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How does decoupling front-end & back-end deliver autonomy?

While $1.65 billion funding has been raised for headless technologies over the last two years (Forbes, 2021) many retailers are still confused as to what headless commerce is.

What is Headless Commerce?

Headless commerce is the decoupling of front-end and back-end applications. This means the front-end presentation layers of applications, such as websites and apps, are separated from the back-end. These back-end applications come with no user interface, which means the front-end is not coupled with the platform.

What’s in it for retailers and what are the benefits?

Fast adaptations

Platforms that are tightly coupled hinder the ability to make changes fast. Retailers have to depend on their suppliers to expedite process changes which can take several months for a simple change to be done. When the platforms are headless, a change in one app doesn’t require a change in the other apps. Therefore, the changes to front end applications will not impact the back end critical functions. This means retailers can innovate fast and change business processors quickly to adapt to customer and emerging market demands.

Seamless customer journeys

Retailers need to be able to define their customer journeys by preferences. The latest technologies and paradigms need to be implemented in their operations. Covid 19 for example, paved the way for new retail paradigms and technologies like contactless shopping. As a modern retailer, you need to support new payment platforms and customer journeys instantaneously as and when they emerge. Taking months to adapt to a simple change will only leave you behind. Here’s where the headless architecture comes in handy to help retailers react more quickly to market changes because of the independence of the front-end and back-end applications. This helps retailers to easily and quickly deliver new and varied channels to customers.

Efficiency and Flexibility

As we know now, the headless architecture allows each component to act independently of the other. Hence, the changes to the front layer do not force changes to the back-end or the critical coding. Therefore, any change or modification to the front-end layer can be done easily without reconfiguring the entire system. The promotions team, for example, can launch a new promotion at any time without waiting for the IT team. Therefore, it enhances operational efficiency as well as speed.

With Enactor we have a number of headless services like baskets, promotions, customers, orders and more. Our Next-Gen retail platform is built with a unique headless architecture offering retailers autonomy and unmatched flexibility to stay one step ahead of the game. Being a member of the

MACH Alliance is a testament that we are truly headless commerce.