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The advent and development of various IT inventions long ago changed the rhythm of our lives and revolutionized the traditional approach to shopping and business management. According to Statista, in 2021 global retail e-commerce sales were worth nearly $4.9 trillion.
Online buyers can now receive personalized product recommendations, drawing on artificial intelligence, and order goods wherever, whenever just by a series of clicks on their mobile device screens. Entrepreneurs, in turn, can choose from numerous options to make their websites faster and more profitable and achieve high-degree customizations to instantly react to upcoming market trends.
One of these options is headless website architecture. Later in this article, we focus on this technological advancement, overview its pros and cons for e-commerce businesses, and present the four best headless e-commerce platforms.
Visit our Dinarys e-commerce blog for more tips and tricks on how to create a competitive and reliable website and be aware of global trends.
Simply put, headless architecture implies decoupling the frontend (presentation layer) and backend (application layer) of an e-commerce system. The independence of these two environments gives developers and business owners the freedom to make the data more portable and repurpose content in accordance with a particular customer segment or sales channel. Thus, a developer can make changes to the frontend without affecting backend operations, and vice versa.
Headless architecture may seem similar in logic to microservices – and, in fact, headless commerce can be called a subtype of microservices; however, it is slightly different. In headless architecture, only some parts can be separated, while microservices allow the solution to be fully decoupled on small independent services.
In this article, we explain in more detail what microservices are and compare them to their methodology counterpart, monolithic architecture.
As we have already said, the frontend and backend of a headless solution can function independently. The frontend part of an application defines what customers see: It is a UI head of the application. The backend is an application body that handles data storage, processes front-end requests, and returns data in a structured and coherent way.
So, how does this type of architecture support the integrity of an entire application? It is made possible by an application programming interface (API) endpoint (a neck), which is responsible for data exchange. Let’s call an API a communication bridge that passes requests between two layers.
For example, when customers place an order, the presentation layer of a headless system sends an API call to the backend to process the request. The backend sends a return API call to the presentation layer, which is how the customers can assess the results of their action: The order has been placed to the shopping cart, and they can proceed to checkout.
Let’s show, by comparison, why the concept of headless e-commerce solutions can be helpful for entrepreneurs in the modern retail landscape by referring to the good old alternative: a monolithic architecture.
In a system with a monolithic architecture, the frontend is tightly linked with a backend. In some cases, this methodology is still widely adopted as it can be more easily and quickly developed and deployed.
However, solid code becomes an obstacle when urgent customization is required, since developers have to modify the entire application.
Thus, from the perspective of flexibility and adaptability (critical aspects in today’s tough business conditions), the monolith is considered an outdated path because of its commitment to a particular technology.
Headless architecture enables much more room for urgent customization. Developers have complete control over the frontend independently of the backend, which comes in handy when a company intends to avoid app downtimes and shorten a product’s time to market.
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When omnichannel retail takes over, designs for web-first monolith will most likely lean back. When a company is able to offer its consumers multiple sales channels, interaction with a brand is more accessible, increasing the chances of conversion.
The API-first approach, which is common to headless e-commerce and microservices, allows developers to connect a single backend with multiple ecosystems (frontends), such as CMS, PWA, mobile app, and IoT. In this way, one e-commerce solution can include unlimited touchpoints, distribute content across them, still maintain the brand identity, and seamlessly go omnichannel.
Headless architecture also simplifies inner business operations. In the same way, entrepreneurs can integrate their solution with an ERP or CRM system and enjoy centralized and, thus, hassle-free data management.
As shown in the picture below, the monolith has very little to boast of. New touchpoint extensions can be quite challenging and unjustified, because, yet again, of a large piece of solid code with frontend and backend tightly coupled. Even the smallest changes can compromise the entire system, so developers have to choose what works best for the solution’s predefined toolset rather than for a holistic omnichannel strategy.
Of course, a monolithic website owner can develop an additional sales channel, for example, a mobile app, but since these two solutions won’t share a common backend, they will have very little interaction with each other.
When exploring the market, you can stumble upon different types of headless CMSs. Some provide a so-called “pure backend” without a presentation layer—an option that is relevant for merchants who have a concrete vision of how their e-commerce solution should look. Companies can freely build a customized frontend for their unique business situation.
However, pure headless architecture may require additional assistance from developers, and the complexity of such a solution may extend the time to market.
Other options already include prebuilt API templates. These full-service headless platforms are suitable for retailers who don’t need to construct everything from scratch and want to focus on a faster time to market.
