Recently, there has been a lot of discussion and a fair amount of hype around Headless Commerce. But what does the concept really mean in practice and is it an approach that makes sense for your business?
At Liferay, our Digital Experience Platform (DXP) provides out-of-the-box site management and page building tools as well as support for a Headless option. The concept of Headless isn’t new. It is a reference to separating the presentation layer and its associated tools from the other main functional components of an eCommerce platform. It’s been a discussion point for at least the last 10 years. As far back as 2013, some eCommerce software vendors elected to remove the UI tools from their integrated stack and to team with complementary vendors to provide the presentation UI on top of their core eCommerce platform.
Key Takeaways
- Headless Commerce can make sense when a B2B company needs more flexibility in how it delivers a specific digital experience.
- It is not always necessary for every website, portal, or eCommerce store.
- Composable Commerce can offer more choice, but it can also create more integration work.
- For many companies, the best answer is not full-stack or Headless. It is a mix of both.
What Is Headless Commerce for B2B?
Headless Commerce is a way of separating the presentation layer from the rest of the eCommerce platform. In other words, the customer-facing experience can be built separately from the systems that manage products, pricing, accounts, orders, and transactions.
For B2B companies, this can be useful when a standard website or store experience is not enough. You may need a different interface for a mobile app, a customer portal, a connected device, or another specialized touch-point. In those cases, Headless gives teams more freedom to use the front-end tools that make the most sense for that experience.
The important point is that Headless is not really about removing something. It is about giving companies another option when the presentation layer needs to work differently from the core commerce platform.
What Are the Benefits of Using Headless Commerce for B2B?
The biggest benefit of Headless Commerce is flexibility. B2B buying can be complicated, and not every customer interaction fits neatly into a standard eCommerce experience.
A Headless approach can help companies:
- Use the right front-end tools. Teams can choose the presentation technology that fits a specific use case.
- Create specialized experiences. Headless can be useful for mobile apps, customer portals, IOT devices, social channels, and other digital touch-points.
- Move faster on the front end. Developers can update or build new experiences without always changing the entire commerce platform.
- Adapt to different customer needs. Companies can create experiences that better match how different buyers research, order, reorder, or manage accounts.
Of course, flexibility has to be balanced against complexity. Headless Commerce may require more technical resources and more integration planning, so it makes the most sense when there is a clear business reason for taking that approach.
Headless Commerce vs Composable Commerce
Headless Commerce and Composable Commerce are often mentioned together, but they are not the same thing. Headless Commerce separates the front-end presentation layer from the back-end commerce platform. Composable Commerce goes further by combining different applications, services, or microservices into a complete Commerce stack. Both approaches can offer flexibility, but they can also add integration and management complexity, so it is important to understand what each one is solving for.
Headless
An oft-stated benefit of the Headless approach is the ability to utilise the most appropriate presentation technology for a specific use case. For example, the in-built UI tools of your CMS may be fantastic for creating and maintaining your corporate website and eCommerce store, but there may be better options for developing a native mobile app or for creating targeted offers on social media. There is also the growing need to integrate with a variety of IOT devices and touch-points, which require specialized connections and UIs.
Composable
Another trending term is “Composable Commerce”, which typically means combining various micro-service based applications into a fully “Composed” eCommerce stack. This is the antithesis of a “Monolithic” system architecture which was the prevalent approach in the early days of eCommerce systems. In a Monolithic architecture, components of the program are interconnected and interdependent rather than loosely coupled as is the case with modular software programs that are used in most modern eCommerce platforms.
Composable has echoes of what used to be termed “Best of Breed”, where companies that weren’t able to offer a complete solution teamed with other companies that had complementary components. A big difference today is that modern technology around front-end development tools and advances in API management, make it easier to integrate solutions from different vendors.
