Sep 08, 2021

Headless commerce is the fastest and most customizable way to close the gap between your business and your customers.

If this is your first time hearing about headless commerce, you might be a little put off by the name. Don’t worry, we promise that Sleepy Hollow’s most famous horseman has nothing to do with it.

While the name may be intimidating, the results of headless commerce are anything but. In fact, headless commerce is increasingly becoming the new standard for e-commerce strategies moving forward, so it’s a good idea to consider getting on board.

At Avensia, a part of our expertise comes in the form of helping our clients adopt headless commerce platforms to maximize their business’ impact in the marketplace.

Of course, before we can talk about the benefits of headless commerce, we should probably talk about what it is.

What Is Headless Commerce?

The complex definition of headless commerce is that it’s the decoupling of the front-end presentation layer of a website from the back-end e-commerce functionality.

To put it simply, it’s a platform that allows changes to be made behind the scenes independently of what the customers are seeing.

For instance, let’s say you have an online storefront where customers are buying tee shirts, and you want to add a new line of shirts without disrupting any of the customer’s experience. A headless commerce platform will allow you to plug in the product information for the new line of shirts, including prices, sizing information, marketing materials, etc., and then push the changes to the customer-facing part of your store.

From your customer’s perspective, all they see is a new line of fabulous shirts appearing on your store page. None of those changes being made behind the scenes disturbed their shopping experience whatsoever.

For D2C businesses, it’s a powerful tool that can help you stay one step ahead of the trends.

It’s a platform that allows changes to be made behind the scenes independently of what the customers are seeing.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 benefits of using a headless commerce platform.

1. Quickly Launch New Products

Headless commerce platforms are easily changed on the fly, and those changes can be launched as quickly as you want.

Like in the example above, new product lines and brands can be added to your customer-facing e-commerce platform at will. All of the development work and product information and branding is built and configured on the backend, separately from the front-end, and then pushed to the customer-facing store on any channel you desire.

2. Customize to Your Heart’s Content

With traditional e-commerce platforms, you have little to no control over how they organize and present your data. You’re stuck working within the confines defined by the platform.

With a headless commerce platform, you’re truly free to make it your own. You can customize how everything is presented, from data to product information or marketing materials and everything in between. Then, you simply connect it to your front-end and voila! Your customers are seeing what you want them to see, exactly how you want them to see it.

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3. Achieve True Omnichannel Retail

If you’re an e-commerce brand or operating an online marketplace, you’re most certainly utilizing an omnichannel approach that unifies your content and marketing across all channels. If not, you definitely should be.

Headless commerce goes hand-in-hand with omnichannel retail strategy. The detachment of the back-end from the front-end means that the front-end can become any customer-facing channel that you’re currently utilizing.

That means that you can deliver your products, your product information, marketing videos, etc., to any channel you want in a completely seamless manner. For instance, you could push a marketing message directly to digital signage, or a new product listing straight to an app on your customer’s ipad.

Headless commerce and omnichannel retail are like the peanut butter and chocolate of modern business strategy.

Headless commerce and omnichannel retail are like the peanut butter and chocolate of modern business strategy.

4. Adapt to Trends as They Happen

The ability to adapt quickly to the ebb and flow of customer trends is paramount to getting to, and staying at, the top of the e-commerce mountain.

It’s for this reason that headless commerce is superior to traditional e-commerce platforms.

One of the most prominent benefits of a headless commerce platform is the ability to quickly make changes to selected parts of your platform without having to update the entire thing every time you make a tweak.

If yellow jackets are suddenly blowing up because an influencer wore one in her latest video, a headless platform will allow you to rotate your front-page products to feature yellow jackets in the blink of an eye. Headless commerce gives you the agility to adapt lightning fast without having to miss a beat.

5. Add Flexibility to Your Marketing

A headless commerce platform allows you to make changes exactly where you want to without affecting your entire platform. That means your marketing team finally has the flexibility to talk to exactly who they want to talk to through their preferred channel.

Marketing can be directed to the correct audiences at will, with marketing materials being pushed out quickly enough to capitalize on customer trends.

It also allows for efficient A/B testing, since marketing tactics can be quickly sent out and tested across a variety of front ends.

Let Us Help You Get Ahead With Headless

The thing about headless commerce platforms is that they’re never one-size-fits-all. Because of their extremely customizable nature, each platform needs to be built specifically for the business that will be utilizing them.

At Avensia, we offer multiple options when it comes to our headless commerce solutions.

If you’re already using headless commerce, but you’re unsure how to make the most of it, our experts will work with you to optimize and improve your workflow to maximize your headless commerce potential.

If you don’t already have a headless commerce platform, we’ll help you build one that matches your specific business needs. Our Avensia Excite accelerator will help you get up and running quickly and give you everything you need to become a completely fluid retail power with the ability to build and react with speed and precision.

If all of this sounds great to you, but you’re unsure of what exactly your needs are, feel free to contact us today. We’ll work with you and your business to uncover just how you can boost your retail success.