The tendencies we notice in our e-commerce development practice indicate that modularity is the future of e-commerce. According to Forbes, headless e-commerce is receiving $1.6 billion in funding. Investors are starting to consider the potential of this technology, as reflected in the aspects discussed below.
As soon as the next market trend gets underway, it will definitely be adopted by one of your competitors. Your reaction speed, in this case, is crucial to getting ahead of this competition or at least staying afloat.
A headless environment enables you to test new technologies. Unlike the monolith, with its rigid tech stack, headless architecture behaves like plasticine in the hands of professional developers. You can try different innovations and remove them with equal success without having them fully affect the underlying systems.
Time to market defines how long it takes for a solution to be developed and become available for consumers. As an experienced entrepreneur, you may already realize its importance – fast time to market makes it possible to gain customer loyalty and a competitive advantage afterward.
As a rule, the development of backend business logic requires most of the effort. With headless architecture, there is no need to construct everything from scratch. Therefore, you can quickly deploy new products just by sticking another touchpoint to the basis.
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Online entrepreneurs are often puzzled by how to please the client, who is spoiled by numerous and persuasive offers on the market. Personalization is key to solving almost any conversion-related problem. Any target audience strongly appreciates seeing its buying preferences taken into consideration.
Due to the headless nature of an application, you can differentiate your customer experience and tailor a specific message (personal recommendations, promotions, etc.) to a certain segment across a certain channel. Moreover, you can customize the content you deliver on the fly.
How exactly can you personalize your retail with headless technologies? It’s simple. For example, when you expand your business and enter new markets, you are able to integrate a desirable payment method by region, so you don’t have to interrupt the existing payment options and replatform the entire app.
An equally pleasant plus of going headless is the long-term cost savings you’ll make. Obviously, when you consider implementing a headless platform, this idea seems to be more expensive than a traditional monolith, since headless architecture demands considerable investment in frontend developers’ work.
However, let’s examine the roots of the beneficial impact of headless e-commerce on your capital. You’ll be able to easily multiply frontends and reach a wider audience, whether web or mobile devotees. Once you notice positive customer acquisition and customer retention metrics, you’ll understand that your investments are starting to pay off.
Whether fortunately or not, there is no single formula for how to conquer the market. Each technology has its potential and limitations, and headless e-commerce is no exception. As a professional e-commerce consultancy company, Dinarys is proud to be technology-agnostic: We prefer to adapt technologies to the business, not vice versa.
Hence, we’d prefer to overview both the opportunities and the potential pitfalls of any technology we work with to recommend our clients the right solution at the right time.
Initial setup costs and development team complexity are the two biggest drawbacks of headless commerce.
Taking a brand-new approach always implies initial expenses. Since, in most cases, a headless e-commerce platform doesn’t provide a frontend part, the construction of presentation layers rests squarely on the shoulders of an organization. Apart from this, due to the non-standard complex architecture, with a separate frontend and backend, headless solutions carry certain maintenance costs.
Whatever it is, any worthwhile project takes effort and time. Together with a dedicated engineering team, it’s eminently possible to eliminate overspending and maximize your idea potential.
Everything is relative. Along with the advantage of technological diversity comes the downside of team complexity. Under monolith, frontend and backend layers can be managed by a single team, and that also applies to QA. However, a small team is not the best choice for the support and maintenance of an entire headless system.
Building an API-driven architecture involves many more technologies than building traditional platforms. This suggests expansion of the development team, right up to opting for the help of third-party vendors. Even if you already have a dedicated team in place, you still have to streamline your team activities and responsibilities and learn how to correctly delegate new tasks so as not to waste valuable resources and get the desired results in a timely manner.
The choice of your headless e-commerce platform vendor may seem problematic at the beginning. You should thoroughly examine your current business state in the digital landscape and its strengths and vulnerabilities, then understand the market to perfectly match your needs with what it offers.
Here are the basic criteria to rely on when making a decision regarding the best headless e-commerce platform:
To facilitate your choice, Dinarys experts have conducted their own research and picked out the four best headless e-commerce CMS’s that can help you start a new chapter in your business performance.
As Adobe Solution Partners, we want to start with this e-commerce platform. Dinarys possesses broad experience in Magento web development, and this CMS has always positively impacted our clients’ businesses. You can ascertain its huge potential by reading our article about Magento Success Stories.
