Headless commerce: CMS and e-commerce combined
The e-commerce world is booming at the moment. Thanks to COVID-19 the movement from traditional selling points (B2B markets) to an omnichannel digital commerce platform that offers a great experience for all customers has grown rapidly. This actually is the new standard. A trend that also made this possible is headless platforms. The trend we see now is even called headless commerce. What this is and why you should choose for a headless e-commerce platform, you will find out here.
What is headless?
So first, let’s look at what a headless CMS is. With a traditional CMS, the Content Management Systems controls both the backend and the frontend. If you, for example, are using Drupal as a CMS the platform has complete control over the presentation and data layers. When you choose for a headless approach, the CMS has control over the data layers but has no responsibility for how the data is presented. In a headless approach, the frontend is decoupled from the backend.
What is headless e-commerce
Now the headless CMS trend is here to stay, and it actually resulted in a new trend: headless commerce. Headless e-commerce means that the frontend of the commerce platform is decoupled from the backend. This means that the e-commerce platform is only used for its commerce possibilities. The backend will be used to store all files, content, inventory, functionality, and folders. This means that a headless commerce platform is only responsible for the e-commerce side of the business and another platform like a CMS or DXP is responsible for creating and publishing the content of your platform. Because of this, you can create much better customer experiences.
Benefits of headless e-commerce
- The biggest benefit is that a headless approach will give you an improved user experience, you can use the true potential of each platform;
- A headless commerce platform will allow you to create a real omnichannel strategy;
- Because a headless approach will result in a better user experience it will also result in more conversions;
- Headless commerce systems are API driven because of this your IT landscape will be seamlessly integrated;
- You are not only reliant on backend developers;
- Use the same decoupled frontend on different backends. The great benefit of a headless approach is that one JavaScript framework can be used for different data providers.
How to realize a headless commerce platform
What we have seen over the last couple of years is that no platform offers it all. So, because of this, you need to combine different platforms, and thanks to a headless environment this is a lot easier than before. For example, you need and want an e-commerce platform with great catalogs options and an easy check-out system. But, because you also want to offer your customer the best experience possible, you want to publish content via a Content Management System. Thanks to the headless e-commerce solution you can combine both Magento (e-commerce platform) and Drupal (CMS), for example, and make your platform a brilliant mix of e-commerce and a great user experience.
