Best platforms for Headless eCommerce

Nathan Lomax

Nathan Lomax is co-founder and director of Quickfire Digital, an eCommerce agency working with scale-hungry businesses, based in Norwich, UK.

• 
• 
• 

For those who have not heard of Headless eCommerce, this type of development increasingly popular among brands that want to offer unique experiences to their audience, is based on the separation of the presentation (front-end) and the basic infrastructure (back-end) de las plataformas digitales, tanto en webs como en eCommerce. 

Within a Headless structure, content deployment can be achieved from one source of databases and core requirements to a number of platforms, using API calls. Doing so provides some significant benefits, including more flexible personalisation, the ability to change the front-end faster, and future proofing for emerging technologies.

But, first of all… Let’s see how it looks on cool examples that currently work on instant changes and notifications!

👉 What criteria follow when choosing the best one for you

Si te estás planteando llevar tu eCommerce al siguiente nivel y simplificarlo con un desarrollo Headless , existen criterios que te pueden resultar útiles a la hora de buscar la mejor opción para ti: 

• User interface: If it is clear and attractive, is the control panel easy to use?
• Usability: If it is easy to learn, the company has good technical support and user assistance, tutorials or training. 
• Integration: If it is easy to connect with other tools or platforms. 
• Price: It is also important if the price is well adjusted and the company is transparent and flexible.

And now that you have a clear idea of what to look at for your project, let’s look at some great examples for eCommerce.

👉 The most advanced in Headless technology

Headless development has been adopted by some of the world’s leading online and technology retailers: Amazon is believed to push updates every 11 seconds on average with features like smart voice assistants, Amazon Dash… While Netflix is said to adopt new code thousands of times per day. Giving more examples… Nike has built its eCommerce development offering using Headless and they’re a perfect example of where it is a great fit.

Nike has long been one of the leading content-producing brands in the world, and being able to deliver digital experiences in their unique fashion – without having to touch the core of their systems – is clearly a match made in heaven.

So the idea is quite clear: if an online store wants to not only survive, but also thrive, it will have to adapt to these modern technologies and implement them in its system. 

And so… To successfully manage a Headless project you will need front-end systems – for content production and to manage the presentation to the user – and an eCommerce platform that can cope with your needs. So here are the best ones to integrate this development and take your online store to the next level.

👉 Headless eCommerce platforms

✅ Shopify Plus

In our opinion, Shopify Plus is just the best option for those merchants who want flexibility and to create something extra special. Shopify is known for its handling and control of the back-end so merchants can focus on their business, and Headless for Plus is a natural progression for those innovative brands wanting to grow and take the next step. The added bonus of adopting Shopify on your online store is their point-of-sale (POS) system which means hooking up offline to online is as simple as it gets.

For example: Babylist store uses a Shopify Plus Headless

✅ Magento

Now part of the Adobe family, Magento – also called “Adobe Commerce” – is a great option for those brands with significant developer resources, especially if that’s in-house. The Adobe ecosystem provides content and asset requirements which then feed into the Magento Commerce platform so it has most of your bases covered.

For example: Helly Hansen has adopted Adobe Commerce Headless

✅ BigCommerce

The third of the big eCommerce special platform, BigCommerce integrates with a range of front-end and content management systems, and also promotes the speed at which innovative Headless development can be deployed.

This development platform facilitates the connection with the most popular front-end systems, such as Next.js, Gatsby and Nuxt.js, so you can create unique experiences for each of your customers, thereby increasing the conversion of your online store.

For example: Yeti Cycles uses BigCommerce Headless

✅ WooCommerce

Still the most popular eCommerce platform, it is possible to go Headless with WooCommerce, so it needs to be on this list. It’s a decent option for smaller brands and if you’ve got access to some technical knowledge then it could be a viable option for you. An advantage of going Headless with WooCommerce is that you can reduce your reliance on the many plug-ins which impact website performance.

✅ Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Si estás utilizando oIf you’re on or considering Salesforce as your eCommerce platform then it supports Headless development, and you have the benefit of one of the biggest names in online technology behind you. Commerce Cloud combines Headless with traditional development, achieving full integration. So, in your eCommerce you will be able to mix styles and use one approach for some projects and an integrated one for others, as you like. If you decide that Headless commerce makes sense for you, this is a good solution for it.

👉 Headless front-end systems

✅ Vue Storefront

Vue is a Progressive Web App (PWA) and, as the others above, it integrates with any eCommerce platform that’s worth mentioning: Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and more. For the integration it basically requires a content management system (CMS) to work alongside it, and works with major payment services such as Stripe, PayPal and Klarna, facilitating the work in every way.

✅ Sitecore

One of the big names in this area, working with the likes of companies as Microsoft, L’Oreal and Puma (you see, at first glance, it looks very good…). The Sitecore Experience Platform goes beyond a CMS and acts as a digital marketing hub complete with analytics, customer data and marketing automation, to make your customers and your own life easier.

✅ Contentful

One of the bigger Headless CMS solutions for eCommerce, used by the likes of Bang & Olufsen and Costa Coffee (also cool names). Contentful it’s for enterprise-level businesses and allows content teams to focus on creation rather than working within multiple CMS silos. While a traditional CMS is designed to build web pages, Contentful is purpose-built for the world of omnichannel, with content edited from a single hub.

✅ Sanity

An open-source platform which can be modified using JavaScript and React. Easy-to-use and great for collaboration with members from other teams, Sanity has one of the major benefits for eCommerce: the ability to build amazing customized product pages through the use of your best content. Develop product pages which pop rather than being generic.

✅ Strapi

Another open-source platform, this time based on Node.js. Strapi is extremely flexible and easy to generate your own APIs. You can distribute your range of content across multiple channels and all from one CMS. And because it promotes itself as a ‘developer-first’ platform, connectivity with other platforms is a priority – to databases, other front-end frameworks and static site-generators. They list Societe Generale and L’Equipe as client projects.

👉 Summary

First of all, we can confirm Headless development is still in its infancy, but more and more is becoming a major part of the conversation for brands and online shops who go big on content and want to make life easier for their customers as they grow.

Because you know, the easier you make the process for your customers, the more sales you will get. It’s that simple.

Headless eCommerce allows for heightened personalisation, augmented reality (AR) experiences, multiple front-ends for different audiences but powered by the same back-end engine, and is an exciting option to throw into your eCommerce and marketing mix.

Doofinder’s Site Search follows the same philosophy and uses its Artificial Intelligence to deliver customized results. Tracking the interaction of each person in your store, it can “read their mind” and predict what they are looking for.

Of course, if you need any support, or want to talk through the various options for your scale-hungry eCommerce brand then drop us a line at Quickfire Digital.