Have you heard of headless commerce yet? Do you think the term will end up in the bag of buzzwords - words that were popular for a short period of time? In this case, we can say with a high degree of certainty that this will not be the case. The concept of headless commerce can become a long-term strategy for your e-store. Why?
Headless Architecture
The definition of headless commerce seems strongly technical, but in practice it is not quite so. The effects of implementing the headless architecture, i.e. disconnecting the eCommerce front-end from its "back-end", are visible primarily in the area of user experience.
In headless commerce, we assume that the frontend and backend are largely independent of each other. What are the benefits of this solution?
- Change or die - this saying is very relevant in today's eCommerce world. The speed of adaptation to changing conditions determines whether the regular customers will stay with us, and the number of new ones will increase. In case of headless commerce architecture implementation of changes is much more efficient and easier. Flexibility also allows you to build a scalable architecture and make changes without the risk of affecting your eCommerce back-end processes.
- Reach out to a customer - disconnecting frontend from backend makes it much faster for us to launch new sales channels. All because we base our store on a single source of data.
- One data structure - thanks to a standardized design, we not only reduce the cost of adding or replacing new components to the existing architecture, but also speed up the entire process and reduce the risk of failure.
- Personalization - with headless commerce, you have increased opportunities to customize your site, as well as parameters that affect a more intuitive eCommerce experience.
- An investment that pays off - if change is inevitable, at least make it cost optimal! Transformation from monolithic architecture to headless commerce is an investment that, thanks to its advantages, will pay off quite quickly thanks to lower eCommerce maintenance costs. Remember, you pay for stagnation, too - the necessary upgrade of an online store with a traditional architecture comes with ever-increasing server and development costs, an increasingly complex data structure, and a higher risk of failure and associated costs.
- Security above all - a lower risk of failure also means greater security - of your data, as well as the constant and trouble-free operation of your e-shop.
- Faster page load time - Delivering content to users more quickly not only increases their positive experience. It is also important for competitiveness in the industry and broadens the accessibility of your eCommerce to more customer segments.
To sum up the definition, headless commerce is a solution that reverses the previous order of eCommerce architecture and gives much more flexibility to make changes. The innovation of the solution is based on the separation of the external layer of an e-store (graphical interface presenting the store content) from backend. The API is used to exchange content between frontend and backend within one ecosystem.
Headless commerce - how does it work?
Are you preparing for revolutionary changes in your eCommerce? Do you have a B2B platform and are thinking about additional implementation of a B2C platform? In other words - are you looking for a modern solution with e.g. multi-store option within one application? One of the fastest solutions is headless commerce.
Headless commerce based on modular architecture with separate front and backend is a solution for our times. Separate layers are connected by a webservice that binds and synchronizes data between systems. Thus, the previously monolithic backend is divided into smaller applications (e.g. PIM, CMS, or ERP).
Each of these applications is superior and synchronizes data flow with the others - so that they remain consistent. The adopted standardization influences a much faster flow of information.
In turn, each frontend of a platform is a separate part of the ecosystem, and can also be a separate application. The entire platform is based on API-First Approach. With this solution (used by giants such as Amazon or Netflix), each team of eCommerce specialists can flexibly adapt the tool to their needs and standards in a much shorter time.
However, let's go back to customers for whom the technological aspects of your eCommerce operation are completely indifferent. What is the most important for them? Content! It is the priority of content that is the result of implementing headless commerce. The lack of an overarching IT structure allows you to quickly deliver the same shopping experience on mobile, tablet, desktop, and offline!
Headless commerce - for everyone?
Whether we choose monolithic architecture or headless commerce the most popular and cheapest solution are ready-made templates. However, in business it is not always worth to choose the cheapest options. They have one major disadvantage - their development with new modules, scalability and many other advantages and functionalities are limited. The solution is open source. Open source code of the software gives practically unlimited possibilities of modifications, but also of using producer's updates and potential of partners' versions, e.g. Magento or PimCore, which give access to ready-to-use modules.
