What is Headless Commerce?
A "headless" environment is one where an e-commerce system's frontend (the displayed UI) and the backend (the system that processes orders and checks inventory) are separate entities. This allows merchants to pick systems that allow for the intended design and experience for their customers.
For example, a merchant can utilize their own customer frontend information while still pulling from Shopify's API information, making their UI load at blazing fast speeds.
Caution: Some aspects of this article may require technical expertise with coding languages.
If you do not currently have someone on staff or contract that can provide that level of technical assistance, Ordergroove suggests seeking out that level of support before attempting to add or alter any working code relating to your subscriptions or storefront.
What are the benefits of Headless Commerce?
By utilizing different systems — including Shopify's API — customers can create a system that is flexible and customized for their specific brand aesthetic and that creates a flawless user experience for their customers. In short, when implemented correctly, headless environments are leaner and faster, saving both your engineers and customers time and headaches.
This also means that customers can have a single backend (like Shopify) that links to several different frontends — like a website, mobile app, smart point-of-sale system — without risking building new environments or losing information between sources.
Does Ordergroove work with Headless Commerce environments?
Ordergroove works with any Javascript-compatible system, so long as they load Javascript upon page load. This includes Shopify's Hydrogen system, meaning that Ordergroove can integrate with Shopify's headless environment.
How do I get started?
Before getting started, we suggest reviewing Shopify's Storefront API documentation and also the Ordergroove API documentation. Allowing your team to become familiar with this documentation will prevent unnecessary headaches along the way and speed up the process.
Note: To utilize the Shopify Storefront API documentation, you must first have a selling plan set in Shopify. To learn more about selling plans in Shopify, please click here or reach out to Shopify support.