What is Headless eCommerce and what are the advantages of implementing it in your business?

Headless? As in NO head?

Yeah, we get it. This sounds like yet another trendy tech buzzword that is suddenly gaining popularity, but we can assure you that you will be interested in this one.

This is a new way of managing your eCommerce site, which will help you improve user experience and make it easier to manage the omnichannel experience you offer.

Is that really possible?

Yes, and it’s called Headless eCommerce.

Get ready, because we’re about to go into it in greater detail. 😉 

👉 Introduction to the concept

The evolution of the eCommerce sector is the result of technological advances over time. Whether it is because of speed or convenience, more and more people are opting for online shopping, and for this reason, online stores are adapting to a more consumer-focused business model.

But let’s start with the more technical definition: 

Headless eCommerce is a concept that appeared a few years ago, which is expected to be the future of eCommerce, since it addresses two terms that are currently widely used.

First, the omnichannel experience, which is based on connecting and using multiple communication channels to accompany the consumer throughout their journey, with the aim of unifying and, at the same time, creating a better customer experience. The latter is what the second term, the Headless concept addresses, since by gaining greater flexibility and customization capabilities, the consumer’s shopping experience will be more tailored to their needs and, therefore, more positive.

In short, Headless eCommerce means that your online store can break away from the traditional (rigid) web structure, where the frontend and backend are 100% dependent on each other. 

Additionally, it is able to adapt quickly to any innovation or trend demanded by both the market and its users.

But… What is a Headless architecture really based on?

👉 What is Headless eCommerce?

Headless eCommerce is an eCommerce architecture based on the idea of separating the computerized or administrative part of an eCommerce site from the more visible part or the showcase for the customer. 

In technological terms, we call the computerized part of the business the backend and the visible part refers to the frontend.

In a traditional architecture, both parts work together, but in a Headless architecture, the frontend and backend are decoupled, allowing you to work with fewer constraints and thus with greater flexibility and agility. 

Headless architecture also allows you to update the visible part of an eCommerce site without having to make any changes to the administrative part. By separating the frontend, it offers the opportunity to connect multiple frontends to the same backend, so it does not limit at all the design and visual appearance in any of the devices or channels an eCommerce site can offer, such as the website, a mobile app, a profile on any social media site, etc. 

This way, the user’s experience, emotions, and sensations are much more positive, since omnichannel and multichannel experiences are offered, without the existence of limitations on the visible side.

✅  How does Headless architecture work?

To fully understand Headless architecture, we will first explain in detail the three parts that complement it:

• Frontend: This is the visible part of the website, which interacts with the user and where the product catalog, design, colors, icons, banners, calendars, etc, are shown. Basically, it is the place where users look for products and complete their purchases.
  
  Let’s see an example of an online store that sells organic cosmetics. Everything we see at first glance is part of its frontend.

As you can see, it gives us the possibility to visit their various social media accounts, give them our contact info and subscribe to a newsletter, or receive a discount coupon for our birthday.

• Backend: This is the part of the website that is not visible to the user, which is responsible for carrying out the processes necessary for it to run properly and complete the specified business transactions. Additionally, the backend is in charge of processing the information and then sending it to the frontend. Both components communicate through an API layer.

• API (Application Programming Interface): it is the interface that allows us to send and receive information between the frontend and the backend. 
  
  Let’s see an example. On this website, we can download a lead magnet (a free gift). To do so, all you have to do is enter your contact info in the form.

This form is connected via API to an email marketing tool that is responsible for sending you the email with the gift when you enter your info.

Thanks to the API, you can connect two tools in a very simple way (and without having to touch any code).

Once you know the meaning of these three elements, it’s easier to understand what exactly Headless eCommerce architecture is and how it works.

As we said before, Headless eCommerce decouples the frontend from the backend so that they work independently, allowing you to achieve greater flexibility and customization in the design, modifications, updates, and changes you want to make. The installation of an Application Programming Interface (also known as API) allows the exchange of data and information between both parties instantaneously.

Therefore, all the information stored in the backend database is transferred to the frontend through an API that, additionally, also allows you to send content to any channel or device, such as product information, payment gateways, etc.

For example, when a user is looking for a product within an eCommerce site and clicks on it when they find it, they are automatically requesting all the information for that product, so the frontend requests it from the backend, and through the APIs, all the content for the product page is sent so that the user can access it.

✅  Benefits of implementing Headless architecture in your eCommerce site 

• Improves customer experience 

Being able to customize experiences for each platform, channel and customer, strengthens the experience and, therefore, improves brand perception. 

There is greater flexibility due to the few limitations that exist in Headless architecture. 

