What is Headless Commerce?

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Headless commerce is an ecommerce setup where the storefront (front end) is decoupled from the commerce back end. The storefront uses APIs (REST/GraphQL) to access core commerce features like product catalog, pricing, cart, checkout, orders, and customer accounts.

Headless commerce enables teams to build faster, more customized shopping experiences across multiple channels—web, mobile apps, in-store screens, or marketplaces—without being limited by a platform’s default themes or templates. It’s a common foundation for composable commerce and modern replatforming programs.

Key points:

• Front end and back end are separated

• Commerce capabilities are delivered via APIs

• Faster UX changes and experimentation without touching core commerce logic

• Better fit for omnichannel delivery and performance optimization

• Requires strong integration and governance to avoid complexity

Example: A brand builds a Next.js storefront while keeping the existing commerce platform for checkout and order management.