A common argument for a Composable architecture is that you can select the best functional components to create a complete Commerce solution. And, because the components each represent a separate micro-service, you would be free to adapt or swap that component in future if a better option becomes available or when your requirements change. However, users need to balance the promise of flexibility of this approach against the possibility of a more complex and expensive initial integration task and the ongoing management of the overall solution.
Finding the Right Approach to Headless Commerce for B2B
So, what is the right approach for your company? Our view at Liferay is based on working with hundreds of global enterprises across many industries. We’ve found that a middle-ground approach to system architecture works best for most mid-to-large companies. This approach enables users to leverage the simplicity of a full-stack solution with its integrated presentation tools to achieve a quicker path to go-live, productivity and ROI along with a lower long-term TCO.
Business users can utilize page templating and editing tools to manage their sites and eCommerce stores without reliance on technical developers. A full-stack solution will be sufficient for the majority of most corporate use cases, while putting the minimum burden on internal IT teams.
Additionally, this approach lessens dependency on a system integrator or contractor to support the various integrations that typically comprise a Composable/Microservices solution. Should you decide in future that it makes sense to swap out or add additional applications, you are generally free to do so through available APIs.
Getting back to Headless. Does that mean that there is no role for Headless when using a full-stack Commerce solution? No, not at all. We believe that you can achieve the best of both worlds by combining Headless and full-stack. There are many circumstances where Headless makes sense and your platform should be able to easily accommodate a Headless approach by providing an OOTB API structure to support modern front-end development frameworks. Headless website development empowers frontend developers with the capability to deliver specialized and responsive user experiences using their preferred tools.
At Liferay, we support our B2B Commerce customers by providing them with both a full site building and portal management platform, including a Headless option. Depending on your project and resources, you can choose to build sites using Liferay’s native site management and page building tools, or use popular front end frameworks like Angular or React.
For most organizations, a combined approach works best because it gives business users easy-to-use tools for maintaining and modifying their websites and eCommerce stores, while providing the flexibility to create unique experiences across many other digital touch-points.
How Liferay Helps Businesses Approach Headless Commerce for B2B
For many B2B companies, the best approach is not to choose between a full-stack platform and a fully Headless architecture. Some experiences can be managed very well with built-in site and page building tools, while others may need the flexibility of a Headless approach.
Liferay gives businesses both options. Teams can build and manage websites, portals, and eCommerce stores using Liferay’s native tools, or use Headless capabilities when a more specialized front-end experience is needed.
With Liferay, businesses can:
- Manage common digital experiences. Use native tools for websites, portals, and eCommerce stores.
- Create custom front-end experiences. Use Headless capabilities when a project requires a more specialized interface.
- Connect systems and data. Bring commerce, content, portal, and business systems together through APIs.
- Adapt over time. Add Headless experiences where they make sense without giving up full-stack tools.
In practice, this means companies can take a more balanced approach to Headless Commerce for B2B. They can use the simplicity of a full-stack platform where it works and the flexibility of Headless where it is needed.
Moving Forward With Headless Commerce for B2B
Headless Commerce can be a strong option when a B2B company needs to create a specialized experience or serve customers across many different digital touch-points. It gives front-end teams more freedom and can help companies adapt as new channels and customer expectations emerge.
But that does not mean every B2B Commerce project needs to be Headless. The best approach is to look at the actual use case. If the experience needs a custom presentation layer, Headless may be the right fit. If it can be managed well with integrated site and page tools, a full-stack approach may be simpler and more efficient.
Frequently-Asked Questions
What is headless commerce?
Headless Commerce separates the front-end presentation layer from the back-end commerce platform. This gives companies more flexibility to build customer-facing experiences with different tools or frameworks.
What is a B2B commerce platform?
A B2B Commerce platform helps businesses sell products or services to other businesses online. It often includes tools for account management, pricing, catalogs, ordering, reordering, and customer self-service.
What is the difference between headless and composable commerce?
Headless Commerce separates the front end from the back-end commerce platform. Composable Commerce is broader. It involves connecting different applications or services to create a complete commerce solution.
