AI hits younger workers hardest
Wall Street Journal research using ADP and government data found AI is disproportionately affecting younger workers. The study used regression analysis to establish that younger people in customer service and computer science are losing jobs while older workers retain them. The findings challenge assumptions about who AI will displace first.
Andy suggested the simplest explanation is whether you are training AI or not. Experienced workers have institutional knowledge and understand business processes that AI needs to learn. Younger workers bring enthusiasm but lack the domain expertise to train AI systems. The hosts noted another article about how the consulting industry pyramid model is collapsing because junior analysts who did much of the work can now be replaced by AI.
What do young people bring to the table that AI does not already have? I think the answer is not much. They have other skills, but training AI and business processes is not one of them.
Andy Hoar, Master B2B
Defining composable commerce
Andy compared composable to a kit car where every piece must be assembled, versus buying a car with built-in features. The MACH Alliance reported 87% of organizations have implemented or partially implemented composable technologies, with 90% meeting or exceeding ROI goals. However, the hosts questioned whether these numbers reflect true composable implementations or hybrid approaches.
The composable movement emerged as a rejection of monolithic platforms where everything was pre-built and you got what came out of the box. Companies wanted frameworks where they could bring in best-of-breed components. But reality set in when IT groups fell in love with the idea of building everything themselves.
Practitioners report difficulties
A Master B2B poll found 62% say composable is too complicated to implement. Only 14% said the approach is alive and well. Another 14% said it is too hard to explain internally, and 10% said it is too expensive. The hosts found it shocking that so few practitioners believe composable is working.
If two-thirds of people are saying it is too complicated to implement, that is a problem for people who go to market with composable.
Andy Hoar, Master B2B
Platforms add pre-built capabilities
Commerce Tools rolled out front-end experience tools through its Frontastic acquisition, adding a head to what was marketed as headless commerce. VTEX added native support for ordering, reordering, role-based views, quotes, and saved carts. These capabilities would typically exist in full-stack solutions.
VTEX left the MACH Alliance over concerns that systems integrators were falling in love with composable for the wrong reasons, specifically the ability to do extensive custom work. The hosts noted this betrayed the original idea of rapid deployment with flexibility.
Build versus buy
The hosts strongly advised against building platforms internally. A HVAC distributor’s IT team should not be building commerce capabilities available off the shelf. Once you build something yourself, you must maintain and update it to compete with companies releasing new features annually. Very few use cases justify in-house development.
The true answer lies in balance: flexibility with pre-built components for common use cases. In B2B, the last 20% that Shopify cannot handle could be what creates competitive differentiation, whether supply chain integration, pricing models, or unique fulfillment requirements.
Setting expectations matters
Tim Kinisky, former director of e-commerce at Beacon Building Products, stated that if the internal team does not grasp composability or have a sound architectural approach, composable represents a major risk. Companies must convince senior leaders why flexibility matters, or the investment will not succeed.