Top Use Cases of Headless Commerce with BigCommerce

Ever found yourself wondering why everyone in e-commerce keeps buzzing about “headless”? You’re not alone. 

As a digital merchant, you’ve probably heard the term thrown around in meetings or seen it splashed across industry blogs, often leaving you with more questions than answers.

We have spent years helping businesses transform their online presence with headless commerce solutions, and we can tell you the hype is justified, especially when paired with platforms like BigCommerce.

Let’s cut through the jargon and explore the real-world applications that are making headless commerce with BigCommerce a game-changer for forward-thinking brands.

Top BigCommerce Headless Use Cases

Explore how BigCommerce’s headless architecture can revolutionize your online business. Discover real success stories and practical implementation tips from industry experts to create faster, more engaging shopping experiences that drive conversions and customer loyalty.

1. Custom Shopping Experiences with Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

Traditional e-commerce sites can feel clunky on mobile devices. With BigCommerce headless, you can build lightning-fast Progressive Web Apps that blur the line between websites and native apps.

Example: A furniture retailer used BigCommerce headless to create a PWA that loads in under 2 seconds and allows customers to visualize products in their space.

While sticking with a traditional mobile site that takes 8+ seconds to load, leading to a 40% abandonment rate.

2. Content-Commerce Integration

If your strategy revolves around content marketing, headless BigCommerce allows you to seamlessly integrate your e-commerce functionality with content management systems like WordPress or Contentful.

For example, we helped a beauty brand combine its educational skincare blog with product recommendations, resulting in a 35% increase in average order value. Their customers could read about a skincare routine and instantly add the mentioned products to their cart without leaving the article.

3. Omnichannel Selling Beyond the Website

With BigCommerce headless, your products can live anywhere, on social media, mobile apps, kiosks, or even smart mirrors in fitting rooms.

One of our clients, a fashion retailer, implemented shoppable Instagram stories using BigCommerce’s headless capabilities. Customers could swipe up on a story and complete their purchase without leaving Instagram. This reduced their checkout abandonment by 23%.

4. Custom B2B Portals and Wholesale Experiences

B2B requirements often demand complex functionality that off-the-shelf solutions can’t provide.

Using BigCommerce’s headless approach, we created a custom B2B portal for a manufacturing client that featured:

• Custom pricing based on contractual agreements
• Simplified reordering of frequently purchased items
• Complex approval workflows for large orders

The result? A 42% increase in wholesale order frequency and a dramatic reduction in order processing time.

5. IoT and Voice Commerce Integration

Forward-thinking brands are exploring commerce beyond screens. BigCommerce’s headless architecture enables integration with IoT devices and voice assistants.

One innovative home goods retailer we worked with created a voice-activated reordering system for consumable products. Customers could simply say, “Hey Alexa, order more dishwasher pods,” and the order would be processed through their BigCommerce backend.

6. International Expansion and Localization

Expanding globally requires more than just translating your content. With BigCommerce headless, you can create truly localized experiences for different markets.

We helped an apparel brand expand into three new markets with completely custom storefronts for each region that accounted for:

• Local payment preferences (Alipay in China, iDEAL in Netherlands)
• Region-specific product catalogs and pricing
• Local shipping providers and delivery options
• Cultural nuances in design and user experience

The result was a 127% increase in international revenue within the first year.

Why Choose BigCommerce for Your Headless Implementation?

BigCommerce stands out among headless commerce platforms for several reasons:

1. Robust API-first approach: Their comprehensive API layer gives developers tremendous flexibility.
   
2. Lower total cost of ownership: Unlike some competitors, BigCommerce includes essential features like payment processing and PCI compliance in its core offering.
   
3. Scalability: Enterprise-grade infrastructure that grows with your business without performance degradation.
   
4. Seamless integration ecosystem: Pre-built connections to popular frontends like Next.js, Gatsby, and many others.
   

Implementation Considerations for BigCommerce Headless

Before diving into a headless implementation, consider these important factors:

Technical Resources Required

A headless approach typically requires more technical expertise than traditional e-commerce. You’ll need:

• Frontend developers familiar with modern JavaScript frameworks
• API integration experience
• DevOps knowledge for deployment and maintenance

Development Timeline

Realistically, a headless BigCommerce implementation takes longer initially:

• Traditional BigCommerce setup: 1-3 months
• Headless implementation: 3-6 months for initial launch

However, once established, new features can be deployed much faster in a headless environment.

Cost Considerations

While BigCommerce pricing remains the same whether you use it headless or traditionally, you’ll need to account for:

• Frontend development costs
• Potential hosting for your frontend application
• Ongoing maintenance of both systems

Success Stories

A gourmet food marketplace struggled with slow page loads and limited customization on its traditional platform. After moving to BigCommerce headless with a React frontend:

• Mobile conversion rate increased by a whopping 42%
• Page load times decreased by 68%
• Average session duration increased by 3.5 minutes

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Challenge 1: Content Management for Non-Technical Teams

When separating the frontend and backend, content management can become more complex for non-technical users.

Solution: Implement a headless CMS like Contentful or Sanity alongside BigCommerce to give marketing teams user-friendly tools.

Challenge 2: Search Functionality

Search becomes more complicated in a headless architecture.

Solution: Implement dedicated search services like Algolia or Elasticsearch for powerful, customizable search experiences.

Challenge 3: SEO Considerations

Frontend JavaScript frameworks can sometimes create SEO challenges.

Solution: Use server-side rendering (SSR) or static site generation (SSG) with frameworks like Next.js to ensure search engines can properly index your content.

Ready to Transform Your E-commerce Experience?

At 2HatsLogic, we’ve helped dozens of businesses implement successful headless commerce solutions with BigCommerce. Our team brings both technical expertise and business strategy to ensure your implementation delivers real results.

Whether you’re looking to improve site performance, create unique customer experiences, or solve complex business requirements, we’d love to show you how headless commerce can transform your digital presence.

Schedule a free consultation with our headless commerce experts today.