Do you know what led big brands and businesses to switch to Headless Commerce as a way to keep up with ever-changing technologies and consumer trends?
In recent years, there has been a major change in ecommerce experiences, through mobile devices, the emergence of social commerce, and some innovations from giants such as Amazon. As the digital demands and the market is increasingly expanding beyond the physical stores, the growth of the online market has been significant and a strategic way to reach more consumers and meet their expectations and demands.
But, how can businesses be present online and keep up with all the technological changes and trends? What are the innovation challenges of today's market?
Customers don't care about the technology you use in your online store (they might not even identify it), but it's pretty clear that they care about how they experience your brand. Each business has different aims, flows, needs and provides different experiences, but on the other hand, it has become more comfortable for consumers to access products and services anytime and anywhere (mostly through mobile devices and Apps). Sooooo, clearly, it's time to rethink how online businesses are conducted!
For brands that regularly face business challenges and keep up with changing consumer behavior, Headless Commerce can allow them to expand the boundaries of their existing e-commerce platform. Making them more flexible and responsive to changes in customer and market expectations, allowing them to reach customers who shop across multiple channels.
What is Headless Commerce?
Headless Commerce is a form of ecommerce, that allows companies to become more flexible and agile, by separating the frontend (where the sales are made), and the backend (where the more operational issues, such as data processing, are located).
With Headless Commerce being a more modular and API-driven approach, it becomes faster, more flexible and functional, because APIs allow communication between different softwares. That is, the backend can perform its core functions and try out new features without always being tied to the frontend. On the other hand, brands can customize digital storefronts without hitting the backend, and integrate best-in-class tools like headless CMS, CRM, ERP among others.
You can also read “Why Headless Ecommerce?” blog article here.
The main features required by Headless Commerce:
It allows companies to provide a platform that offers their customers beyond the brand, unique experiences through a modular solution.
- Multiple user types and permissions;
- Public and hidden prices (for signed-in users);
- Discount policies;
- Various payment methods;
- Quick order or repeat order;
- Shipping to multiple locations.
“Superior headless commerce made for speed and flexibility.”
Traditional Commerce VS Headless Commerce
Do you still have doubts? Let's distinguish both concepts!
Here are the differences between Traditional Commerce and Headless Commerce:
Traditional Commerce:
With traditional commerce platforms, the frontend of an online store is tightly connected to the backend, thus representing less scope to easily make customizations. Customizations, graphics and interactive elements can be more difficult to create on these platforms, consequently limiting the e-commerce experience. In other words: the shopping cart, the CMS, the checkout, the subscriptions and, the website layout are all connected, a change in one section, requires changes elsewhere. This makes site updates time-consuming and often expensive.
Headless Commerce:
Headless Commerce is the recommended solution for brands that need complete customization and prefer to decouple the frontend from the backend system, allowing the frontend layer infinite design capabilities.
However, despite the “separation”, the frontend and the backend still communicate to each other through APIs (which, above all, facilitate integration with other platforms).
The great advantage of Headless Commerce is that brands can easily update the frontend without having to make changes to the backend.
What are the advantages of Headless Commerce:
- Unlimited customization (use your brand’s unique look and feel);
- Omnichannel and better customer experience;
- Ease of integrations;
- Rapid experimentation;
- Quick time to market;
- Page loads faster;
- Higher security;
- Agility and flexibility to remain competitive;
- Any programming language or framework (which is most familiar for your developers);
- Less need for IT support.
Why go Headless Commerce with BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is a leading SaaS solution that enables companies to improve their online business. Furthermore, is a more advantageous ecommerce platform compared to others, as there is a flexibility and a great growth potential that helps customers working with BigCommerce to develop their ecommerce.
If you want to know more about our partnership, click here.
There are 4 levels of functionality for Headless BigCommerce:
- Storefront: the frontend layer where the buyer interacts with the product;
- Microservices: custom online store integration such as subscriptions and order management;
- API: the solution for developers to control requests and responses;
- BigCommerce: will respond to the application with data for backend.
BigCommerce and B2B – BundleB2B
BundleB2B allows companies to grow their business faster at a lower cost than their competitors, and simplifies the management process for sales and post-sales teams. Fully integrated with BigCommerce, this SaaS offers advanced B2B functionality and allows companies to easily facilitate operations online, enhancing the B2B self-service experience for merchants and customers.
BundleB2B features:
- User Management;
- Sales Staff;
- Shared Shopping Lists;
- Customer Account Order History;
- Payment Method Visibility Control;
- Buy Again;
- Quick Order Pad;
- Invoice and Management Portal;
- Company Address Book Management;
- Wholesale Customer Approval Process/Trade Professional Application.
More info about BundleB2B – Ecommerce Solution Built for BigCommerce, here.
Now we come to the moment in which you wonder
Is Headless Commerce the best solution for my business?
In fact, it depends. If your business goal is to achieve a differentiated service that stands out in the market, then it is time to invest in this technology! Analyze the points below, that will help you to understand if Headless Commerce would be the best solution for your business:
- Are there any limitations on the size of the catalog?
- Does your business model offer subscriptions?
- Allows you to send real-time shipping information and order status?
- Can you integrate with any custom integration?
- How many open API endpoints are there? Are they unidirectional or bidirectional?
Although the Headless model does not apply in all ecommerce cases, investing in the projects that make the most sense actually brings significant benefits. Besides the technical side being favorable, investing in this technology also improves the marketing strategy and performance of the platform, and a better user experience.
We hope this article has been useful to you. ☺️
Feel free to ask us more about the topic and to share your experiences with us.