In traditional ecommerce setups, the front and back end are intertwined and inseparable with no need for APIs between the two.
Headless ecommerce decouples a website’s front-end from its back-end. The front-end is the user interface, product pages and other website elements that users directly interact with.
The back-end is the operational core, underlying logic and data management center for the online store. It controls shopping carts, order processing, tax calculation, checkout, credit card information storage, inventory management, shipping systems etc.
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What is Shopify Headless Commerce?
Shopify headless ecommerce allows you to make changes to your front-end without changing the back-end – and vice versa. Stores can deliver a customized, scalable, more responsive experience by leveraging APIs that facilitate communication between multiple distinct front and back end systems.
Shopify headless ecommerce ensures ease of integration with numerous systems including enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, customer relationship management (CRM) software, product information management (PIM) software, content management system (CMS) etc.
The same backend can power multiple websites, mobile apps, in-store kiosks, points of sale and IoT devices. Developers have a degree of control that allows them to compose a tech stack of their choice based on best-of-breed solutions.
Examples of Headless Websites using Shopify
There’s no vendor lock in so a service or application can be swapped out and replaced as needed.
1. Pinalli
Pinalli is an Italy-based beauty retailer that has more than 70 physical shops as well as a popular ecommerce store.
With over 40,000 distinct products drawn from more than 350 brands, the company had to rethink its online store if it wanted to manage the surging sales volume during peak sales seasons thanks to a growing number of customers across multiple channels.
Migration to Shopify Plus allowed the company to manage traffic peaks online and offline resulting from its digital marketing campaigns.
2. Daniel Wellington
Daniel Wellington, a Sweden-based maker of luxury watches and accessories, has experienced rapid growth since it was founded in 2011.
The company however experienced considerable operational difficulties due to the complexity and cost of its technology stack that was based on CommerceTools headless commerce platform and Contentful as the CMS.
Daniel Wellington moved to Shopify Plus, a decision that yielded substantial improvements in performance, efficiency and decision-making. The new setup seamlessly combined with apps such as Snowplow, Jebbit, Klaviyo and Salsify.
3. Babylist
Babylist is a baby registry designed to help parents expecting a child streamline the items they need for their baby. It pulls data from third-party sites so its users can browse products, compare recommendations and identify the best purchase.
To achieve this level of multi-system complexity, Babylist uses a headless ecommerce option that combines Shopify’s order management and checkout capabilities with Contentful’s CMS.
4. Slam Jam
Slam Jam is an Italy-based street fashion and culture brand that has made considerable inroads into the international scene with its distinctive style. While it has enjoyed great success with its ecommerce channel, it has two physical outlets in Italy.
The company had tried different omnichannel strategies but technical challenges and prohibitive costs made it difficult to find a winning architecture.
The company’s move to Shopify Plus and Shopify Point of Sale (POS) allowed it to create a fully integrated and truly multi-channel solution that comprehensively catered to online and in-person shopping.
5. BlendJet
BlendJet is a textbook definition of a meteoric rise. Founded in June 2018, the company is today a leader in the blender market and sells tens of millions of units annually.
That exponential growth trajectory demanded a scalable, reliable and versatile ecommerce platform. By choosing Shopify Plus, the company enjoyed infrastructure that readily scaled in tandem with the business’ growth and did not buckle during the traffic peaks of major sales seasons.
6. BonLook
BonLook is a Canadian company that sells prescription eyeglasses and designer lenses online as well as through more than 35 brick-and-mortar stores in Canada.
The business of prescription glasses and lenses means taking into account prescriptions (physical or uploaded online) as well as customer preferences on lens material, glass design as well as frame type and size. Deploying Shopify headless ecommerce ensures the same back-end serves both online orders and in-store purchases.
7. Skin Inc
Skin Inc provides personalized, high quality skincare products that tap into more than a million skin profiles sourced from the company’s proprietary skin identification technology. After the company rapidly expanded into dozens of cities, it found that it needed a cohesive but versatile solution that worked for its physical and online stores.
In particular, Skin Inc found it was struggling with a monolithic platform for its website that required the intervention of a software developer for every small change.
Adopting Shopify Plus allowed the business to create multiple versions of its website in line with the needs of different markets and customer personas. It also simplified the process of making changes which meant non-tech staff could carry out most changes on their own.
8. FIGS
FIGS is a direct-to-consumer medical apparel business that aspires to provide products that combine function, comfort and durability, with style and affordability.
The proprietary fabric technology is designed to withstand the rigors of the healthcare environment but without sacrificing the comfort healthcare workers need.
FIGS uses Shopify Plus to run their online store’s backend including managing orders and updating inventory.
However, due to the need for considerable flexibility, the company uses Next.js and Unbounce for the front end. That way, each custom-built landing page connects to a Shopify product page which significantly improves the user experience.
9. Molekule
Molekule is a market-leading manufacturer of indoor air purifiers powered by its proprietary PECO-HEPA technology that neutralizes pollutants at a molecular level. The company initially relied on a custom-built Magento-powered solution.
However, the high cost of building the solution coupled with an over-reliance on developers for routine maintenance was unworkable.
Molekule switched to Shopify Plus for a multi-faceted solution. With Shopify running the backend, the business went for Loop to handle exchanges and returns, Okendo for reviews as well as Klaviyo for SMS and email marketing.
10. Bols
Founded in the 16th century, Bols is arguably the oldest existing distillery in the world and one of the more popular liquor brands in the Netherlands.
The company saw an opportunity in Shopify headless ecommerce when it launched its ready-to-drink line of cocktails. In order to sell direct-to-consumer globally, Bols combined a Shopify Plus back end with a customer storefront that would best resonate with their target audience.
11. Victoria Beckham Beauty
Founded by one of the more recognizable style icons of the modern era, Victoria Beckham Beauty seeks to create beauty products that are stylish, high quality and memorable.
The business turned to Shopify Plus to realize a headless architecture that provides greater flexibility in product organization, buyer journeys and overall visual design. While Shopify handles product information and inventory flow, Contentful generates and runs the store’s frontend.
12. Shokz
Shokz is a China-based headphone manufacturer that builds sleek, lightweight devices to provide listeners with an exceptional listening experience while still allowing sufficient room to hear what’s happening around them.
Models are designed for different environments including swimming and running. As the company’s products drew global demand, it sought to create localized ecommerce stores that offered a seamless experience for the different markets it operated in.
Shokz implemented Shopify Plus to craft customized website layouts, descriptions, languages and experience in eight different markets in line with local preferences and trends.
13. Castañer
About a century old, Castañer has earned its place as a leader in footwear fashion thanks to its iconic espadrilles shoes. The company has a multi-pronged structure encompassing an online store, over 25 physical stores and a wholesale arm supported by a network of distributors.
The business ecommerce foray initially started with a custom solution, moved to Magento but either option failed to break down the silos between its different arms.
Moving to Shopify Plus brought together all inventory, sales and customer data under a single back end. Castañer used Shogun Page Builder to create landing pages and Klaviyo to segment audiences and run email marketing campaigns.
Wrapping Up
In the hyper competitive world of ecommerce, having the edge over your competitors can make the difference between growth and profitability on the one hand, and stagnation and loss on the other.
With continuous shifts in technology, market conditions, customer preferences and regulations, having an adaptive website is key. This is the compelling proposition of Shopify’s headless ecommerce.
Headless ecommerce is a defining departure from the monolithic models of the past. It enhances scalability, flexibility, personalization and performance.
Shopify headless ecommerce gives a business the ability to rapidly adapt to changes, take advantage of new opportunities and meet customers’ evolving expectations.
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