5 Reasons Why Headless Commerce Improves Customer Experience

Written by  AJ Leale, Sr. Director eCommerce 
New trends and technologies continue emerging, and lately, there has been more frequent attention to one of the biggest trends in e-commerce – the use of headless architecture.
In this post, we dive a bit deeper into what headless commerce is, and some of the advantages to taking this approach.

What is Headless Commerce?

Headless Commerce is a platform where the front-end of the site (the presentation layer) is separated from the back-end (the commerce layer). This provides retailers more flexibility and control of content, and overall brand experience.
Traditional eCommerce sites need to retrieve information from the platform, which can be time-consuming. Headless commerce architecture uses APIs to get information making it much easier for developers to customize any site. Developers use APIs to present products and customer reviews on any device, and any channel, both current and in the future.
In a nutshell, the back-end and the front-end do not rely on each other at the code-level.
Headless eCommerce architecture typically delivers its platform via REST API, and it consists of a backend data model along with a cloud-based infrastructure.

5 Key Benefits of Headless Commerce

1. Lower Development Cost

The implementation of a headless commerce architecture often results in significant savings. All you have to do is assemble a team of skilled frontend developers which allows more attention to UX optimization.

2. Better User Experience

No matter how users engage with your brand, or at what stage of the buyer’s journey, one thing is certain – consistent user experience is key! Headless commerce enables you to have more freedom to customize the right user interface.
Microservices in a headless architecture, helps all digital channels provide consistent and unified data, to both online and offline channels. Whether it be BOPIS, prices, promotions or other commerce blocks, brands can be sure that customers will have the same experience both online and offline, which improves overall customer satisfaction and increases revenue.
Enabling full control of your brand’s identity without having to adhere to a specific layout is the key advantage. Your creative team can implement new features, without causing any unnecessary changes to the e-commerce system.
Backend information available on purchase history is useful data to offer more personalized user experiences. It can also be utilized to showcase offers specifically to each customer and lead to increased revenue.

3. Freedom To Experiment

Headless commerce architecture is fantastic because it allows for many experiments without the risk of jeopardizing the whole ecosystem of any site or app. You could A/B test any part of a website and perform various other tests, with only the need for a UI developer, as the backend will remain untouched. This saves a significant amount of time and money that would otherwise be spent on developer costs.
With traditional eCommerce websites, both the frontend and backend need to be modified simultaneously. This can require you to shut down your site or app for maintenance, which could result in financial losses and headless eCommerce architecture solves eliminates this risk.

4. Integrations Are Faster

APIs are an important part of headless commerce architecture. They allow software platforms to communicate with each other in a more efficient and quicker way.
To increase the number of customers you can reach across different channels and devices, your eCommerce platform needs to be able to integrate with these systems. With headless commerce, there is no coding involved in order to make these integrations possible.

5. It Allows for Agile Marketing

E-commerce brands need to quickly test campaigns, and headless commerce platforms make this job easier. Your marketing team can quickly roll out new features and test landing pages in record time.
If your brand is expanding to a new geographical area, setting up a website or an app will not take months, with the help of a headless commerce architecture, you can expand to new markets within just a few days!
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If you would like to get started with a headless commerce architecture or evaluate how this would apply to your eCommerce plans, our team of technology experts will help you at any stage, to define, deliver, and support a solution for you!
Get in touch today and let us help you achieve your goals.