Headless commerce vs. Tradicional Commerce

Headless Commerce is currently one of the trends in the eCommerce market. This approach allows you to bypass the limitations of your store's interface and gain greater flexibility in development as opposed to traditional commerce, where the back end and front end do not work independently.

In this article, we will explain to you what it is and show you how Shopify helps you implement a technology based on Headless through Hydrogen + Oxygen.

What is Headless Commerce?

Headless Commerce is a trend that consists of an architecture in which the front end and the back end work independently. It is an online store development model that allows changes to be applied to a CMS (Content Management System) without necessarily being tied to a specific front end.

Headless-based eCommerce is often used to manage omnichannel shopping, integrating different applications through APIs into a single backend, which can include the online store, a mobile app, or even platforms that enable social commerce.

Thanks to the Headless Commerce concept, online stores can make changes to the content or test new features within an easy-to-manage ecosystem, where it is possible to make various improvements to their online store without the changes being directly linked to the front end.

This is the philosophy behind Hydrogen, the React-based Shopify framework that allows you to separate the backend and frontend in your Shopify store. It is a practical tool for developers, bringing significant benefits to both improving store performance and the development process of any Shopify online store.

Unlike traditional e-commerce, Headless-based online stores are not as rigid and give you more design freedom for your store, as well as a greater ability to scale. This doesn't mean, however, that creating an online store on Shopify doesn't require the help of Shopify developers.

Advantages of creating your Shopify online store with the Hydrogen + Oxygen framework

Creating an online store on Shopify doesn't have to be a long and complex development process, thanks to tools like Hydrogen that connect to the Shopify API and allow you to implement utilities in your Shopify store without having to apply the changes directly to it.

Choosing the right Shopify template design is of utmost importance if you hope to stand out from your competitors. We are not only talking about implementing a design that fits your brand image and corporate values. There are many utilities that can make your online store more attractive, functional, and commercial to achieve results without the need to create the code from scratch.

Thanks to the Hydrogen framework, online stores can be created quickly with pre-designed components and utilities, making the online store development process more agile and efficient. This model can be used for advanced Shopify online store development, and the results can be easily viewed on the Oxygen hosting platform, which is free if you have a Shopify plan and allows you to see the changes as they happen.

Creating your online store design becomes much more professional when you rely on existing components. The process becomes much simpler, and you don't need to wait months to develop a custom design. You also avoid the risks that might be associated with buying a Shopify template that you are not familiar with or one that doesn't have the structure and benefits you'd like to implement in your store.

What are the advantages of using Headless Commerce vs. Traditional Commerce?

There are many advantages of creating an online store based on Headless Commerce.

1. Your online store can have a faster loading speed

Avoid the limitations of predefined store designs and create your own online store with its various functionalities, achieving a loading speed of just a few milliseconds.

By separating the interface from the backend, you can keep all functionalities and content in the backend and at the same time have an ultra-fast page loading speed.

2. Increase your scaling capacity

Online stores tend to be overwhelmed when there is a large amount of traffic, which can slow down the performance of the store.

This problem can be solved by moving your online store to the Oxygen hosting platform, which has a server structure distributed over 100 different locations and allows you to grow your online store in size and users without decreasing performance.

3. Reduces development times

The Hydrogen framework gives you access to components, utilities, and templates that facilitate the development process of your store. T As a result, it helps you reduce the time it takes your developer to architect your Shopify store, allowing you to configure the design and customize it in less time than if you had to develop a template and its different components and functionalities from scratch.

Thanks to the wide variety of components in this framework, you can create advanced online stores with features that differentiate them from conventional stores created by customizing an existing design or acquiring an existing template.

4. Connect your store to application APIs

Hydrogen allows you to connect your development with different APIs, including applications such as Nosto or Klaviyo, so you can create an efficient store that includes the functionalities of the different applications you want to use in your eCommerce. 

By unlinking your frontend and backend from your Shopify store, you can link your store with the apps you want. Here is a list of the apps you can use with Hydrogen. 

At Webmefy, we understand the importance of a fast and efficient design to increase sales. We invite you to contact us so we can advise you on how to improve the performance of your Shopify store to achieve your goals.