Definition: Headless Commerce

What is headless commerce?

Headless commerce is an approach to eCommerce architecture where the front-end presentation layer of a website or mobile application is separated or decoupled from the back-end commerce functionality.

What are the benefits of headless commerce?

By adopting the headless commerce approach, retailers have the ability to deliver a more personalized and engaging customer experience. With a decoupled front-end and back-end, retailers can more easily integrate with various third-party services and tools, such as personalization engines, content management systems, and marketing automation platforms.

Moreover, the decoupled structure also means features or functionalities can be added, upgraded, or replaced on either end without disrupting the other.

What's the difference between headless commerce and composable commerce?

Headless commerce simply refers to the architecture approach that decouples the front-end presentation layer from the back-end commerce functionality.

On the other hand, composable commerce takes the concept of headless architecture one step further. Not only does it decouple the front-end from the back-end, it also breaks down the entire commerce stack into distinct, independent microservices that can be assembled and combined based on specific business needs and can also be easily integrated or replaced to create a tailored commerce solution.