As the consumers are becoming habituated to content consumption and online purchases from developing web applications and IoT devices, the traditional eCommerce platforms are grappling to meet the demands of the consumers.
New technological advancements like smart voice assistants, Amazon Dash buttons, and in-store interfaces allow customers to investigate more about the products, read reviews, and eventually make purchases. In simple words, the consumers are adopting the latest era of the Internet of Things (IoT), while the retailers are still lagging.
In today’s world, if the eCommerce platforms are advancing in their operations with this trend, they are reaping the maximum results. While others are perplexed about how they can sell online without inventing their own IoT device from scratch. The solution is headless commerce.
The headless commerce digital trend not only determines your online growth but also directs your business for the years to come.
What is Headless Commerce?
Headless commerce is the segregation of the front-end development of a site architecture from the back-end operations. The developers can store, manage, and deliver high-quality content experiences and integrate eCommerce solutions on the backend to manage all commerce functions.
In this model, the developers can use APIs to offer blog posts, products, or product reviews to any device. On the contrary, the front-end developers may think of presenting the content in a unique and desired framework.
Generally, you can programmatically manage all the functional elements of the headless commerce architecture, i.e., the creation and management of the constituents of content. In a nutshell, headless commerce has been designed for the era of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Headless commerce provides a platform through a RESTful API. It consists of both cloud-based infrastructure and a back-end data model.
Headless Commerce vs. Traditional Commerce
Are you still confused? Let’s have a look at the basic distinction between traditional commerce and headless commerce.
Malleable Front-End Development
In the traditional commerce system, the front-end developers face many designs and overall process challenges. Much of the time is spent editing the database and coding. On the other hand, headless commerce allows the front-end developers to create a user experience from the start to fit them appropriately with their fundamental business needs. They are, thus, set free from the strings of traditional commerce.
Flexibility and Versatility
The traditional commerce solutions allow the coupling of front-end development with the coding and infrastructure in the backend. It leaves a limited space to make any further customizations. The developers had to include an iota of coding between the front-end and back-end processes. On the contrary, the headless commerce solutions are highly flexible with endless possibilities of the customization it offers. You can easily make changes, like adding a field to the customer account or executing a customized checkout flow, with the help of a front-end developer.
Customization
The customers and administrative users always get a predefined experience in traditional commerce. It leaves little room for customization. With headless commerce, you have more control over the functioning of the eCommerce platform. The developers can build their customer and administrative user experience from scratch.
Benefits of Headless Commerce
Initially, the traffic to the eCommerce stores came from the desktop systems only. They have traditional designs, i.e., their frontend and backend were closely connected. Interdependent coding was not as strenuous as it is today.
With the crucial technological changes in recent years, more and more devices have come up in circulation. The data transfer has augmented, security has become more powerful, and there are several ways to browse the information than just desktops. Headless commerce, on the other hand, separates the back-end system from the other endpoints of the layout.
Even though the system separation through headless commerce can lead to enhanced complexity, it provides several advantages to the users:
Advanced Technology to Create Websites
The developers can test new technologies in the headless eCommerce solution. Since the front-end is decoupled from the back-end, they have the room to create whatever they want, unlike traditional CMS. It provides more flexibility in the delivery of the content as you can effortlessly integrate DXP, CMS, or IoT that is particularly made to create user experience-led commerce. You can then erase the front end without disabling the backend processes.
Thus, headless eCommerce platforms store and manage the content centrally and deliver it anywhere through API.
Complete Ownership over the Site Structure
Headless commerce separates the content management application from the content delivery application environments. It ensures immense control over the site architecture. The eCommerce platforms selling online adopt headless solutions because they want more from their backend processes while the front-end operations are stagnant.
For instance, brands using WooCommerce expand their eCommerce functionality, keeping their carefully crafted WordPress website in check. Thus, headless commerce is an efficient way to analyze what’s working and improve what does not.
Flexibility and Familiarity for Front-End Developers
Headless commerce allows the brand to select the online store platform that works as an engine of the business. If the front-end developers are comfortable working with a certain programming language, headless commerce authorizes them to work with the same workflow while smoothening the processes and efficiencies.
Conversion Rates and Lower Acquisition Cost
Due to the paid advertisement, you can see an evident growth in the customer acquisition costs of several businesses.
Headless commerce helps you to create a content-led strategy that automatically drives organic traffic, thereby reducing your reliability of paid advertising. With this, the businesses can increase their conversion rates.
Innovative Marketing Effectiveness Without Disabling the Backend Processes
A headless eCommerce solution supports technological advancements whenever they arise. It is one of the best things to design new customer experiences. It makes the marketing team hold the driving wheel on their hand by implementing multiple sites across distinct divisions, brands, and portfolios without hurting the backend processes. Therefore, headless commerce helps to set up a website in less time than usual.
Faster Time to Market for Omnichannel and International GTMs
If the business manages to create an omnichannel retail experience using a traditional B2B store builder, the speed of marketing and growth will be slower.
On the contrary, headless commerce enables front-end developers to build a user experience from scratch on different touchpoints and devices. While the products and content are stored in the center and delivered through API anywhere. It promotes a faster time to market when selling in international boundaries and adopting new channels.
Challenges of Headless Commerce
Along with great advantages, headless commerce also suffers from some limitations that are necessary to be addressed:
Market Isolation
Since headless commerce does not provide front-end presentation, the marketing team cannot:
- Generate content in WYSIWYG circumstances.
- Ideate, acclaim, create and publish content faster without any dependency on the other department.
- Preview content to test the customer’s experience while consuming it.
It increases the reliability entirely on the IT team, which makes it strenuous for the marketers to function.
Ongoing Costs
In headless commerce, the front-end developers need to build everything on their own. Hence, it is both a time-consuming and costly affair. The developers are also required to troubleshoot their creations, resulting in ongoing costs beyond the starting limit.
The costs are even going to increase more as the marketers are now independent, and their reliability on the IT team has also increased.
Is Headless Commerce the New Future in B2B Online Store Builder?
Now, are you wondering whether headless commerce is the new future for B2B store builders? Here are some of the points that prove revolutionary in the world of headless commerce:
More Channels Available for Customer Interaction
A digital strategy becomes successful only when you reach more people through as many channels as possible. Headless commerce allows the business to offer content and products to multiple consumers without limiting creativity through traditional designs. It enables them to connect with a wider audience and eventually increase sales. Thus, businesses should shift to headless commerce as soon as possible.
Higher Expectation from Customers
In today’s world, content consumption and product purchase have become a lot easier. A consumer can do everything they desire with just a few clicks. It has put immense pressure on retailers to promote quick delivery of goods and services, and it is the primary reason for the requirement of headless commerce.
Stand Out from the Competitors
In today’s world, retailers grow only if they are responsive to different devices, offer customized user experiences, and promote faster and flexible deliveries. The non-headless eCommerce platforms are highly inflexible as they are designed to face other challenges.
The reason why headless commerce is the talk of the town is that it separates the function from the performance of the user experience, thereby enabling the businesses to provide the best shopping experiences to the customers.
Key Takeaway
Headless commerce is the new revolution in the B2B store builder. It benefits the retail businesses by separating the front-end processes from the back-end. It not only facilitates market growth but also promotes flexibility and adaptability to front-end developers.
