Making Salesforce composable storefronts even better with Avalara

Imagine a shopping experience as unique and adaptable as the shoppers themselves—a digital storefront built not from rigid templates but from modular, interchangeable parts that empower brands to craft seamless, personalized journeys. With cutting-edge technologies enabling unprecedented agility and scalability, ecommerce businesses are no longer just selling products; they’re creating ecosystems of innovation. In this blog, we’ll dive into the latest breakthroughs transforming how online retailers connect with their customers using composable commerce sites and how Avalara’s tax automation fits seamlessly to support businesses as they adopt leading architectures in ecommerce. 

We’re excited to showcase the Avalara for B2C Commerce connector, which we’ve enhanced with a headless variation to support Salesforce composable storefronts. It allows businesses to leverage our automation tools seamlessly and create better experiences for their customers, while adding efficiency and flexibility to their ecommerce operations. 

Avalara moved quickly to create this capability in response to what our customers and partners need — both today and in the future. According to Salesforce, 80% of businesses that don’t have a headless architecture now plan to implement one in the next two years.  

But let’s back up a bit. Just what are composable storefronts, and why do they matter? 

Salesforce composable storefronts are fully customizable, headless digital storefronts that separate the front end from the back end. This makes it far easier and faster for IT teams and others to make changes to the customer-facing ecommerce experience without disrupting the underlying infrastructure. 

This API-driven approach, featuring modular, reusable components, means businesses can be more responsive to customer preferences. That’s a big deal, because 65% of customers expect companies to adapt to their changing needs and expectations — but only 12% say most companies actually do, as the 2023 Salesforce State of IT report noted. 

Of course, it doesn’t matter how great your storefront looks, or how easily you can change it, if the overall shopping experience isn’t up to speed. That’s why Salesforce has prebuilt packages with best-in-class integrations from leading technology partners, including Avalara. 

Our headless connector for composable storefronts means trusted Avalara tax automation solutions integrate seamlessly. If you’re using them already, they come along for the ride, no matter what changes you make to your storefront. If you’re not using them, they’re easy to implement. And if you’re a partner who wants to develop composable storefronts for your customers, Avalara adds to the value proposition. 

As your storefront changes, Avalara is rock-solid in the background, correctly applying rates and rules while automating tax calculation in thousands of jurisdictions and across borders, and even helping you manage exempt sales. 

Right within the checkout flow, your customers can see exactly what they’ll pay based on their address — avoiding unpleasant surprises and giving them a reliable end-to-end shopping experience.  

Meanwhile, you’re making things easier for your business, increasing efficiency while decreasing risk — much like the benefits of composable storefronts themselves. 

You can learn more about Avalara and composable storefronts by watching this webinar and listening to this podcast. We’ve got a variety of other prebuilt integrations for Salesforce as well, which you can explore here.