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Onport, the UK-based multi-vendor dropshipping automation platform and part of The FARFETCH Group, continues to support the growth of online marketplaces using composable technology.

It is estimated that by 2025, online marketplaces will surpass the majority of retail outlets in terms of revenue, according to OC&C Strategy Consultants. The thriving growth of this segment has led to the necessary development of solutions designed to help facilitate their creation and management.

While the likes of Amazon and eBay still remain market leaders in the overall marketplace industry, there has been a growing trend in the concept of curated, multi vendor marketplaces. For instance, curated marketplaces outpaced the 3-year compound annual growth rate of generalist marketplaces by 8%.

These marketplaces opt for less for the mass market but to cater to a particular audience and market segment. For instance, sustainable fashion brands that address their customer’s concerns over the impact of Fast Fashion.

Founded in 2017 by developer Jon Bolt, Onport was designed to centralize curated marketplace operations, allowing companies to automate their backend workflows and devote more resources to scaling their businesses. Bolt, who previously worked in the e-commerce space, optimized the Onport Platform to eliminate the most common pain points incurred by marketplaces, such as operational oversight and manual processes.

Since 2017, Onport, formerly Jetti, has grown in scale and has a strong presence in markets such as the US, EU, and UK. As a result, it was acquired by The FARFETCH Group in 2021. Onport. Unlike other marketplace solutions, the Onport Platform was designed to accommodate backend workflows and align with MACH architecture, a developmental concept for building software that gives greater flexibility to e-commerce companies.

Standing for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless, MACH is a concept based on composable commerce – using pre-existing infrastructure components to facilitate faster development without imposing limitations upon users.

One key advantage of the MACH approach is that it allows companies to strategically select which elements to incorporate into their software stack – allowing them to only choose components that aid them in achieving their particular business aims and objectives.

Turbulent macroeconomic conditions have only reinforced the need for greater flexibility and agile solutions within e-commerce as companies work to minimize the potential disruption of external market forces.  These requirements are particularly relevant at the Enterprise level, as they can often experience disruption to a greater degree.

Monolithic, legacy-based systems are still common throughout Enterprise e-commerce. These systems often lack the efficiency and agility for expansion or rapid responses to changing market conditions.  As a result, many of these companies are not future-proofing themselves adequately, likely resulting in disruptions and the eventual loss of market share.

By opting for a composable, API-first approach, Enterprises can future-proof their operations by selecting modular, best-of-breed solutions which help prevent vendor lock-in situations and allow for greater strategic experimentation. Such components can be replaced faster than in monolithic solutions, ensuring companies respond quickly to changing customer expectations and macroeconomic conditions.

A number of Onport’s customers have incorporated Onport’s composable technology into their systems, such as the sustainable and luxury fashion marketplaces – IVALO and Ad Hoc Atelier. Onport’s backend automation and MACH architecture enable these multi vendor marketplaces to create brand experiences that capture the attention of their desired audience.

Onport’s composable commerce architecture is designed to give its users the freedom of experimentation and agility, allowing them to build their systems per their individual requirements and respond effectively to changing customer expectations and needs.