If you’re a well-established eCommerce business, you might be on your second or third platform or still running a first-generation system that’s been adapted and bolted together with dozens of add-ons. These platforms have served you well, but today they’ve become a barrier to growth. Instead of enabling progress, they’re slowing you down; inflexible, costly to maintain, and unable to deliver the speed, scalability, and personalisation your customers now expect.
It’s frustrating. You want to build on the success you’ve achieved so far, keep growing, and take advantage of the latest digital and AI-driven advancements. But your current setup makes that harder than it should be. And the idea of a full replatform? It feels like a mountain: disruptive, expensive, and high risk.
If this sounds familiar, keep reading. There’s an exciting innovation from Adobe that offers a smarter, more cost-effective way forward. Our team at Williams Commerce are hugely energised by Adobe Commerce Optimizer, and in this article, we’ll explain why we believe it could be an excellent fit for large-scale ecommerce businesses like yours.
What Adobe Commerce Optimizer Brings to the Table
Adobe describes Optimizer as a way to “add next-generation commerce capabilities to your existing Adobe Commerce or Magento Open Source implementation.” But it’s not just for existing Adobe Commerce customers, it’s a great option for legacy SAP Commerce, Salesforce, or HCL ecommerce customers too who would really struggle to change their platform without major investment.
Here are a few stand-out features that have caught our team’s attention:
- Lightning-fast storefronts powered by Edge Delivery Services. Adobe promises “high-performance storefront experiences” that improve SEO, traffic, and conversion.
- Enterprise-scale catalogues. Optimizer supports “over 250M SKUs and 30,000 prices per product across hundreds of sites.” That’s scale that most platforms can’t touch.
- AI-driven merchandising. Built-in Adobe Sensei intelligence powers personalised search, product recommendations, and even generative content with Firefly to speed up creative.
- Proven performance. Adobe cites results like “4× faster page loads,” “99.99% CDN cache hit rates,” and Lighthouse scores consistently over 90.
This isn’t about theory. These are practical capabilities that can immediately transform how an established eCommerce storefront performs.
Why It Matters for eCommerce Businesses Still Relying on Legacy Platforms.
If you’re on a dated legacy system, you are stuck between two unappealing options: stay with a platform that slows you down or commit to a costly multi-year rebuild. Optimizer creates a new path forward. Move onto Adobe Commerce, and you instantly unlock a modern, AI-powered, globally scalable storefront without starting from zero.
It’s the middle ground: the modernisation established eCommerce businesses need, without the pain of a full replatform.
Williams Commerce’s Take…
We spoke with Tanya Peasgood, Williams Commerce Head of Consultancy and responsible for leading dozens of eCommerce projects across a wide breadth of industry verticals.
“Our project team has been keeping a close eye on Adobe Commerce Optimizer, and we’ll be honest: we’re excited.
Seeing Optimizer in action is a real game changer for large-scale ecommerce businesses.” says Tanya. “For well established, eCommerce companies still on legacy platforms and systems, this is, in our view, easily the smartest way to modernise without a full rebuild. You keep the stability you need but gain the speed and agility your customer’s demand.”
“We’re a long-standing Adobe partner, and my team at Williams Commerce is very well placed to support the journey from planning data migrations and catalogue structures, to optimising performance and embedding AI-driven merchandising. We are seeing first-hand how Optimizer bridges the gap for online businesses who need to move forward but can’t afford to stop everything for a rebuild.”
We asked Tanya to talk about any mitigations to consider.
“Like any new technology, Adobe Commerce Optimizer comes with its own boundaries and best practices. It’s focused on transforming the front-end funnel , product discovery, category pages, search, and merchandising , but it doesn’t replace everything, like checkout or account management, which remain on your core commerce platform. The key is to understand your catalogue size, how complex your product data is, and what your customers really expect from search and filtering. Once you map that against Adobe’s published limits, it’s much easier to plan a smooth rollout. That’s where our team comes in , we help businesses sense-check the fit, avoid pitfalls, and make sure Optimizer delivers the performance and growth it’s designed for.”
What does investment planning look like for eCommerce businesses interested in Adobe Optimizer?
“One thing we always discuss early with clients is budgeting. Adobe Commerce Optimizer isn’t a simple plug-in, it’s a powerful platform enhancement that requires upfront setup and ongoing care. You should factor in initial implementation costs, which will vary depending on the size of your catalogue, the complexity of your integrations, and how much customisation you need. There’s also ongoing maintenance to consider , things like monitoring catalogue syncs, fine-tuning search and recommendations, and keeping your content optimised for performance. The good news is, compared to a full replatform, Optimizer is far more cost-effective and delivers measurable results faster. Our role is to help businesses scope accurately, avoid surprises, and get the most value from the investment.”
Frequently Asked Questions about Adobe Commerce Optimizer
Is Adobe Commerce Optimizer only for Adobe Commerce customers?
No. While it extends Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source, Optimizer is also a strong option for businesses running legacy platforms like SAP Commerce, Salesforce Commerce, or HCL who want to modernise without a full replatform.
What’s the difference between Adobe Commerce Optimizer and a full replatform?
A replatform means starting fresh with a new ecommerce system, often costly, disruptive, and time-consuming. Optimizer lets established businesses modernise their front-end performance, catalogue management, and merchandising on top of their existing platform, making it a faster and more cost-effective path to growth.
How does Adobe Commerce Optimizer improve ecommerce performance?
Optimizer leverages Adobe’s Edge Delivery Services for lightning-fast storefronts, supports enterprise-scale catalogues, and uses AI-powered merchandising with Adobe Sensei. The result: faster page loads, improved SEO, and personalised customer experiences that drive higher conversions.
Is Adobe Commerce Optimizer suitable for large catalogues?
Yes. Optimizer is built for scale, supporting over 250 million SKUs, 30,000 prices per product, and hundreds of sites. This makes it ideal for mature ecommerce businesses with complex, high-volume catalogues.
The Bottom Line
Mature ecommerce is at a tipping point. Every year you stand still on an old platform, it costs more to maintain and delivers less to your customers.
Adobe Commerce Optimizer gives you a way forward now, with measurable gains in performance, scalability, and personalisation built in.
And with Williams Commerce by your side, you won’t just deploy Optimizer. You’ll turn it into a genuine competitive advantage for your business.
Ready to see Adobe Optimizer in action? Book a conversation and a demo with our experienced team. Email us at [email protected] or call on 0116 326 1116.
