Headless architecture is a relatively new software development concept popular within industries that favor flexibility and scalability – like the ecommerce industry with the headless commerce approach. But how does it work, and in what way does it benefit online businesses? Why do companies want to become headless?
In this article, you'll learn about the principles of headless architecture, why businesses are so keen on using it, and how to move from a monolith legacy solution and jump on the headless train.
Keep reading to discover:
What headless architecture is;
The difference between headless architecture and microservices;
The main benefits of headless architecture for ecommerce.
Let’s dive in!
What is headless architecture?
Headless architecture is a software development concept where the frontend (user interface – UI) is separated from the backend (business logic) layer of the website. This decoupling allows for better customization, faster development, and a much quicker time-to-market for businesses.
By offering unmatched technical flexibility, headless commerce empowers brands to craft a unique platform that aligns perfectly with business goals, integrates with your current tech stack, and delivers an exceptional customer experience.
What is a headless commerce platform?
When it comes to the ecommerce industry specifically, headless commerce is part of a bigger approach called composable commerce where ecommerce businesses can choose the ideal set of technologies along with the microservices they need, and combine them into a unique composition that fits their business requirements.
A headless ecommerce solution is a decoupled system. Contrary to traditional ones, headless platforms separate the presentation layer from the commerce engine. Since it's API-based, the implementation is fast, and the system runs seamlessly.
Headless architecture vs. microservices
When researching the headless topic, many look for comparisons of headless commerce vs. microservices. It gets even more complicated as both terms occur in the MACH abbreviation, which stands for microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native, and headless.
Does it mean they are the same? Well, not really. To avoid misunderstandings, let's clarify the difference.
Headless architecture emphasizes decoupling the frontend and the backend layers of a system. This is, however, just one step towards composable architecture based on microservices.
Microservices are small applications dedicated to a specific task. They can be easily replaced, independently developed, and installed, as a part of a larger software system composition. Microservices allow businesses to cherry-pick tech providers for each business function without having to modify the rest of the system.
Headless vs. composable: What's the difference?
While both headless and composable commerce share the goal of enhancing flexibility and customization in ecommerce, they operate at different levels of architectural design.
Headless architecture specifically focuses on decoupling the frontend from the backend, enabling businesses to create tailored user experiences without being constrained by legacy systems. In contrast, composable commerce takes this a step further: it allows companies to integrate various best-of-breed solutions, including microservices, into a cohesive system.
This means that with composable commerce, you can select and assemble the optimal technologies and services for each aspect of your business, creating a highly customized solution that aligns with what you need for your ecommerce platform.
Essentially, while headless provides the foundational flexibility needed to innovate at the frontend side of things, composable commerce gives you a way to combine multiple services seamlessly, enhancing agility and responsiveness in a rapidly evolving market.
How do they differ from monolithic architecture?
Monolithic architecture is like a one-size-fits-all solution, where the frontend and backend components are tightly integrated into a single codebase. One great example of a well-known monolithic solution is SAP , where everything is built into one, unified system.
While this approach may seem convenient, it often leads to challenges in scalability and adaptability. When you need to make updates or add new features, you’ll find that it requires a significant investment of time and resources, limiting your ability to respond to market changes or customer needs effectively.
On the other hand, headless and composable architectures offer a refreshing alternative. Both decoupling the frontend and microservices integration allow for rapid customization and scalability, giving you the possibility to deliver engaging user experiences without the burden of being tied to a rigid structure.
Benefits of headless architecture
Headless architecture introduces a number of benefits to ecommerce businesses, offering distinct advantages over traditional, monolithic setups. Here are the most important ones:
Separated presentation layer
First and foremost, a headless solution gives you the flexibility to choose the best way to build your frontend layer. Thanks to this approach, you are no longer tied to the legacy frontend technology provided by your monolithic system.
Omnichannel capabilities
A headless commerce architecture helps to streamline the integration of content and product data, enabling customers to enjoy a consistent shopping experience across multiple channels. It opens up unlimited possibilities to approach omnichannel sales and frees marketing specialists to introduce changes to the website without the help of a developer team.
Improved customer experience
Frontend is where the entire customer journey happens; the ability to control the presentation layer of the system helps merchants to improve and personalize the customer experience of their online store. Coupled with fast web performance, it directly translates into increased conversions and higher revenue.
Fast loading times
Speaking of web performance, headless architecture focuses on delivering lightning-speed ecommerce websites. Since the frontend isn’t bound to a specific backend technology, it can leverage faster, modern frameworks like React or Vue that are built for speed.
As the load times influence SEO results, the user experience, and conversion rates, it remains one of the most important benefits of headless commerce .
Competitive edge
An undeniable benefit of headless architecture is the agility and flexibility it gives to face an intensely competitive ecommerce market.
