Composable commerce offers flexibility, scalability, and faster time to market, but only when approached with a clear understanding of its financial implications. Broadleaf CRO Brad Buhl shares answers to 13 critical questions CFOs should ask before going composable, drawing from more than a decade of customer insights across cost-benefit, ROI, and TCO considerations.

Q: What are the real commercial costs organizations need to be aware of when building a composable stack?

Brad Buhl: It’s not just about the licensing model. Many vendors in a composable ecosystem, especially someone like Shopify, make their money through transaction fees. You need to know how each platform in your stack prices things like API calls, data storage, per-seat usage, and revenue share. You should also consider service-level agreements, support coverage, and the cost of administrative overhead like legal, procurement, and ongoing vendor management for each platform partner you use in your composable ecosystem.

Q: What should companies prepare for when it comes to system integration and data synchronization?

Brad: If you are going composable, you need to plan for how you will orchestrate consistent data across platforms. This includes investing in real-time validation tools, system health monitoring, and security strategies. These are not one-time setups. They require ongoing management. Even though composable solutions offer fault tolerance, your integration and orchestration layers deserve their own budget and attention.

Q: Are there hidden operational costs in managing composable systems?

Brad: Absolutely. When you replace a monolith with multiple platforms, you end up with multiple admin tools. That means managing additional logins and business processes. It creates complexity for merchandisers, service agents, and operational teams. This tool fatigue adds real cost. Migrating to composable does not fix poor development practices either. It is an opportunity to start fresh and focus on better software lifecycle management.

Q: Can companies over-compose their solution?

Brad: Definitely. We had one client who originally used Broadleaf for CMS, PIM, Search, Promos, Cart, and OMS. They decided to break it into six separate SaaS platforms. Today, they still use Broadleaf to connect those systems. I think they would tell you the juice was not worth the squeeze. Over-composing drives complexity and cost without necessarily delivering more value.

Q: What is the financial benefit of third-party risk mitigation?

Brad: One area organizations overlook is the value of risk transfer. When you work with seasoned partners who offer strong SLAs, data protection agreements, indemnification, and limits of liability, you are shifting significant risk away from your balance sheet, not to mention the economies of scale when it comes to security from a third party partner that has a lot of client relationships vs. your company’s singular experience.

Q: How should teams think about the cost of downtime?

Brad: Downtime of course kills cash flow, but also has the potential of serious brand damage. Composable architectures offer more resiliency, but SaaS outages can still happen. We have had clients come to us after outages caused by issues like noisy neighbors impacting shared infrastructure. Even if it feels like a low-probability event, the revenue loss from downtime is very real and should be factored into your financial planning around higher levels of fault tolerance.

Q: Can composable commerce deliver ROI before full replatforming?

Brad: Yes. That is one of the biggest advantages. We had a multi-brand, multi-billion-dollar client who launched Broadleaf’s Offer and Promo module first. The revenue lift they captured during Cyber Five paid for the migration of their entire commerce platform. Composable lets you deliver new value in stages instead of waiting for a big bang launch.

Q: Should composable rollouts align with other strategic initiatives?

Brad: They should. Timing a composable rollout with something like a mobile app launch, an ERP replacement, or a new channel rollout creates synergy. You are already investing in change. Aligning projects can strengthen your business case and make change management more efficient.

Q: How does software capitalization affect financial planning in composable projects?

Brad: If your organization capitalizes costs, perpetual licenses, like the ones Broadleaf offers, can be amortized over time, in addition to implementation costs. This helps smooth the impact on your financial statements. You should align your deployment plans with your finance team’s capitalization and amortization schedules.

Q: Should customization still be viewed as a negative in platform selection?

Brad: It should not. Customization often gets treated like a liability, but it is where real competitive advantage lives. It is not just about whether a feature exists. It is about how it works for your business. Open and extensible platforms make customization faster and more sustainable compared to working inside a black box.

Q: Can you give an example of how customization has delivered measurable ROI?

Brad: One of our clients processes millions of new customers in a single week every year. They normally operate with about 100 service agents, but during that one week, they bring on 1,000 seasonal agents. We helped them build a custom onboarding screen just for those seasonal agents. It saves a huge amount of time and training cost during their busiest period each year.

Q: How important is it to provide business users with no-code or low-code tools?

Brad: It is very important. Giving business users control over workflows and day-to-day updates reduces reliance on IT. That improves agility, lowers maintenance costs, and keeps your development team focused on real innovation instead of admin work.

Q: What are the intangible benefits of modernization that CFOs should consider?

Brad: Modernization projects boost employee morale, increase developer velocity, and make it easier to attract and retain top talent. They also improve your reputation in the market. These factors are harder to measure immediately but absolutely drive long-term financial performance.

Conclusion

Composable commerce is not just a technology decision. It is a financial strategy that, when approached thoughtfully, can reduce risk, accelerate ROI, and position your company for sustainable growth. Asking the right questions early helps CFOs build a more resilient and profitable future. If you would like help evaluating composable commerce for your organization, reach out to our team. We would love to help you turn complexity into cash flow.