Headless commerce
Definition
Headless commerce is an architecture where the frontend (what the customer sees) and the backend (product data, stock, orders) are decoupled and communicate via APIs. This makes it possible to change the customer experience without changing the underlying systems.
A decoupled front and back end
In a traditional platform, frontend and backend are tightly interwoven: a change on one side often affects the other. With headless commerce, each part works separately, connected through APIs.
When this is relevant
Headless commerce gives more design freedom and multiple channels, such as a web shop, kiosk and portal, from the same product data, but it also requires more technical management than an integrated platform.
Practical example
A company shows the same product catalog on its web shop and on a self-service kiosk in-store, through one shared backend that feeds both frontends via API.
Related terms
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