Explore the definition of headless ecommerce and why it’s so viable in the online retail industry in 2022 and beyond.
Hey, we’re here today to discuss a word that’s getting a lot of buzzes, when it comes to eCommerce vendor selection.
If you’ve been thinking about eCommerce, order management, or marketplace technology for your business, then you’ve probably started to hear the term headless.
Forrester is the leading technology research firm that predicted that in 2022, lists would become the new default technology choice for B2B or B2C complex eCommerce.
According to Forrester, loose coupling and interoperability will enable vendors to be prominent in some functional regions while providing more value and innovation than vertically integrated e-commerce.
So what exactly does that mean? That’s a mouthful. It’s a good question, too. We see a lot of definitions thrown around these days; headless is thrown around all over the e-commerce space.
So it’s hard to decide what it means and, more notably, should you care about it or should your business care about it as well.
What are Headless Ecommerce and its explanation?
Let’s start with a basic definition; how do you define headless e-commerce? So, think about software as a technology stack of components from top to bottom. Then at the top of the stack would be the user interface, or the part that the user interacts with sometimes; this is called the front-end.
So, the rest of the stack below the front end is where the software derives all of its functionality, like the business logic of the data model or the database; sometimes, this is called the backend.
Headless e-commerce platforms focus only on the backend of functionality and let people build their own front-end user experiences. Right, so, head commerce and headless commerce is the user experience. You’re accessing that backend functionality via an API and then building an user interface for both the buyer and the administrative interface.
Headless ecommerce platform: The future technology
So we got it, so let’s talk a little about why we think headless is becoming such a buzzword. Today has been using our headless e-commerce platform order cloud for several years.
Now to deliver custom ecommerce order management and marketplace solutions. But it seems like we’ve started to hear a pickup and buzz around that headless term now that we’re entering 2024 in a few months.
And it seems like that really has to do with one big thing: the rigidity of traditional platforms and the challenges that come along with that. We think that’s right and to that point of rigidity and traditional platforms.
Historically, ecommerce platforms were built with monolithic architectures where the components, functions, and logic of the user and the user interface were all tightly packaged together.
So this was great in terms of sturdiness and reliability, and that technology has brought us a long way, let’s say, over the last 10 to 20 years. Still, the downside is that the tight coupling of the backend functionality with the front-end experience makes it difficult to customize.
Sometimes, even making that software conform to your business, it’s not to say that you can’t make changes or updates or customizations. But it’s not necessarily as easy or elegant, and the same applies to traditional SaaS applications.
They’re quick to implement, but they’re not made to be customized, okay, so with traditional monolithic eCommerce platforms like Salesforce or Oracle or SAP Hybris or even with conventional SaaS applications like Shopify, what does it look like? For a complex business that needs a custom experience as well.
Here’s an example of an on saw; for example, you can buy a hardtop car and decide later that you want to turn it into a convertible. It’s possible to do it, but, of course, you’d have to hire a remarkable craftsman to cut off the top and make it pretty.
It wouldn’t be exquisite when you were done, and it would probably take longer than just beginning with a convertible right off the bat, not to mention the hassle of maintaining something that wasn’t meant to be customized in the first place.
Conclusion
So just to summarize, it seems like flexibility and the ability to create exquisite custom experiences with headless commerce. These are the key reasons companies are moving away from monolithic platforms and the big boards headless; that’s right, cool.
Hopefully, this helped clear up what headless commerce is and why researchers like Forrester claim it will become the default in coming years.
If you’re interested in learning more about headless eCommerce, visit Webnexs headless here and get started!!!
