The opportunities brought by headless commerce
What is headless commerce?
Headless commerce is a technological architecture approach which separates the front-end customer digital touchpoint and the back-end commerce features. Both ends remain connected through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), but neither limits the other’s development.
With headless commerce companies are able to offer a rich content experience, personalized to the user, and developed with a mobile-first approach.
How does headless commerce work?
eCommerce nuts and bolts backend systems have historically been developed for desktops, but in today’s mobile-first world they are not compatible with nimble and fast-pace changes required by customers.
Rather than recreating the entire backend, which would take longer and be much more expensive, the headless commerce approach allows you to keep your operational backend system for payment processing, loyalty program management, or product catalogue for examples, and plug it to a Progressive Web Application (PWA) or React Progressive Web App (RPWA).
PWA and RPWA provide a better and more streamlined experience, build with a mobile-first mindset, supporting the nomad needs of customers, and iterating as often as possible to remove as much friction as possible.
Another advantage of headless commerce is that it empowers brands to personalize the shopping experience as the customer data is more easily accessible and ready to be leveraged.
Last but not least, headless commerce reinforces your eCommerce sales, transforming for the long run the customer satisfaction with your site, and thus creating loyal customers.
Who uses headless commerce?
Primarily used by eCommerce retailers, this approach to technological architecture has potential to attract other industries in B2B and B2C alike.
Amazon, Walmart, Nike, Venus, Redbox, Overstock, Cosnova, and Under Armour - to mention only a few - a have notably started leveraging headless commerce and saw significant increases in their mobile sales, customer satisfaction, and digital operation streamlining.
What is next with headless commerce?
Currently primarily focused on mobile eCommerce, we expect headless commerce to evolve to more use cases in the years to come, in particular as the service offering gets bigger and new developments will make it more accessible.
Powered by headless commerce, new commerce models, temporary mobile shops, and business-to-business applications such as quotations and offer management will thrive.
We can help you identify the best way forward and improve your eCommerce .
