"Headless" is one of those words that gets used to sell projects. It describes a real and useful architecture, but it is often recommended to businesses that would be better off without it. Here is what it actually means, and how to tell if it is for you.
The idea in plain English
A normal online store is one piece of software that does two jobs: it stores your products, orders and customers (the back end), and it displays the shop to customers (the front end). Shopify with a theme, or WooCommerce with a WordPress theme, works this way.
A headless store separates those jobs. The back end still holds products and orders and processes checkout, but the front end is a separate application, built by developers, that asks the back end for data through an API and displays it however you like. The "head" (the display layer) has been removed from the commerce platform, hence headless. We explain APIs in what is an API.
Why anyone does this
- Design freedom. The front end is not constrained by a theme. Anything a web designer can imagine can be built.
- Performance. Modern front-end frameworks can be extremely fast, which matters for conversion and search rankings.
- Many channels, one back end. The same products and orders can feed a website, a mobile app, in-store screens, a marketplace and a voice assistant.
- Best-of-breed tools. Use one system for content, another for commerce, another for search, and combine them in the front end.
Why most businesses should not
- Cost. You are building and maintaining a custom application. That means developers, ongoing.
- Complexity. More moving parts, more things to break, more to test with every change.
- Loss of platform features. Themes, apps and built-in checkout customisations often stop working or need rebuilding.
- Time to market. Longer to launch, longer to change.
For a store doing a few thousand orders a month with a standard product range, a well-built Shopify theme or WooCommerce site gives you almost all of the performance and design quality at a fraction of the cost and risk.
When it is worth it
Headless starts to make sense when:
- Your brand experience is a genuine differentiator and a theme cannot deliver it.
- You sell through several channels that all need the same product data.
- Content and commerce are deeply mixed, for example editorial that sells.
- You have, or will have, developers on hand.
- Your traffic and order volumes justify the investment.
If none of those apply, the honest advice is to build a great store on a standard platform and revisit headless later if you outgrow it.
What about B2B?
B2B portals with trade pricing and ERP integration sometimes use a headless approach, because the front end needs to do things standard themes do not. Just as often, though, the right answer is a B2B feature set on Shopify or a portal built directly on an ERP such as Odoo. See our guide to B2B eCommerce portals.
How we approach it
We build standard Shopify and WooCommerce stores, Odoo eCommerce sites, and headless front ends when the case is clear. We will tell you which we think you need, and it is not always the most expensive one. Read about our eCommerce service or request a quote.
Key takeaways
- Headless separates the customer-facing front end from the commerce platform behind it, connected by APIs.
- It gives design freedom, speed and the ability to sell through many channels from one system.
- It costs more to build and maintain, and needs developers. Most small and mid-sized stores do not need it.
- Consider it when your front end is a real competitive asset or when one back end must serve many channels.
Frequently asked questions
Need help with ecommerce development?
eSolution Hub is a UK company with its own engineering team in Lahore. Every project starts with a free 30 minute discovery call and a written quote. Read about our ecommerce development service or request a quote.
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