Headless E-commerce

In the world of e-commerce, where everything is evolving every day, headless e-commerce is one of a kind. Earlier, people used to have a set technology for their customers that could limit both the company and the customer base. But now, as technology is pacing, entrepreneurs are becoming more aware of the different systems they can use to create a unique and superior customer experience. 

One buzzword in e-commerce is losing its heads, aka headless e-commerce, which increases the customer experience. In this article, we’ll look at the core definition of headless e-commerce and how you can use it for your business. 

What is Headless E-commerce?

Headless e-commerce separates the front end from the back end. The business manages all the functions on the back end by removing the head or the front end. But what does it lead to? It leads to customized experiences for customers. The need for headless commerce has become crucial among entrepreneurs for a solid reason. 

If you integrate both the front and back end well, as in traditional e-commerce, you are left with limited options to incorporate into your interface. If we put the back end without the head, you get many different options to practice on your website or IoT devices to make the experience smoother for customers. 

Going headless enables customers unique, personalized, homogenous experiences to ensure that their commerce runs smoothly on every channel. But there are more benefits of headless e-commerce. Let’s delve into it.

What Are the Benefits of Headless Commerce?

There are various advantages of headless commerce. Some of them are as follows. 

Flexibility and familiarity for developers

We all are familiar with the e-commerce industry; everyone wants to open their online store for various reasons. Earlier, the business had the front and back end intact. On the one hand, the back end was responsible for login, registration, payment processing, and shipping. The front end was responsible for pre-built website plugins and phone and chat integrations. 

Limited options in the front end restricted the evolution of e-commerce with time. Developers then devised a way of decoupling both ends and presenting more options to customers. This led to flexibility and familiarity for both developers and businesses. 

Scalability

Headless commerce allows you to increase the scalability of your business. Incorporating customization into your business automatically increases your customer acquisition, which, in turn, takes your scalability to another level. Front ends can be made from scratch in several ways.

New technologies

Using headless architecture e-commerce, you receive plenty of new technologies on your table, such as SaaS platforms, integrating APIs, SDK, customizable front end, and many other technologies. The only concern here is that you should be well aware of all these technologies you will use on your website. 

Create fast websites

About 79% of customers are dissatisfied with the web performance, 64% of smartphone users want the load time to be less than 4 seconds, and 47% of online shoppers expect webpages to load within two seconds.  

Switching or opting for headless architecture e-commerce solves all these problems and provides a streamlined experience for the customers. It creates fast-loading pages all across the devices. Your shoppers can switch between the homepage, blog, and products quicker. 

Complete ownership over site architecture

In headless e-commerce, you take complete command of the site architecture. Traditional commerce comes with a set of tools that limits your imagination. It could be a good option for small businesses or start-ups, but it might create a massive problem for growing businesses as they must regularly update their website per audience demand. 

Marketing effectiveness

Marketing is the key to a thriving business, especially if you’re advertising incorporating their feedback. Headless commerce solely targets customer experience. Its customization builds a smooth experience. This could be one of the best elements to market your business. It would lead to effective marketing, which would, in turn, increase your customer base.

Improve conversion rates and lower customer acquisition costs

E-commerce platforms increase and evolve the shopping experience for different types of customers that come to your platform. Headless commerce is another cherry on top of your business since it is about customization and prioritizing customers’ smooth experiences. It provides your customers with flexibility and personalization, and for you, there’s an increase in engagement and retention rates that makes the customers come again to your website. Headless storefront puts unique features, offers, individualized promotions, interactive experiences, and many more that automatically increase your conversion rates. Besides that, you also gather more customers and save your CAC. 

Headless E-commerce Vs. Traditional Commerce

Headless e-commerce is the modified version of traditional e-commerce with pros and cons. Headless requires a high level of technology as compared to traditional commerce. Some other things should be considered to differentiate between both methods.

1. Coupling of front and back end
   

In traditional e-commerce, anyone can set up their online business since it only requires a platform that provides the technical tools necessary for your business.

A headless e-commerce platform is slightly difficult to build since you must make your own front end. But eliminating the difficulty gives you a much broader spectrum of customization and an easy experience.

2. The flexibility factor
   
   Flexibility is the main differentiation element between headless and traditional e-commerce. Interpret traditional commerce as a templatized method. You get a template to build your website with a set number and types of technology, as both ends are closely stuck. It may not affect your business initially but would hinder your business’s quality as you grow.
   
   In contrast, headless is fully customizable, and you can add or subtract any feature anytime. You’re free to incorporate any feedback that you get from your customers, which would automatically increase your customer satisfaction score. 

