Composable eCommerce by SwiftOtter

SwiftOtter is your partner to build your next-generation eCommerce experience.

Composable eCommerce: get ready for a massive improvement.

The internet is changing—fast. Web technology is undergoing another stage of metamorphosis. This one is one of the most radical yet.

Interestingly, visitors and search engines' technology has accelerated faster than the platforms and services serving the content to them. This has radically changed over the past couple of years, and the tipping point for "headless" is now here.

Headless is quickly becoming a differentiator, and in the competitive environment that the internet facilitates, any point is critical—even more so, a big one like this.

Wow your customers and search engines with lightning-fast page load times. This is

Modern eCommerce

Technology is now ready for you to optimize your eCommerce footprint massively. We dive into the details and present them in a digestible ebook format—ready for you to download.

If you're ready for a redesign.

Don't rebuild the theme with legacy, slow technology. Leap ahead of your competitors.

If you're tired of a slow website.

Headless can massively improve your website's speed.

If your content game is hampered due to an underpowered content system.

Leverage the power of headless to deliver best-in-class content.

If you do not want to re-platform.

Your team is happy with the admin aspect—why change something that works? Headless architecture will allow you to keep existing systems in place.

What are the benefits of a headless website?

Performance

Search engine optimization: Google Core Web Vitals meticulously tracks performance metrics. We typically see a massive improvement in these metrics on headless architecture.
User happiness: No one likes to wait seconds for the next page to load. Reducing this will show customers information faster, resulting in more page visits on the website.

Clicking a link on your website can show results in milliseconds.

Headless is architected to isolate many aspects of the eCommerce application from your visitors. Less code means a faster website. Additionally, headless architecture done right pre-builds pages and caches them. These also utilize modern tech stacks, leveraging browser features to improve download and rendering speeds.

Flexibility

React and Next.js power this new front-end application. These ultra-modern tools have existed long enough to achieve market consolidation but are still new enough to undergo massive development. Thus, they increase development speed and improve maintainability to ensure a system with long-term stability.

Nothing is off-limits. Ironically, if you need a configurator or product quiz, this should be built in a headless system—thus, continue the trend and utilize one platform for your entire front end.

You aren't limited to a better content platform. You can load data from marketing automation systems, your ERP, and even internal/custom systems (for example, for custom pricing).

Content Management

Search engine optimization: provide best-in-class information for better search ranking.
User happiness: create engaging content that attracts and retains your customers.

Most eCommerce platforms are poor at content management. Headless allows for a seamless integration of a content platform, getting the best of both worlds. Content is critical and is becoming even more so every year. Using a platform like Contentful gives you unlimited capability to build next-generation content. Components can be easily reused (this website is an example of utilizing a headless content management system).

Maintainability

Have you used an eCommerce page builder tool only to find out that you need to make a style change every time you use a component? This is in the past with your headless website. We can quickly make a change in one place, and it will be propagated to every place this is used.

Security

Good headless architecture, like what SwiftOtter employs, insulates the backend from direct visibility. If you are using a tool like Magento, this reduces the platform's exposure to the public.

Why trust SwiftOtter for your headless makeover?

Not just any partner can successfully deliver a headless project. You need an agency partner that:

One that will partner with you to lead the project to success.

Deeply understands React/Next.js and the toolsets surrounding it.

Is well-versed (ideally certified) on the supporting eCommerce platform.

Has a solid handle on connecting the frontend with the backend.

Can easily translate requirements into a project plan.

SwiftOtter meets and exceeds these requirements.

SwiftOtter was founded in 2016 by two brothers—software engineers. Thus, we continue as an engineering-first organization. Our primary focus is designing, building, and maintaining excellent eCommerce experiences. For many companies, the engineering department is a small piece of the puzzle; it also offers content, SEO, and marketing services (if you want any of these, we will connect you with our trusted partners).

Our Javascript-focused practice is stacked with senior talent.

From experience, we can say it is exceptionally difficult to find engineers who are well-versed and produce at a high level. We have been in this industry long enough to know how to find top talent, and we are super proud of their capabilities.

We have delivered many headless projects and regularly use this architecture, even in legacy web applications. The website is entirely headless.

The result is a quality, beautiful headless project delivered—precisely to your specifications.

We know the supporting eCommerce applications

Adobe Commerce, Shopify, and BigCommerce

We have trained almost 10,000 developers on these platforms. You'll be hard-pressed to find an agency that knows how these applications work better than SwiftOtter. We have just enough diversity in our capabilities to recommend the perfect fit for your needs.

