Headless commerce
Enhance shopper experiences with flexible headless commerce solutions
Own the front end user experience, leverage commerce backend innovations without being constrained, and integrate with other commerce ecosystem components with less effort.
New customers get $300 in free credits to fully explore Google Cloud and build a proof of concept.
Overview
What is headless commerce?
Headless commerce is an ecommerce architecture that decouples the front end (head) from the back end (commerce functionality).
The front end is what ecommerce customers see and interact with, while the back end handles the commerce functionality, such as product catalog management, order processing, and payment processing.
How is headless different from traditional commerce?
In a traditional ecommerce platform, the front end and back end are tightly coupled. This means that changes to the front end require changes to the back end, and vice versa.
With headless commerce, the front end and back end are decoupled using APIs. The back end exposes APIs that the front end can use to fetch data. This allows the front end to be built using any technology that supports APIs.
What are the benefits of headless commerce?
Reduced costs: It has a lower TCO by minimizing changes to the entire stack when any front-end (or back-end) element is changed.
Increased flexibility and control: Businesses can quickly and easily add/remove capabilities.
Faster time to market: It speeds up the development and launch of new ecommerce functionalities because of the decoupled architecture.
Improved customer experience: It enables fast iteration of new customer experiences and new digital touchpoints (e.g., social, live commerce).
What does Google Cloud offer to modernize digital commerce?
Build your own modern digital commerce by migrating your existing platform to Google Cloud and improving it with our containerized architecture on GKE.
If you don't want to build and maintain an entire platform, use commercetools and other e-commerce partner solutions that integrate well with Cloud Run for the front end.
If you do not have a big IT team and want a fast and agile approach, BigCommerce, Shopify, and Wynshop Commerce are out-of-the-box solutions available on Google Cloud.
How It Works
Build your front end with Cloud Run or GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) which easily integrate with the ready-built backend commerce components from Google Cloud Marketplace partners such as commercetools.
Or, you can use an out-of-the-box solution that our partners BigCommerce and Shopify offer.
On top of all that, you’ll have full access to AI/ML components, API management capabilities, and CI/CD tools to create differentiated customer experiences with more flexibility.
Build your front end with Cloud Run or GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) which easily integrate with the ready-built backend commerce components from Google Cloud Marketplace partners such as commercetools.
Or, you can use an out-of-the-box solution that our partners BigCommerce and Shopify offer.
On top of all that, you’ll have full access to AI/ML components, API management capabilities, and CI/CD tools to create differentiated customer experiences with more flexibility.
Common Uses
Build with a headless architecture
Own and control the front end without backend constraints
Use Cloud Run to build your front end and connect it easily with commercetools as the back end. Commercetools includes ready-to-use API-accessible building blocks for commerce capabilities.
This approach allows a more customized and brand-right experience while avoiding the investment of building and managing an entire back-end platform.
How-tos
Own and control the front end without backend constraints
Use Cloud Run to build your front end and connect it easily with commercetools as the back end. Commercetools includes ready-to-use API-accessible building blocks for commerce capabilities.
This approach allows a more customized and brand-right experience while avoiding the investment of building and managing an entire back-end platform.
Leverage microservice-based architecture
Migrate and improve with GKE for agility and scalability
Break down a legacy monolith application into a set of microservices for agility by using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
Deploy your app servers and database as services and containers inside a GKE cluster, store your static content in Cloud Storage, and hook up your on-premises application systems via Cloud VPN or API Management, while using Cloud Armor, API Defense and reCAPTCHA enterprise for API protection. For enhanced experience, plug in Google's Recommendations AI and Retail Search.
How-tos
Migrate and improve with GKE for agility and scalability
Break down a legacy monolith application into a set of microservices for agility by using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
Deploy your app servers and database as services and containers inside a GKE cluster, store your static content in Cloud Storage, and hook up your on-premises application systems via Cloud VPN or API Management, while using Cloud Armor, API Defense and reCAPTCHA enterprise for API protection. For enhanced experience, plug in Google's Recommendations AI and Retail Search.
Use an out-of-the-box solution
Use Shopify or BigCommerce for speed and ease
When you don't have a large IT team to build your own and your business model doesn't require a highly differentiated digital commerce solution, BigCommerce, Shopify, and Wynshop Commerce, available on Google Cloud Marketplace, are great solutions that allow you to innovate and launch quickly while limiting customization efforts.
How-tos
Use Shopify or BigCommerce for speed and ease
When you don't have a large IT team to build your own and your business model doesn't require a highly differentiated digital commerce solution, BigCommerce, Shopify, and Wynshop Commerce, available on Google Cloud Marketplace, are great solutions that allow you to innovate and launch quickly while limiting customization efforts.
Plug in Google AI to enhance experiences
Plug-and-play AI capabilities for any architecture
Leverage Google's ready-to-use AI/ML components that can integrate easily with other platforms to enhance your customers' experiences.
Retail API, made up of discovery AI solutions including Retail Search, Recommendations AI, and Vision API Product Search, delivers hyper-personalized search and recommendation experiences to effectively convert customer intent into sales.
Contact Center AI, powered by LLMs, delivers personalized and intuitive customer care while lowering operational cost.
How-tos
Plug-and-play AI capabilities for any architecture
Leverage Google's ready-to-use AI/ML components that can integrate easily with other platforms to enhance your customers' experiences.
Retail API, made up of discovery AI solutions including Retail Search, Recommendations AI, and Vision API Product Search, delivers hyper-personalized search and recommendation experiences to effectively convert customer intent into sales.
Contact Center AI, powered by LLMs, delivers personalized and intuitive customer care while lowering operational cost.
Take the next step with Google Cloud
New customers get $300 in free credits
Talk to an expert to discuss your use case
Build with containerization on GKE
Build front end on Cloud Run