3. Pre-existing knowledge
   
   You may have guessed that traditional commerce doesn’t require a tech-savvy entrepreneur. You can use the conventional method even if you have limited pre-requisite knowledge about different tools. Moreover, it is also an excellent option for budget constraints.
   
   Headless e-commerce removes or decouples the front end and targets the experience for different customers. Since you have to customize your front end, you must have some pre-requisite knowledge about technology. And it also demands a good amount of money. Exploring efficient headless e-commerce platforms can simplify this process, providing a strategic solution for seamless customization and enhanced customer experiences.

Common Use Cases for Headless E-commerce

Here are a few typical use cases of headless e-commerce businesses from which you can draw inspiration.

Integrating multiple channels

Headless commerce allows you to integrate multiple channels into one platform without using numerous tools. It takes the customer experience to another level. It combines different channels and puts them under one platform. 

PCI compliance, fraud protection, and checkout security

Combining the SaaS providers with the headless architecture of e-commerce gives you streamlined security, complaints, and PCI compliance process. It reduces the workload for your team as the SaaS providers manage the process for you. 

Limitless capabilities in personalization

Headless commerce removes the barrier of limited options from your business. When you keep your headless architecture open, you can customize your website by integrating different APIs and SDKs at any time. This increases your spectrum and leaves you with enough room to explore. 

Is Headless Commerce Fit for All E-commerce Stores?

You can see headless commerce as the next step of your business. We do not recommend it for everyone, especially with restricted knowledge, time, and money. Traditional e-commerce is a great option to begin with. It gives you a set of tools and options in one platform. You’ll get almost everything that it takes to kickstart your business. 

With that said, headless commerce is the present and future of the e-commerce industry. It keeps customers as a priority and designs everything according to their preferences. What does that give you? It gives you an excellent customer base and increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. Moreover, you keep yourself updated with the latest trends that are dominating. 

So, to make a final call, it is essential to know your budget, time management, and business. 

How Do You Get Started With Headless Commerce?

You have two options: make your headless architecture e-commerce or work on the templatized one. If you’re going with a former option, here are a few tips to start with–

Determine if you should keep or switch your commerce platform

Small businesses or start-ups should go with adding the existing APIs to your system. However, as the business grows, companies change to Software as a Service, aka SaaS solutions. It provides you with scalability and flexibility.  

Pick a headless CMS

Choosing a headless content management system (CMS) is a great way. It delivers content to multiple visitors on different channels. You can use a single CMS to produce content specific to each channel. There are two further options to go with– open-source CMS or one from a SaaS provider. Open-source is responsible for limitless flexibility, but one must know the knowledge of tools and techniques. SaaS is an option for beginners if you want to start and learn more about this section. 

Sync your CMS and API

Syncing your CMS and APIs in your platform opens the gates for new customers. It expands sales bandwidth and removes minute errors that may or may not be present on your website. Moreover, integrating your API can also give customers a personalized experience, which can increase your customer satisfaction.

Headless Content Management System (CMS)

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus integrates with various top CMS and another front end that can make your interface a virtual headless storefront. This platform lets brands decide their engaging storefronts for multiple IoT like mobile, video games, desktops, and many more. It also associates with ERP, PIM, CRM, and CMS systems. 

This platform is suitable for both newbies and seasoned developers. You get the option to expand your customization continuously. 

BigCommerce Enterprise

This platform is similar to Shopify Plus but has a smaller user base. It gives you a space to build a headless storefront. BigCommerce consists of some integrations to well-established CMS and front-end frameworks such as Next.js, the leading react framework, Gatsby.js, and many more. 

Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce gives you everything that you’d expect from headless commerce. It gives you a high level of customization, but you have a significant budget to match. Adobe Commerce builds a high-class experience for shoppers across multiple touchpoints such as mobile apps, various webpages apps, IoT devices, AR, and VR. You can rapidly deliver interactive shopping experiences to your customers using this platform. 

Elastic Path

Elastic Path is an open-source software platform that incorporates e-commerce for different kinds of enterprises. It has also opted for headless commerce since the primary motive of this platform is to eliminate all the complexities and ensure readily available solutions. The functionality of traditional commerce is blended with headless architecture. This results in the best of both systems on one platform.

WooCommerce

Woocommerce is known for prominent tools specializing in blogging and full-fledged e-commerce websites, letting you sell online. Apart from its open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress that comes with Bluehost e-commerce hosting plans, it has also consolidated headless commerce that gives an edge to entrepreneurs. Apart from website building, they can customize the front end however they like. This way, they can manage both the base plans and the products displayed on the interface.

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