Here at Webnexs, we continue to talk about all things e-commerce, its digital transformation, and future technology. So headless commerce is still a buzzword in the digital universe like Bigdata; once was, many people talk about it, but we’re not sure if every one of them understands it.
So, do you have one in place? Is it smart enough for your business needs, but what does it mean, and how does it work? Oracle, ATG, SAP Hybris, Adobe, Magento, IBM, Websphere, Demandware, and Salesforce have something in common?
Those were the legacy e-commerce platforms introduced in the 90s as an all-in-one solution for sellers and consumers using desktop computers for eCommerce. They were often referred to as monoliths because they were inherently rigid and built with fixed rules from user-experience to a supported channel.
The Emergence of Headless Commerce Approach
And fast forward today, with the rise of mobile devices, internet-based devices, and even refrigerators being considered revenue streams, the rules of digital commerce have changed.
So the addition of new digital touchpoints to the shopper journey, which these original platforms were not built for the ever-increasing consumer expectations for modern, engaging digital experiences, and the steady rise of digital commerce as a primary channel for most businesses to engage and convert customers has changed all of that so no single vendor or multi-vendor platform can offer all of the applications needed to deliver e-commerce experiences that require the demands of today’s choppers to let’s nail it back a little and talk about what headless commerce is headless is a technology that allows separating the back end from the front end, all right.
That sounds pretty precise, and why is this separation beneficial again? It allows for better website optimization, adjusting it to the user’s expectations or experimenting on the front end without contacting the beggar.
Now it’s getting a little bit interesting. So then we have microservices. The microservices architecture is used in modern systems, and it consists of a combination of internal and external services connected via their APIs.
And in such a model, each service is self-sufficient and pursues a specific business goal, so, unlike monolithic architecture, which was based on when one common to make a change in a particular service, we work on a specific microservice rather than building a system from scratch.
So before we get into the complicated parts, let’s talk about how headless commerce works .
How does Headless commerce work?
So the front end of our site or app is on the first level at the top. Different components of the front end are developed independently for other devices. So because of this, as many touchpoints or customer channels as our brands may have, we can have that many front ends connected to one backhand, and the back end of our site or app is on the second level from the bottom. It consists of microservices, and independent coding blocks, and each one works with its database.
For example, your brand store can have separate microservices for a product catalog, on-site search shopping cart checkout page payment cms, or customer service. Our database is at the bottom; this is where we collect and organize information about our brand store.
Customization properties of Headless commerce solution
So we have customization; you can customize your front end with your brand identity and UX design principles without template or platform limitations. Then you have a sandbox environment where you can run UX experiments and A/B test specific parts of the site without jeopardizing the whole ecosystem. Outer-the-box agility is one of our favorites.
You can implement new UX changes faster since you don’t have to redeploy a backend system when working in a decoupled environment, and we have scalability. The frontend and backend can be scaled independently so that even if the frontend receives a lot of traffic, the commerce functions are not impacted in the back end. Finally, the analyst is touchable.
So if you want to add a mobile app, social channels, or even an in-car marketplace shop, you can do it quickly. So you don’t have to build a business case for a new backhand whenever you need to add a new frontend. Here the headless commerce can be personalized for different regions for global brand sites depending on the geo-location, and the messaging behind products could match the intended audience.
What’s great about Headless CMS?
With Headless CMS, you can create some page content for apps or websites in the back end of a headless CMS, allowing different region-specific channels to pull matching messaging for any given audience and the result, tailored messaging increases successful conversion.
There are extensive conversion opportunities available on many different devices and applications. Endpoints can be adapted to funnel visitors into systems that provide them with the information or resources they seek from our brands, such as the purchase conversion recipe loyalty perks.
Depending on the use case, businesses can use headless commerce with a decoupled front end or a traditional monolith system, also called head optional.
Also, headless commerce helps to overcome language obstacles; obviously, that’s quite a detailed list all the current platform offers. You have what they don’t offer and set your priorities, and then make sure you get alignment from your digital marketing teams before the launch.
Then decide when you want to migrate your frontend, how and when you’ll move the product catalogs and data user profiles, and the product orders besides your data and its systems; your digital marketing people need to be involved in this process.
Especially for defining your object sub-skews and the attribute, even though this is a technical task, digital marketing owners and stakeholders of this process should verify your data in the new ecosystem at the end of the day; this will impact their day-to-day procedures.
Conclusion
So what is the next step? Maybe its composable commerce, and we can discuss it in another newsletter.
In summary, composable commerce leverages modern technologies and approaches like mac and the gem stack to meet the expectations and the experience needs of today’s online shoppers.
Check out all the Headless commerce-related blogs and resources.
