What Is Headless eCommerce

Headless commerce is a unique eCommerce development approach where frontend and backend are developed separately and then connected via a specialized API (application programming interface).

Let’s compare traditional eCommerce with headless. Traditional eCommerce architecture is monolithic. You got packaged suits where the customer-facing layer, the head, is mounted on a rigid structure:

• Database.
• Backend.
• Frontend.

A basic theme or predefined structure limits frontend developers and makes updating the user interface more complicated.

To keep up with present-day realities eCommerce has to establish an omnichannel presence to cater to the customers’ needs in the best way for them.

Imagine tweaking, adapting, and optimizing your user interface across multiple customer touchpoints on various devices while keeping your code scripts and backend database intact. Traditional eCommerce architecture turns this process into a bit of a hassle.

The time for headless eCommerce has come. In order to free yourself from the limited capabilities and frustration, you have to decouple the frontend, or the head, from the backend and connect them via API.

Now you are free to customize each facet of your frontend on the go without disturbing your backend functionality and business infrastructure. With a headless approach, your frontend developers are absolutely independent of all predefined technology.

Forget about the limits of monolithic architecture! Now you can build frontends in any way you see fit, gaining more control and development flexibility, in the long run.

Relying heavily on the page-load speed as an essential KPI for SEO mechanisms as well as customer behavior, you want your site to perform lightning-fast. This is possible with the headless approach. And it’s all about numbers! The headless infrastructure allows you to increase performance by converting into faster technologies like React PWA, gain more conversion, and boost revenue.
Headless eCommerce solutions simplify cross-platform connections and channel integrations improving customer outreach.

A headless approach enables seamless omnichannel publishing and a smooth UX across all platforms and devices due to its architecture based on API or microservices. Let’s demonstrate how headless strategy works by the example of product information management. Imagine having a huge product database collected from a few data sources, that you have to manage, update, and distribute to different sales channels.

Sounds like a manual copy-paste hell, right? The headless approach allows you to create specific experiences for various mediums, whether it is content for social media or product information for retailers. Headless strategy creates a single source of structured data. Product data is easily enriched and updated in a smooth workflow. It is adapted to the requirements of the marketplaces and delivered.

Besides PIM you can also integrate your headless eCommerce website with such business management systems as:

• Customer Relationship Management module
• Enterprise Resource Planning module
• Order Management System

Headless solutions are fully customizable, so in addition to integrations, your system can be expanded and scaled when the demand for your products spikes. In a nutshell, the headless eCommerce PIM platform helps you:

• Get more control over content distribution;
• Expand content distribution channels;
• Better manage content assets;
• Enable frontend & backend interdependency.

Learn how a headless approach can empower your business and help you outrun competitors. Take a closer look at the Gepard PIM system.