Headless WooCommerce - Everything You Need to Know in 2024
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Headless WooCommerce from a technical perspective, is a combination of:
It’s a new way of building online stores that’s gaining popularity and works hand in hand with serverless architecture.
In this article, we’ll explore what headless WooCommerce is, its benefits, and why you should consider using it with your typical WooCommerce solution. WooCommerce is an extension of WordPress; read more on WordPress here - view WordPress category.
What is Headless WooCommerce?
An approach to fully utilising all components by separating the front-end (the user interface) from the back-end (the database and server-side logic). In a headless approach, the front-end is built using a separate framework or technology stack, while the back-end is powered by WooCommerce. WordPress must be extended to provide the extra APIs to support sending the data to the front end channel. And a frontend must be setup correctly.
In simpler terms, headless WooCommerce enables you to use WooCommerce for handling orders, payments, and other e-commerce functionality, while the front-end is built using a different technology stack that provides more flexibility and customisation options.
What are the Benefits of Headless WooCommerce?
Improved Speed
One of the significant advantages of headless WooCommerce is improved speed. By decoupling the front-end from the back-end, you can reduce the load on the servers, which leads to faster page load times. This is essential for providing a smooth user experience and reducing bounce rates.
Improved Customisation
Headless WooCommerce allows for more customisation options than a typical WooCommerce solution. You can use any front-end technology stack that meets your needs, such as React, Angular, or Vue. This enables you to create a unique user experience that aligns with your brand’s identity.
Multi-Channel Marketing from a Single Source of Truth
With headless WooCommerce, you can use a single source of truth for your product information, inventory, and orders. This means that you can easily sell your products on multiple channels, such as social media, marketplaces, and mobile apps, without worrying about inconsistent data.
Removing security concerns
By using a static frontend, your backend no longer handles any requests for your HTML. This reduces the attack space hackers may exploit when targeting your application. As all requests to your backend now come from known sources (Stripe, your frontend, etc.), you may implement security policies on level 7 of the OSI model and perhaps even lower; while your backend is still accessible to the internet, its footprint is reduced.
Important Considerations: Product Data and Dynamic Content
While using a headless WooCommerce solution can provide many benefits, it’s important to note that this solution is best suited for products that are not dynamic or that have a low rate of change. This is because your website front end build solution will query for product information to render your website. This happens anytime you want to publish changes. If your product data changes frequently, it may be best to utilise efficient caching solutions to reduce server load and increase speed.
It’s important to assess your product data and dynamic content before deciding to use a headless WooCommerce solution. If your products are highly dynamic, you may need to explore alternate solutions that can provide efficient caching, such as using a traditional WooCommerce solution or breaking your product showcases into multiple granular channels. By separating into channels, you may reduce some of the unnecessary processing.
What are the Typical Steps in a Headless WooCommerce Setup Lifecyle?
Setup
The first step is to set up the backend using WooCommerce. This involves installing the necessary plugins, setting up payment gateways, and configuring the e-commerce functionality.
Front-End Development
The next step is to develop the front-end using your preferred technology stack. You can use a pre-built theme or build a custom theme from scratch. The front-end communicates with the back-end using WooCommerce’s REST API. Other methods can be used to pre-fetch any data from the API to reduce front end building times.
Backend development
The ease of use when installing and creating extensions on the backend is one of the main selling points of WordPress - read more.
Testing
Testing is an essential part of the headless WooCommerce lifecycle. You need to ensure that the front-end and back-end work seamlessly together and that there are no bugs or issues that affect the user experience.
Monitoring
As with any approach, the final step is to monitor. It’s no different than when using WooCommerce, but now you have multiple services (frontends and backends). Often, the frontend service, which follows the static architecture, can be considerably simpler. But if you have multiple channels or frontends, creating and monitoring your templates also has some costs. This may include making big fixes, paying for subscriptions to error monitoring software and to developers. Plus any usage related utilities.
What Does Headless Mean?
In the context of creating a headless woocommerce website, headless refers to the lack of a coupling with a backend server. Meaning that data from the backend is consumed by the frontend (the head). You may change the head and continue using the backend without alteration.
It also means that your WordPress server will not render the frontend (user interface, or UI) and instead only produce and send data to another service. The frontend service will produce their own frontend (UI) and handle serving that to the user.
Headless vs. Serverless Solutions
It’s important to note that headless WooCommerce is not the same as a serverless solution. A headless approach isolates the frontend from the server, and a serverless approach attempts to reduce the time spent with an active instance of a server available.
In a serverless solution, the server is only live in response to an event. This approach eliminates the need for keeping a server turned on at all times, as the code is executed on-demand in the cloud.
When only one backend server is required, the cost is reduced since, during the time when the backend is not receiving requests, it’s turned off. This means that you are not accruing any utility costs during that time. This can result in significant cost savings over time, especially if your backend server is not used frequently for large periods of time or if you have a small-scale application. It’s important to note that this approach may not be suitable for larger applications that require continuous uptime. However, for smaller applications or those with less frequent use, it can be a cost-effective option.
When multiple backend server instances are required to handle large traffic volumes, a serverless approach can be a more efficient option. With a serverless architecture, instances are spawned only when an event threshold is reached, and then automatically turned off when the demand decreases. This is in contrast to leaving multiple instances of the server running while not being fully utilized. With a serverless approach, you can save on computing costs and only pay for the resources you actually use. In addition, the process can be automated, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your application. This approach is particularly useful if you have a highly variable workload or if you experience periods of high traffic volume followed by periods of low traffic volume. Overall, a serverless approach can be a cost-effective and efficient way to handle large traffic volumes while minimising computing costs.
While using a serverless approach with WordPress may not be the most ideal solution, it can certainly offer significant cost savings. This is because when a request is made to the server, if it is not already turned on and running, it needs to be started before the request can be processed. This can result in large latency times for fresh instances. If your server doesn’t get a large volume of traffic, these increased response times can occur on every request. To reuse an instance, a request needs to be made during the lifecycle of a previous request. However, a serverless approach may not be the best option. The number of requests for front end pages may also be reduced by using a caching solution for pages generated via your backend.
While both approaches offer benefits, they are best suited for different use cases. Headless solutions are ideal for businesses that require a customised user experience and want to leverage the powerful e-commerce functionality of WooCommerce. In contrast, serverless solutions are ideal for businesses that require scalable and cost-effective computing resources, as they eliminate the need for server management and maintenance.
Both approaches, serverless and headless, can be used together to achieve a nice balance. By separating the backend from the frontend, users can enjoy faster loading times for page requests. Static website building can handle the higher latency times, and payment provider callbacks won’t be affected by a 2-second delay. Users are also willing to accept higher latency times when submitting forms or making other requests to the backend from one of your pages, as long as the webpage provides feedback to show that it’s loading. For example, if you decide to buy something and click “submit”, waiting 3 seconds for the request to go through is unlikely to make you abandon the process after just 2 seconds.
Ultimately, choosing between a headless and serverless solution depends on your business needs and goals. It’s important to assess your requirements carefully and choose the approach that best aligns with your objectives. Or consult with a developer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, headless WooCommerce development is a modern approach to building online stores that provides many benefits, including improved speed, customisation, and multi-channel marketing capabilities. However, it’s important to consider the dynamic nature of your product’s data and content before deciding whether to use this solution. By choosing the right approach, you can provide a seamless user experience and increase your online store’s success.