Since version 2.3 was introduced, Magento has supported GraphQL as API. If you haven’t yet upgraded your Magento minor version, then the only way to go headless is by developing a custom API. Those who have already split their Magento backend and frontend claim that it was a winning move in terms of analytics capacity and data visualization improvements.
Chris Hammond, Global Digital Director at Helly Hansen, said that Adobe significantly strengthened the company’s ability to build one-of-a-kind, engaging shopping experiences.
This headless e-commerce platform addresses almost any needs experienced by modern merchants. Now, they can effortlessly deliver an app-like experience across various endpoints: single-page and multi-page web apps, mobile applications, AR and VR, IoT devices, etc. Adobe Commerce offers more than 500 Rest and GraphQL operations, which guarantees total flexibility. Besides, the Adobe Commerce core can be integrated with other Adobe products, such as industry-leading Adobe Experience Manager, as well as with third-party tools, which can give your solution increased availability.
Want to make your Magento headless and boost its performance too? Contact us today to discuss your project. Meanwhile, let’s discover the ultimate aspects of how to get ready to switch to headless:
Shopware 6, a simple-in-use yet powerful CMS, comes with headless capabilities, too, especially the Shopware 6.4 release. As the company considers the alliance of backend and frontend an outdated symbiosis, it provides a future-oriented API-first approach, which allows shop operators to implement several business models simultaneously and deliver content to different surfaces.
For a better understanding of the modular nature of Shopware 6, let’s refer to the main units of this system:
Another integral part of headless Shopware is API. There are three types of API, each of which pursues its own goals:
Although Shopware can function in headless mode, the platform still comes with a fully-fledged storefront. However, headless is not the only competitive advantage of Shopware 6. If you run an enterprise-level business, you might be interested in this article: Shopware Enterprise: the Ins and Outs of the New Offer.
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Salesforce is also considered one of the best headless CMS for e-commerce. It is a US cloud-based deep e-commerce system that helps both mid-size and large businesses to address their specific marketing needs and maximize conversions. The platform’s scalable Commerce API infrastructure significantly contributes to these possibilities.
The Salesforce Commerce APIs can be divided into such groups as
Thus, due to the headless SFCC, e-commerce companies can exploit the following benefits:
Watch the video below to find out how SFCC increases the efficiency of development to get products to market faster:
CommerceTools is an e-commerce platform famous for its modern MACH (Microservice-based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless) principles pillar. The company promises to make a positive impact on essential B2B, B2C, and D2C business metrics, specifically to
In other words, the CommerceTools company focuses on a vision of the headless environment as a game-changer and represents the API-first approach as the heart of the digital revolution to enable data to be consumed from any device, anywhere. Here is how the company simplifies headless e-commerce adoption:
Let’s see how headless works in practice. Below, you will find several examples of e-commerce companies that underwent a profound transformation due to the headless approach.
The current market is setting out new rules, and going headless under present conditions offers countless prospects for online entrepreneurs. Firstly, it offers the possibility to construct your shopping experiences on the go. Secondly, headless e-commerce CMSs massively facilitate omnichannel retail and personalization strategy fulfillment – you are able to dynamically display content to target audiences based on their location, order history, etc.
At Dinarys, we create e-commerce solutions that are ready to scale with you anytime. We offer diligent assistance throughout the development lifecycle and bring to life ideas with the use of reliable e-commerce technologies, among which are Magento, Shopware, Salesforce, and CommerceTools.
Contact us today to choose the best headless CMS for e-commerce, plan your software architecture, and unlock the full potential of your enterprise. Let’s go headless together!
The frontend and backend of a headless solution can function independently. The frontend part of an application defines what customers see: It is a UI head of the application. The backend is an application body that handles data storage, processes front-end requests, and returns data in a structured and coherent way.
In headless architecture, only some parts can be separated, while microservices allow the solution to be fully decoupled on small independent services.
Since version 2.3 was introduced, Magento has supported GraphQL as API. If you haven’t yet upgraded your Magento minor version, then the only way to go headless is by developing a custom API. Those who have already split their Magento backend and frontend claim that it was a winning move in terms of analytics capacity and data visualization improvements.
Shopware 6, a simple-in-use yet powerful CMS, comes with headless capabilities, too, especially the Shopware 6.4 release. As the company considers the alliance of backend and frontend an outdated symbiosis, it provides a future-oriented API-first approach, which allows shop operators to implement several business models simultaneously and deliver content to different surfaces.
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