5 Challenges When Migrating from SAP Commerce Accelerator to Composable Storefront
For years, SAP Accelerator-based Commerce (ACC) has been the workhorse behind many enterprise commerce platforms. But as digital experiences demand more agility and personalisation, businesses are increasingly making the leap to SAP’s Composable Storefront (formerly Spartacus).
The move promises flexibility, scalability, and future-proof architecture—yet the migration journey is far from plug-and-play. Based on insights from our developers who have led complex migration projects, here are the five biggest challenges companies should be prepared for when moving from Accelerator to Composable Storefront.
1. Increased API Dependencies
With ACC, server-side JSPs and templates handled much of the storefront logic. Composable Storefront changes that completely: as a fully decoupled frontend, it relies on OCC REST APIs for nearly every piece of data.
That shift brings benefits in modularity and headless integration. Still, it also requires enabling new APIs, optimising existing ones, and filling gaps where the backend doesn’t yet provide the right services. For businesses with legacy or heavily customised Accelerator setups, this can mean a surprising amount of backend engineering before the new storefront even comes to life.
2. Customising and Debugging Spartacus Components
Composable Storefront ships with a rich set of out-of-the-box (OOTB) components—from product lists to checkout flows. But as many developers have discovered, tweaking them is not always straightforward.
Debugging Spartacus can feel like peeling an onion: layers of Angular, NgRx, and SAP logic sometimes obscure where the actual change needs to happen. Extending components or overriding core behaviour without breaking future upgrade paths is a delicate balancing act. Teams coming from ACC often find themselves re-learning best practices for customisation, with an added emphasis on maintainability.
2. Customising and Debugging Spartacus Components
Composable Storefront ships with a rich set of out-of-the-box (OOTB) components—from product lists to checkout flows. But as many developers have discovered, tweaking them is not always straightforward.
Debugging Spartacus can feel like peeling an onion: layers of Angular, NgRx, and SAP logic sometimes obscure where the actual change needs to happen. Extending components or overriding core behaviour without breaking future upgrade paths is a delicate balancing act. Teams coming from ACC often find themselves re-learning best practices for customisation, with an added emphasis on maintainability.
3. Performance, File Size, and Caching Strategies
One of the most visible shifts for customers is performance. Accelerator storefronts render server-side, whereas Spartacus, as a Single Page Application (SPA), loads a large bundle of scripts and styles upfront. As a result, this creates new challenges: initial page loads can be slower. In addition, cache invalidation becomes critical, and without a robust deployment strategy, customers may see outdated storefronts long after new versions are released. Therefore, getting caching, CDN strategies, and performance tuning right is not just a technical detail—it’s a core part of delivering a smooth digital experience.
4. Migrating Heavily Customised Features
Most enterprise Accelerator storefronts are far from vanilla. Over time, they accumulate layers of customisations—unique cart workflows, checkout adaptations, product configurators, and integrations with third-party systems. Consequently, rebuilding these in Composable Storefront is rarely a one-to-one exercise. For example, migrating a complex rule-based product configurator requires rethinking UI types (checkboxes, dropdowns, images), managing state across cart and checkout, and integrating with CPQ or variant configurators. Similarly, supporting punchout catalogues, OCI integration, or multi-recipient checkout flows often means heavy re-engineering. This is why many projects hit their most resource-intensive phase: not just moving features, but re-architecting them for a decoupled world.
4. Migrating Heavily Customised Features
Most enterprise Accelerator storefronts are far from vanilla. Over time, they accumulate layers of customisations—unique cart workflows, checkout adaptations, product configurators, and integrations with third-party systems. Consequently, rebuilding these in Composable Storefront is rarely a one-to-one exercise. For example, migrating a complex rule-based product configurator requires rethinking UI types (checkboxes, dropdowns, images), managing state across cart and checkout, and integrating with CPQ or variant configurators. Similarly, supporting punchout catalogues, OCI integration, or multi-recipient checkout flows often means heavy re-engineering. This is why many projects hit their most resource-intensive phase: not just moving features, but re-architecting them for a decoupled world.
5. Preparing SAP Commerce Cloud Environments
Finally, even before a single customer sees the storefront, there’s the challenge of getting the environment right. Running Spartacus on SAP Commerce Cloud (CCv2) isn’t always straightforward.
Teams often face multiple back-and-forths with SAP support, configuring additional services, and aligning everything with CI/CD pipelines. Setting up new Spartacus instances in the cloud requires close coordination, rigorous testing, and sometimes a lot of patience. But done correctly, it lays the foundation for smoother releases and better scalability.
Conclusion: A Strategic Transformation, Not Just a Migration
Switching from SAP Accelerator to Composable Storefront is not a simple upgrade. It’s a strategic transformation that touches architecture, processes, and even development culture.
Yes, the challenges are real—API dependencies, customisation hurdles, performance strategies, re-engineering custom features, and cloud environment preparation. But the payoff is equally significant: a future-proof, composable commerce architecture that empowers businesses to innovate faster, integrate smarter, and deliver richer customer experiences.
As our teams have seen firsthand, the journey is demanding—but for organisations looking to stay competitive in modern commerce, it’s a journey well worth taking.