI involvement. Customers utilizing AI agents for development experience quicker time to market, especially with our accelerators such as the migration accelerator. These implementations help save time effectively.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for commercetools reveals that they have competitive pricing. Customers purchase the service directly from commercetools, and if negotiations are necessary, they can work directly with the company.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing commercetools, I evaluated options such as
Optimizely Commerce and BigCommerce. After thorough research, I determined that commercetools was a superior platform for my needs.
What other advice do I have?
Regarding how I am exploring those AI features and any early benefits or challenges, it is very early, and Agentic Commerce is not yet full-fledged. The plan is to discuss with customers to see how we can implement it and what benefits our existing customers would gain from that. Agentic Commerce is picking up speed, and the AI agent has the potential to autonomously adjust product pricing based on competitor pricing, which is a thought I have for implementation. The AI agent also allows us to create promotions on the fly, which is another nice feature.
For data migration and synchronization when implementing commercetools for new clients, we have created a migration tool that understands the structure of existing platforms. Utilizing AI, it helps map the schema for commercetools and manage data transfer seamlessly, ensuring sensitive information is protected while developing API-based architecture quickly for our customers.
The biggest challenges I typically face during a commercetools implementation involved past difficulties with data imports and synchronization, but with recent improvements and AI assistance, processes are moving smoothly now, and I do not see significant issues currently.
To ensure my team stays updated with new features and updates from commercetools, I have implemented an AI agent that scrapes information weekly from various sources. This agent pulls data from newsletters, social media, and the commercetools website, providing me with the latest developments, roadmaps, and press releases to take into consideration.
For training and onboarding new team members working with commercetools, we focus on educating them about e-commerce principles first. Once they grasp the foundational concepts, we introduce them to key commercetools APIs, ensuring they are not overwhelmed while building their understanding gradually.
To measure the success of commercetools implementations for clients, we look at how the platform meets their enhanced functionality needs and how we can accommodate those within commercetools, or via an intermediary database when required. The platform's flexibility for front-end integrations also plays a vital role in our success metrics.
When handling integrations between commercetools and other systems such as ERP or CRM platforms, commercetools allows us to build web hooks for automatic order passing to those systems. This flexibility allows us to create events and process any triggers efficiently, utilizing backend for frontend architecture to connect multiple platforms.
In terms of accuracy and reliability of output from commercetools' AI capabilities, it is quite accurate for tasks such as searching for or checking out products. It effectively understands user prompts and provides good responses. Mosaic also performs well because it is directly connecting to their APIs to find the right tools that need to be called.
My advice for those looking into using commercetools is to view it as a solid mid-range e-commerce platform. It is best suited for those willing to build their front-end. While they offer some integrations such as Frontastic, building a flexible, robust front-end while leveraging commercetools as a backend e-commerce platform is the ideal approach. I would rate this platform a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google