Glossary
What Is Headless Commerce?
Definition
Headless commerce is an e-commerce setup where the storefront customers see is built separately from the commerce engine that handles products, carts and orders, and the two communicate through APIs.
How headless commerce works
The commerce platform, such as Shopify, manages products, inventory and checkout. A separate front end, often built with Next.js, fetches that data through an API and renders the pages.
Benefits
- Faster page loads and better Core Web Vitals.
- Full design freedom and rich content.
- One back end can power a website, an app and in-store screens.
Drawbacks
Headless stores cost more to build and maintain than a standard theme, so they suit brands with high traffic or complex content needs.