Technology Magazine January 2022 | Page 39

It ’ s pretty well understood that today ’ s customers are looking for more personalized , relevant and convenient buying experiences , yet many of the world ’ s most sophisticated enterprises can ’ t deliver on this . The reason they can ’ t deliver is because they have what many big companies have – a traditional eCommerce platform that was built 15 to 20 years ago as a single , integrated application that many refer to as a “ monolith .”
Now , there ’ s a better way to do commerce – and it starts with a modernization of your architecture . Commerce has to be flexible to create innovative and seamless shopping experiences and meet business and marketing goals . And to get flexible commerce , companies need to go headless .
By going headless , enterprises can improve their customer experiences and roll-out new offerings much faster because they don ’ t have to make time-consuming and complex backend system changes . In short , headless commerce is about freedom from monolithic platforms – the freedom to innovate when , where and how a company wants .
Here ’ s how it works . Headless commerce involves the frontend ( the user interface , AKA the “ head ”) of an eCommerce platform being decoupled from the backend ( where product information , customer details and other data is stored ). When a commerce platform is headless , APIs can push backend information to any frontend – which can include smartphones and personal computing devices , all the way to digital signages and even voice assistants – for a seamless , omnichannel experience between touchpoints .
As companies embrace this commerce approach , they can enjoy the main benefits headless commerce , namely being : it ’ s fast ; it makes it much easier to customize digital commerce experiences to reflect brand experiences ; it gives companies the freedom to experiment , such as creating test scenarios for products or marketing campaigns ; and it allows companies to quickly adapt to evolving customer needs .
In other words , going headless means that companies can provide top-notch and personalized shopping experiences across every channel and make every moment shoppable . This is modern commerce .
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