European retail is undergoing a profound transformation. As consumer expectations for seamless, personalized, and omnichannel experiences reach new heights, retailers across the continent are reimagining their digital strategies. The rapid adoption of composable commerce architectures—powered by Salesforce and guided by expert partners like Publicis Sapient—is at the heart of this evolution. This regional deep dive explores how European retailers are leveraging composable commerce and Salesforce to accelerate innovation, meet regulatory demands, and deliver differentiated customer experiences.
Traditional, monolithic commerce platforms are struggling to keep pace with the demands of modern retail. European brands, often managing complex portfolios across multiple markets and regulatory environments, need the flexibility to launch new brands, experiment with business models, and adapt to shifting consumer preferences—without the burden of lengthy development cycles or costly system overhauls.
Composable commerce offers a modular, API-first approach, enabling retailers to assemble best-in-class components—such as product information management, checkout, search, and personalization—into a tailored digital solution. This flexibility is especially critical in Europe, where:
Salesforce Commerce Cloud provides a robust, future-ready platform for European retailers embracing composable commerce. Its Composable Storefront enables headless commerce, allowing brands to decouple the front-end experience from back-end systems and integrate with best-of-breed partners. Pre-built packages and accelerators—such as integrations with Algolia for intelligent search and Amplience for experience management—reduce time to market and lower risk.
Salesforce’s broader ecosystem, including Data Cloud and Marketing Cloud, empowers retailers to unify customer data, orchestrate personalized journeys, and deliver real-time engagement across every channel. This is particularly valuable in Europe, where privacy regulations and consumer trust are paramount.
A leading British grocer, Asda, partnered with Publicis Sapient to transform its e-commerce and marketing strategies. The result was a modern, headless commerce platform built on Salesforce Commerce Cloud, seamlessly integrated with Service and Marketing Clouds. This enabled:
By leveraging first-party data and AI, Asda delivers timely, relevant communications—such as WhatsApp marketing campaigns—boosting customer engagement and loyalty while maintaining compliance with European data privacy standards.
L’Oréal, managing a vast portfolio of brands across geographies, needed a scalable, flexible commerce strategy. By upgrading to a composable, headless architecture on Salesforce Commerce Cloud, L’Oréal reduced brand launch times from months to weeks. Agile product delivery teams and automated build and release processes enabled rapid adaptation to market demands, supporting over 60 direct-to-consumer sites. This approach delivered:
Pandora, a global jewelry brand, leveraged composable solutions to accelerate release cycles and halve migration times for new digital experiences. By decoupling custom code and rebuilding from scratch, Pandora achieved a common codebase and storefront implementation, dramatically increasing release velocity and scalability across European regions.
European retailers face unique challenges:
In a region defined by diversity, regulation, and high consumer expectations, composable commerce—powered by Salesforce—is a competitive necessity. European retailers who embrace this approach can:
The future of European retail belongs to those who combine agility, personalization, and compliance. With composable commerce and Salesforce, that future is within reach.
Ready to accelerate your composable commerce journey? Connect with Publicis Sapient to learn how we can help you build, scale, and differentiate in the digital era.