{"id":8757,"date":"2023-10-09T16:00:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T22:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ometrics.com\/blog\/?p=8757"},"modified":"2023-10-09T16:00:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T22:00:47","slug":"what-is-headless-commerce-and-what-are-its-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ometrics.com\/blog\/what-is-headless-commerce-and-what-are-its-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Headless Commerce and What are its Benefits?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||4px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

E-commerce has altered dramatically in the past ten years. Just think: mobile shopping, social commerce and ever-changing customer habits have given us a lot to keep up with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Headless commerce is an exciting tool that has been adopted by some industry leaders that allows companies to keep up with this shifting landscape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It allows you to improve site performance and make quick changes to your website. It also offers nearly unlimited creative freedom. This means that your imagination – or that of your developer – is free to run wild and create a bespoke online experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

With that said, headless commerce is not for the faint-hearted. It can be complex, time-consuming and costly to establish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thankfully, this guide is here to show you whether headless commerce is the right option. We\u2019ll investigate what headless commerce really is, what the benefits are and whether it\u2019s appropriate for your e-commerce site.<\/p>\n

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What is headless commerce?<\/span><\/h2>\n

To truly understand headless commerce, we need to first look at traditional commerce.<\/p>\n

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What is traditional commerce?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Traditional commerce, also known as monolithic, legacy or the all-in-one system, has dominated e-commerce for many years. In essence, this system offers an all-in-one package for creating your e-commerce platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

In plain English, this means that your frontend is connected to your backend in one codebase. The frontend is also known as the UI layer, which displays font, images, graphs and styles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The backend, or the business logic layer, handles payment, security and checking, as well as important things like the data warehouse. For those of you wondering, \u201c<\/span>What is a unified data warehouse<\/span><\/a>?\u201d, it\u2019s where all the business information of a company is stored and made accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many benefits to using the traditional commerce system, but it is also inflexible. Due to the frontend and backend being connected, it can be difficult or lengthy to implement changes.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.ometrics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/super-internet-ecommerce-market.png” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” width=”43%” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

This is a problem because, in today\u2019s commercial landscape, sellers need to be agile and attentive to changing customer habits. And boy, do they change often.<\/span><\/p>\n

One notable example of recent industry trends involves the introduction of <\/span>AI in e-commerce<\/span><\/a>, with virtual reality and voice shopping also changing how consumers shop.<\/p>\n

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What is headless commerce?<\/span><\/h3>\n

In contrast to its legacy counterpart, headless commerce is a type of architecture that disconnects the frontend and backend. It allows for the building of streamlined systems that are loosely put together \u2013 just like LEGO. You can add, remove and alter services easily and individually.<\/span><\/p>\n

Headless commerce is also referred to as API-first; the frontend and backend are able to be separate and flexible because they communicate via an API layer. An Application Programming Interface can be <\/span>defined<\/span><\/a> as the \u201cbridge for data transferred between the services.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This level of flexibility is also seen in the recent trend of AI alleviating our workload by automating tasks. For example, the <\/span>benefits of AI in sales<\/span><\/a> include freeing up workers from admin and seeking leads to help with sales.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a similar fashion, headless commerce liberates developers from traditional constraints. But that\u2019s not the only benefit.<\/p>\n

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The benefits of headless commerce<\/span><\/h2>\n

Headless commerce is touted as having many benefits. The four most distinct are:<\/span><\/p>\n