For example, Doofinder’s search engine follows the same philosophy as Headless eCommerce and uses AI to deliver 100% personalized results. Thanks to its tracking of each person’s interaction in your store, it can “read the customer’s mind” and almost predict what they want to look for.

So, if a person has previously bought boxing gloves and a few days later comes back to your store and searches for “shorts”, Doofinder will show them shorts… but boxing shorts.

(And the best part is that you can try it for free for 30 days.) Where? Sign up here.

• Omnichannel and multichannel experience

Currently there are many different channels through which you can sell products, such as physical stores, online stores, apps, social media, Marketplaces, etc. And the use of these different channels offers the opportunity to reach a wider audience, thus obtaining a greater number of potential customers. This is what we know as a multichannel strategy. 

But… if we go one step further and manage to unify all of a brand’s existing channels, we will greatly improve the customer’s shopping experience. For example, the user can receive an email with an offer, through which they can go to the brand’s website, buy the product, and pick it up at the physical store if they wish to do so. This type of strategy is known as omnichannel. 

And here we can say that thanks to APIs, which allow content to be sent to any channel and device, it is much faster to add and connect new channels, which creates unique experiences for customers. 

• Greater adaptability to market demands 

On the other hand, Headless eCommerce allows you to adapt more quickly to market and user demands, so it also allows you to be more competitive and create shopping experiences that are more tailored to consumer needs. 

Therefore, since updates are faster and don’t affect the entire system, it is easier to apply modifications.

• Easier integrations

Headless architecture is open, which means that you can more easily integrate other tools into your platform.

It allows integrations with other systems or platforms, such as marketing tools, ERPs or CRMs. It also offers greater security when sending data, information and content through APIs.

• Greater freedom to experiment

Thanks to the type of architecture offered by Headless eCommerce, where the user interface and the web development are separated, changes made in either part don’t involve any changes in the other (yes, they are totally independent in this sense). 

Therefore, updates, changes and improvements can be made in the frontend, without affecting the backend.

👉 What is the difference between a traditional platform and a Headless platform?

Basically, in a traditional eCommerce site the frontend and backend work together, so flexibility and customization capabilities are limited. For this reason, the workload is greater, since the modifications that are applied in one part, must also be applied in the other to achieve a good performance. The frontend layer may be affected if you interfere with the backend database.

By contrast, in Headless eCommerce architecture the frontend and backend are separate, so there is greater flexibility and customization on any channel and device. It also allows a faster and more agile adaptation to the new changes that appear in the sector, as more and more new business models emerge, to which eCommerce sites must adapt, in a constant evolution to be more competitive in the market and, in this way, offer the best possible experiences and technologies. 

👉  When should you choose Headless eCommerce?

It is obvious that in order to correctly decide whether your eCommerce site needs a Headless or traditional architecture, you must first assess your needs, interests and objectives. 

Primarily, you should choose a Headless architecture when you want to achieve greater flexibility and offer a very positive user experience. 

Because an architecture of this type will allow you to scale your business with fewer limitations, as well as to be better prepared to incorporate new trends and innovations into your online store in a much simpler and faster way. 

In the end, it is a more evolved approach than what we had before and, taking into account that it is a sector that is advancing by leaps and bounds, it is very necessary to adapt to the trends that strengthen user experiences.

New channels are increasingly emerging, and so it is essential to try to connect all of them to facilitate the buying process for the user, personalize the Customer Journey and recognize the buyer, whatever the device or channel they choose to use.

👉 The future of eCommerce is Headless

From what we have seen here, in the end, it is more than evident that Headless eCommerce is a competitive advantage at all levels and makes a big difference for those eCommerce sites that use it. 

A solution that will undoubtedly provide you with flexibility, adaptability, customization, agility and competitiveness

Offering unique customer experiences is one of the goals that most eCommerce sites have today, and with Headless architecture, it is much easier to strengthen them. 

We propose you incorporate Headless architecture into your business with LogiCommerce, a Headless eCommerce platform that provides cutting-edge technology and connects to the entire customer experience. 

It is a highly customizable software that integrates seamlessly with third-party solutions and allows you to choose from over 200 high-end native features. You can manage it through its intuitive BackOffice and manage your eCommerce site from a single Control Panel to reduce the amount of management time. Additionally, it stands out for its total transparency, with no hidden costs or transaction fees.

And if you still want more… here’s a round up of articles that can help you improve your UX.

• How to use eye tracking to analyze the UX of your eCommerce (+ free tools)
• [Artificial intelligence and eCommerce] What it is and how it can help increase sales in your online store
• “No Search Results” Pages:  7 Tips to Optimize

And if that’s still not enough, here’s a link to our whitepapers section so you can go deeper into different topics on how to improve your store (and increase sales).