As e-commerce continues to evolve, headless commerce is becoming a more popular option for brands. There are several key trends driving this shift: the increasing number of new e-commerce stores, rising costs to acquire customers, and the decline of third-party cookies.
These trends make it more important than ever for brands to differentiate themselves and offer personalized, omnichannel experiences to stand out and retain customers. Headless commerce enables businesses to create unique shopping experiences across all touchpoints by giving developers greater flexibility.
With headless commerce, brands can sell anywhere without limitations on design or development, effectively making the world their storefront. In the coming years, the e-commerce market is projected to reach $1.3 trillion. If you’re considering headless commerce for your business, it’s important to understand the benefits and how to get started.
What is headless commerce?
Headless commerce involves decoupling a website’s front-end from its back-end e-commerce capabilities.
This separation allows retailers greater freedom to customize and build unique experiences for their customers. With a headless setup, brands can make updates to the front end without affecting the back end, giving them more flexibility in creating buyer experiences.
To make the most of headless commerce, brands may rely on Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), IT partners, and digital experience managers to deliver engaging and innovative experiences that meet or exceed customer expectations.
Before we delve deeper into headless commerce, it’s important to understand the two main components it involves: the front end and the back end.
The front end, also known as the presentation layer, is the customer-facing digital storefront. This can include channels such as websites, social media, mobile apps, and the many devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT includes smart mirrors, self-service kiosks, vending machines, wearables, and voice-assisted technology like Amazon Alexa.
On the other hand, the back end consists of all the systems, processes, workflows, and tools that run behind the scenes to ensure smooth business operations. This tech stack can support activities like merchandising, fulfillment, data storage, integrations, and checkout.
Now that we’ve defined these two concepts, let’s take a closer look at headless commerce and how it can benefit your business.
How does headless commerce or headless Shopify work?
The key to headless commerce is the API, or application program interface. This connection allows information to be transmitted between the front end and back end in real time.
While customer-facing content is managed on a back-end platform like a CMS, headless commerce allows retailers to utilize multiple back-end systems depending on their needs. These can include a-
– content management system (CMS)
– progressive web app (PWA)
– customer relationship management (CRM)
– digital experience platform (DXP).
These tools create touchpoints for customers, such as a mobile app or vending machine, and whenever a customer interacts with one of these touchpoints, an API call sends the information to the back end.
Customers only see the front-end user interface that is being used to deliver shopping experiences and do not have access to the headless back end.
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