Headless commerce is an approach to e-commerce that allows store owners to become more agile and flexible to test and experiment, by separating the front end and the backend of their e-commerce experiences.

In other words, the presentation layer, which is also called the ‘frontend,’ is decoupled from the backend interface which is responsible for the overall functionality and features of headless commerce architecture.

This decoupling of frontend and backend in headless commerce applications allows developers to make changes without affecting the user experience. The headless eCommerce store manages and delivers content without any presentation layer (frontend).

The head in an eCommerce application is a template or a theme. It is removed in the headless eCommerce application leaving the backend for the delivery of content. So, front-end developers can solely focus on how to represent that content using whatever framework they require.

Since online shopping became a widespread possibility in the 1990s, technology has evolved rapidly. Early on, businesses first took a full-stack approach to their web stores, where front-end and back-end systems were closely connected. This made sense because they were only focused on one experience, desktop. But organizations now need the ability to tailor experiences to different use cases across channels (such as mobile devices), while keeping the overall buying experience consistent across their brand.

This has created the perfect opportunity for headless commerce to become a tool for organizations aiming to secure a competitive advantage through innovation, iteration, and testing of their e-commerce experiences. With headless commerce, thanks to its decoupled nature, this can be done on the front end without disrupting or impacting the back end — and vice versa. This means more agile organizations that have more flexibility to maximize e-commerce improvements without a workload or maintenance headache.

Headless commerce, as an approach, decouples the front end and back end of businesses’ web stores by putting an application programming interface (API) between them that manages the exchange of data, creating an opportunity to test and experiment within both environments (independent of each other). Although with headless commerce the front end and back end are decoupled, this does not mean that they are completely disconnected; they simply can be experimented with separately. They remain connected through web services or API calls, which keeps the data exchange between the decoupled systems intact, even as the organization experiments with both environments.

There are multiple benefits to using both a commerce-led or a content-led ecommerce strategy. Content- and experience-led strategies using headless commerce can provide brands with:

1. Advanced technologies to create visionary, fast websites.
2. Flexibility and familiarity for developers.
3. Complete ownership over site architecture
4. Marketing effectiveness for innovation without hurting back-end processes.
5. Speed to market for international and omnichannel GTMs.
6. Conversion rates and lower customer acquisition costs.

Additionally, headless commerce opens up a world of possibilities with brands that are looking for a content-led strategy to begin with. There are now truly no limitations to the customizations that can occur in the digital ecommerce space.

A web and mobile studio is a leading company providing the best solution for headless commerce to your eCommerce store.