Last Updated | February 10, 2023
BigCommerce headless was introduced in 2019 as part of the company’s efforts to provide a more flexible and innovative e-commerce solution for its customers.
The headless architecture provides businesses with a separation between the front-end and back-end of their e-commerce websites, enabling them to build custom and personalized user experiences, as well as to integrate more easily with other tools and services.
In this blog, we are going to talk about the benefits, features, limitations, and requirements of BigCommerce Headless commerce.
- There are around 50 thousand live stores on BigCommerce, with an additional average of 1000 active users quarterly.
- BigCommerce got around 32 thousand live stores in the USA only.
- 36% of the site on BigCommerce use Adsense as their main revenue.
Who Needs BigCommerce Headless For Their Businesses
Following is the list of all the businesses that require a BigCommerce Headless:
Large Retailers
BigCommerce headless is beneficial for large retailers that have a large inventory and products across multiple channels and platforms because it enables them to easily and quickly manage their inventory across all of these channels.
This makes it possible for large retailers to compete effectively with smaller retailers.
B2B Businesses
B2B businesses often have complex e-commerce requirements, and headless architecture provides the scalability and integration capabilities needed to support these needs.
Brands And Manufacturers
Brands and manufacturers can use headless architecture to build custom e-commerce experiences that reflect their brand and meet the unique needs of their customers.
E-commerce Stores
BigCommerce headless is advantageous for eCommerce stores because it enables these businesses to rapidly add advanced features and functionality to their web stores, thereby producing a powerful and streamlined shopping experience for customers.
Multi-channel Businesses
BigCommerce headless is beneficial for companies that need to manage their inventory across multiple channels and platforms because it enables them to easily integrate with third-party applications, streamline their workflow, and improve the customer experience.
The advantages of this BigCommerce integration services allow these companies to save time and money.
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) Businesses
D2C businesses can use headless architecture to build fast, efficient, and personalized e-commerce experiences that support their unique business needs.
Why Should You Opt For BigCommerce Headless
Following is the list of reasons for you to go for BigCommerce Headless:
Improve User Experience by offering Increased Site Speed
One of the most loaded elements of a CMS is a plugin which sometimes stores a tonne of data and slows down the website. However, BigCommerce headless nullifies this problem as the front end is totally separate from the back end. This results in low loading times and high-speed loading of some of the heavy data like pictures and videos on the website.
Another thing affecting the overall speed of a website is the need for response time for order processing and order management. However, with BigCommerce headless, you can automate these processes and enjoy a super fast shopping experience.
Additionally, BigCommerce also allows the use of PWA, which stores the website as a static page on a network which ensures super-quick loading.
Innovation
A headless architecture enables innovation and experimentation, as the front end can be updated and iterated on quickly without affecting the back end.
Better Conversions
As described in the previous benefit, the BigCommerce Headless provides a shopping experience without any lag, which can result in better conversions on-site. Due to this high-speed loading, marketers will be able to create personalized promotions to target a specific audience.
Customized Shopping Experiences
The theme engine that BigCommerce uses is called Stencil. It is very efficient and very adjustable. This allows you to create the shop so that it appears and feels a specific way.
Going headless, on the other hand, is essential if a designer or developer would rather use a different collection of themes or if they have already constructed an existing one and would want to continue working on it.
With headless BigCommerce, you have the ability to choose from a wide variety of premium themes and templates, presentation platforms, and programming languages, allowing you the opportunity to develop a distinctive brand identity for your online shop.
You can also construct individualized user experiences by including on-page localization into your website.
Enabling Commerce Functionalities for Content-Driven Sites
BigCommerce headless separates the front end and back end. In order to enable commerce functionalities on content-driven sites, there is a need for a lot of plugins that can affect the site negatively. However, due to the separation of the backend, it won’t have any effect on the live website.
Moreover, you can easily upgrade the content site, plugins, and theme with APIs.
Custom Integrations
BigCommerce headless enables you to create significant builds according to your need for your business. You can add CRMs, ERP, Marketing tools, and anything which supports an API integration.
Features of BigCommerce Headless
BigCommerce Headless provides a plethora of features. However, some of the most important ones are described below:
Seamless integration with existing websites and apps
BigCommerce headless makes it possible for customers to easily integrate their already established websites and apps with the platform. As a result, it is much simpler to create a unified shopping experience across a number of different channels.
Content Delivery Network (CDN) support for faster page loads
Because it offers CDN support, BigCommerce Headless makes it simpler for clients to deliver content quickly and reliably over the web. This ensures that web pages and applications load quickly and effectively, thereby making them easier for users to navigate and use.
Real-time analytics and reporting
BigCommerce Headless gives its customers access to real-time analytics and reporting, which enables these customers to track and monitor the performance of their businesses as well as the engagement of their customers in real-time.
Customizable checkout and payment process
Customers of BigCommerce Headless have the ability to personalize the checkout and payment procedures to meet their particular requirements better. This contributes to an increase in customer satisfaction and an improvement in the experience of checking out overall.
Also, customers using BigCommerce Headless have the ability to customize the appearance of their storefronts by selecting from a variety of pre-designed themes.
Limitations of BigCommerce Headless
BigCommerce Headless also has its limitations:
Technical Skills Required
Implementing a headless architecture requires technical skills, particularly in the area of front-end development. Businesses may need to hire additional resources or partners to build and maintain their headless solution.
Increased Complexity
With headless architecture, there are more components to manage and integrate, which can increase the complexity of the e-commerce solution.
BigCommerce Domain For Checkout
BigCommerce Headless provides its own custom BigCommerce domain for checkout due to various security reasons. When you buy a BigCommerce subscription, it takes responsibility for maintaining and hosting the security and checkout with respect to PCI (Payment Card Industry).
This limits your control to brand your website as the checkout will have a BigCommerce domain name. Moreover, the checkout doesn’t have any option to autosave, which means every time customer has to enter all the details.
The difficulty of the Integration: It can be difficult and time-consuming to combine a headless solution’s front- and backend components. It is possible that businesses will need to devote extra man-hours and materials to the integration process.
High Initial Cost
The cost of creating a BigCommerce Headless Integration is extremely high as it requires a personal server to host the backend. Moreover, if we take a look at all the costs included in BigCommerce development services, then at the start, you have to hire BigCommerce developers.
From the hardware side, it will require one to three servers to be built. You also have to opt for a BigCommerce web design company for the custom theme for your website. Other than the development cost there will be the cost for BigCommerce support and maintenance services as well.
This cost will lead to heavy invoices for the company. However, if you are a business that wants to invest in providing a one-of-a-kind experience to its visitors, then it is a perfect solution for you.
Performance Challenges
Decoupled architecture can lead to additional latency and performance challenges, particularly for complex applications.
No Accessibility to BigCommerce Analytics
Once you shift your BigCommerce site to a customized headless solution, then BigCommerce analytics will stop working. Now without analytics, there will be no use in having such a big and expensive eCommerce store. Hence, you can opt for third-party analytics tools like Google or Chargebee’s analytics tool.
How to get the BigCommerce Headless store to customize?
Now you know everything about the BigCommerce headless integration and the reasons it could be highly beneficial for your business. We have also provided you with enough information regarding its features to create a decision for your business.
Folio3 has the expertise to help you succeed. With a focus on open communication, a commitment to excellence, and a track record of delivering results for our clients, Folio3 is the perfect partner for your next tech project. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business grow with technology.
Moreover, if you need any customization or are looking for BigCommerce migration, then simply contact us on our contact page, and we will be available to you right on time!
Source: https://ecommerce.folio3.com/blog/bigcommerce-headless/