Headless commerce enables rapid and flexible customization, allowing businesses to adapt quickly to market trends without overhauling the backend infrastructure. This not only streamlines the development process but also helps you to create engaging customer experiences that set your brand apart.
Understanding headless CMS
As we explore the components of headless architecture, it’s essential to understand how headless CMS plays a pivotal role in enabling flexible content delivery across diverse platforms.
Headless Content Management Systems (CMS) are designed to separate the content creation and management process from the presentation layer, providing a more flexible and streamlined approach to content delivery.
Unlike traditional CMS platforms that couple the frontend and backend tightly, a headless CMS focuses on content storage and management, delivering content through APIs to any front-end interface. This enables businesses to serve content across multiple channels seamlessly.
How headless CMS works
In a headless CMS, content is created, managed, and stored in the backend, while the frontend presentation layer is entirely decoupled; users access the headless CMS through an admin interface to create and manage content. This may include text, images, videos, and other digital assets. The CMS allows for easy categorization and structuring of content, which can be tailored to various use cases.
Once the content is created, it is stored in a structured format within the CMS. The headless CMS then exposes this content via APIs that allow developers to request specific pieces of content and deliver them to any frontend application or device, ensuring that content can be accessed as needed.
But that's not all there is to it: since it's headless, developers can build the frontend using their preferred technologies, such as modern JS frameworks. Because of the headless approach, developers are free to create custom user interfaces without being constrained by the backend architecture.
Let's pinpoint the main differences between headless vs. traditional CMS :
Traditional CMS consists of: | Headless CMS has only: |
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Popular examples of headless CMS
Several headless CMS platforms are making waves in the market, each with unique features and capabilities. Here are a few noteworthy examples:
Contentful : A powerful and popular headless CMS, Contentful offers extensive API support and a user-friendly interface for content management, allowing teams to create and manage content efficiently across channels.
Sanity : Known for its real-time collaboration features, Sanity allows teams to manage content dynamically. It also provides robust APIs that enable seamless integration with various front-end technologies.
Storyblok : Known for its visual editor and flexibility, Storyblok allows content creators to design and manage content in a way that suits their needs. It offers robust API functionality, making it easy for developers to integrate it with various frontend frameworks.
Why headless architecture is a must-have in omnichannel ecommerce
Monolithic architectures, like for example Magento, are undoubtedly robust and offer a lot of useful features.
However, its great power comes at a high cost when it comes to performance. Since they are one extra-large unit with a frontend tightly coupled to and dependent on the backend, monoliths can turn out to be very slow.
The out-of-the-box features mean lots of code – and the more code you have, the longer it takes to process. With headless architecture, there is no need to render as much "default" code, making everything run faster.
Headless commerce is a great choice for omnichannel expansion also because it gives brands the freedom to control each digital touchpoint independently. With frontend and backend layers decoupled, you can design unique user interfaces for different channels and update them quickly without altering the backend infrastructure.
This flexibility is key for businesses aiming to deliver a unified customer experience, ensuring that users get consistent, high-quality interactions regardless of where they engage with the brand.
But headless architecture is not only for enterprises
Headless commerce is not limited to big global brands. This approach doesn't force a bloody revolution in the system by killing off the whole class of existing functionalities and restarting the architecture from the very beginning.
On the contrary, headless commerce is very agile and enables the addition of new business functionalities to an existing monolithic architecture, and integrates with standard UI with almost no technical support.
In practice, several different platforms (e.g., CRM, CMS, OMS, loyalty programs) can be ‘covered' under one umbrella (i.e., frontend).
How can smaller businesses leverage headless architecture?
By decoupling the frontend from backend systems, headless architecture enables marketing, content, and product teams to make updates independently without waiting on developer support.
Smaller businesses can quickly adapt their customer-facing experiences, running promotions or adjusting content to meet demand with ease. Because headless architecture is so flexible, it empowers teams without deep technical knowledge to manage multiple channels, streamlining processes and reducing dependency on IT resources.
For smaller businesses, this adaptability can be game-changing. It gives access to the same advanced capabilities that large enterprises use, including personalization, omnichannel reach, and real-time content updates.
Conclusion: Is headless architecture the future?
A headless approach to commerce allows users to develop systems at different speed: e.g. within the frontend with fast-paced design iteration and a field to explore new features, and within the backend with special attention to security and stability. For most companies looking to future-proof their digital infrastructure, headless architecture offers the flexibility and resilience required to stay relevant in a fast-paced ecommerce environment.
Monoliths can still be effective for smaller companies with simple needs or limited technical resources, as they provide a single, cohesive system with out-of-the-box functionality. However, for businesses aiming to innovate quickly and scale efficiently, the monolithic approach falls short. Updating a monolithic system often requires lengthy development cycles and a full re-deployment, which can slow down a company's response to market changes and customer demands.
So, is headless architecture the future?
For businesses with ambitions to scale, adapt, and deliver exceptional customer experiences, the answer is a resounding yes.
