{"id":49993,"date":"2020-09-22T17:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T17:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=49993"},"modified":"2022-10-31T06:53:07","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T13:53:07","slug":"headless-commerce-101-meet-consumers-where-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/headless-commerce-101-meet-consumers-where-they-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Headless Commerce 101: Meet Consumers Where They Are"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This expectation was already high pre-pandemic, when adidas VP of Digital Experience Design Jacqueline Smith-Dubendorfer told us<\/a>: \u201cThis generation, they expect something now. They want instant gratification. They want to explore. They want to discover \u2026 We need to lead and be able to respond to those consumer expectations immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it\u2019s inescapable<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While just over half of Australians say they have never made \u2018purchases over social media\u2019, this drops to just 27% among Gen Z \u2013 and 20% of Gen Z said that in the second half of July they\u2019d shopped via social more than they had before the pandemic<\/a>. Across all generations, 19% of Australians say they are more interested in shopping via social media for the holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting changing consumer habits requires a flexible, agile solution so retailers can extend quickly to meet consumers where they want to shop \u2013 headless commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is headless commerce?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pull your ecommerce application apart \u2013 separating the front end from the back end. That back end is now \u2018headless\u2019 and connects via APIs to the delivery layer. Changes to the delivery layer can be made quickly, without painful updates to both the back-end and front-end systems, and changes to the back-end can be made without slowing down the user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the team tasked with keeping pace with your consumers\u2019 emerging touchpoints and the new experiences they\u2019re demanding, headless makes that previously monumental project manageable \u2013 the architecture enables them to build whatever customers demand on the front, without interrupting operations on the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who uses headless commerce platforms?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Building and managing the two systems requires an upfront and ongoing investment in development. It takes talented developers who can work with APIs<\/a>, experience managers, app platforms such as Heroku<\/a> and IT partners \u2013 the adopters of headless commerce are not usually small shop fronts just moving into digital commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headless commerce can be a game changer for companies in which speed-to-market and cash-flow are linked, and for those with rapidly changing customer needs and creative teams keen to meet them \u2013 but long development queues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These companies see benefit in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n