BigCommerce and Headless for Global Stores

Most businesses that look to expand globally look for an eCommerce solution that can deliver a translated website with regional considerations and adaptations, and the ability to take payment in the local currency and payment method. This statement is loaded with different experiences and usage models were in the past companies would just translate and call it a day. This approach fails the audience in their ability to feel the same level of engagement and affects the success of that particular country/language/region.

What is Headless eCommerce?

It is an architectural approach where the "eCommerce" engine like BigCommerce is in the background and uses its API to manage products, carts, transactions, orders, etc. The "Head" is a different technology such as WordPress where the experience is delivered through its environment and features. You could have various themes running in WordPress for each and every country, giving your offering a unique feel. A web development effort can easily have your online store working on both ends by just tying them together with the BigCommerce Plugin.

What technologies can be defined as the Head?

BigCommerce defines itself as "Open SAAS" where they focus on being the tip of the spear in eCommerce software while allowing architectures to work with their API, an API that's fast. When it comes to technologies being able to deliver specific experiences, WordPress is not alone. You have Drupal, Bloomreach, Sitecore, Deity Falcon, and Adobe Experience Manager. Each architecture offers unique features that can deliver the look, feel, experience, UI/UX, and workflow that you could define suitable for your audience. Each eCommerce website can be specifically delivered for a brand and selling products with BigCommerce running in the back-end.

Business Model and Sales flexibility

With the BigCommerce platform in the background, web design can flourish with your front-end developer and website designer. The focus on the user experience and process in which you deliver your sales experience to the customer can be tailored in a personal and unique way. This will define your unique business model when it comes to handling your customers, and how you sell online. Content management systems (CMS) can be too restrictive to how your business needs to express itself, and the App Store may not be enough to fulfill your vision. For a true custom experience beyond just a Headless implementation, having your BigCommerce App that's unique to your business process built by a BigCommerce expert is always an option.

B2B vs. B2C or even M2C

Going Headless allows you to have hybrid business models, using brands and features of products to target different audiences. A company can 3 separate brands with 3 audiences where B2B can have sales channel tiers, B2C might have international stores where a Basic brand might deliver an M2C sales model. Given the flexibility of how the "Head" can be implemented, with over 100 currencies supported by BigCommerce, the possibilities are endless.

How to scope a Headless BigCommerce project

This is not one of the "14-day free trial" type store builds unless you want to kick the wheels of BigCommerce and play around. A strong understanding of your business, its processes, its customers, and their expectations is important to communicate to a BigCommerce Expert or Agency. BigCommerce partners can then help define the project architecture, its web applications, and tools, programming languages required for a successful web development cycle.

BigCommerce Headless Store requirements

While understanding the technologies is one thing, defining the project features from email marketing to social media are important to the various aspects of BigCommerce Development. Project definition must encompass everything such as SEO, Credit cards, Shipping rates, product hierarchy down to confirmation emails. Languages, currencies and the various platforms that will deliver the experience is all part of a solid plan - a plan that can be assessed for completeness, durations, phases of development, and costings.

Conclusion

Headless for BigCommerce is a hybrid architecture, allowing BigCommerce as an Open SAAS platform giving business tools to adopt and like"Legos" - you can pull together all the pieces to make your dream online store. This allows for scalability where you might just start with BigCommerce + WordPress in USA English, then expand to UK/Canada, etc. It makes it easy to deploy new countries and when new market opportunities arise, add a new B2B portal. If you would like to discuss a Headless BigCommerce project to scope out and define - feel free to reach out to us, being BigCommerce Experts we have insights that might help your planning - wish@thegenielab.com