The result is best-in-class, maintainable solutions.

An otter’s help to escape quicksand (rescue projects)

Do you have a headless project "in the works", but are dumping money into it, with no end in sight? Are you excited about the outcome, but getting there feels like trying to get to Los Angeles on a hamster wheel? Unfortunately, this is a common story.

The good news is that SwiftOtter can help. In our experience, these projects go off the rails due to inexperience or a poorly run project. SwiftOtter provides powerful antidotes to prevent these problems.

You can expect our robust and talented engineering team to quickly identify solutions for blockers. We know what we are doing—having been around the block a few times,. Headless technology is complicated, and many ways exist to get off track.

You can expect this solution to be well-communicated to you with regular checkpoints to verify our progress. We ensure your comfort at each step of the process.

What is headless eCommerce?

Headless eCommerce is a way of building online stores where the part of the website you see (like product pages) is separate from business logic. This allows developers to create experiences that can easily connect to multiple back-end systems. The result is a smooth, performant and beautiful shopping experience.

Why is it called "headless"?

Because the "head" (frontend user experience) is separated from the "body" (business logic). It's a strange name, but it's how this architectural pattern is described most.

What is the difference between legacy eCommerce and headless eCommerce?

Legacy eCommerce has the customer-facing view in the same system as the business logic (backend). Two disparate projects are baked into the same project, resulting in a sluggish system that is optimized for neither business logic nor customer rendering.

What is your preferred technology stack?

If there were no requirements (this isn't the case), we would reach for:

React/Next.js frontend
Contentful
Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce or Shopify

However, there is always nuance in each merchant's requirements, so these solutions can vary.

What are some benefits of headless eCommerce?

This technology is one of the best-performing eCommerce systems.
It's flexible. You can bring in content, eCommerce, and other systems.
It's scalable. Headless eCommerce can serve a tremendous number of visitors with minimal resources.
It's secure. This architecture adds a firewall to reduce the visibility of the backend.

What are some potential drawbacks or challenges of headless eCommerce?

There are two cases where headless eCommerce may not yield an appropriate return on investment.

If you only need something quick, simple, and inexpensive, we call this a Minimum Viable Product. Get started and build on this. Defer the headless investment down the road.
If you heavily rely on apps or modules to extensively customize your storefront. Many of these would have to be reintegrated into the headless experience. Headless will likely be cost-prohibitive to implement unless you are willing to identify the best fitting pieces.

How does headless eCommerce improve website performance?

Headless eCommerce is a user-facing architecture from the modern web era. It takes advantage of caching, resource optimization, and pre-rendering. We often see near-perfect Lighthouse page speed scores. It's lightweight and easily deployable, separate from the backend, allowing for less time-to-market for changes.

Can headless eCommerce support an omnichannel experience?

Yes! While the most basic requirement for headless eCommerce is supporting mobile and desktop users, this architecture provides tremendous additional flexibility. For example, this can be fairly easily turned into an iPhone or Android app. The "front end" can look up real-time inventory information or customer-specific pricing.

What technologies are commonly used in headless eCommerce?

This architecture is based on separating the rendering components from the business logic. This frontend rendering system can be several technologies. React and Next.js have handily won the battle. You will still see some Vue, but it's becoming infrequent.

There is often a "middleware" that connects the front end to the back end. This provides a layer of insulation and security. This can be almost anything, but we often reach for serverless tools like Firebase.

Is headless eCommerce suitable for small businesses, or is it only for large enterprises?

Headless eCommerce's initial build cost is almost always higher because you get more with it. Instead of relying on eCommerce's content system, we can bring in a best-in-class content system, like Contentful.

Thus, the initial investment may be a hurdle for smaller merchants. As technology continues to mature and these merchants grow, headless will become a perfect fit. We often see it starting to provide quality ROI for merchants over $10M GMV.

How does headless eCommerce affect SEO?

Considering Google has promoted PWA (progressive web apps, or headless architecture) and used this standard for its Lighthouse scores, we can safely say that search engines appreciate headless eCommerce. Why? because of its excellent performance and utilization of modern web technologies.

What is the cost of implementing headless eCommerce?

While this varies extensively, we would recommend budgeting at least $50,000 for a basic headless implementation. We'd love to learn more about your needs to get an accurate picture of what it will take.

The SwiftOtter Process

Headless is no different than any other project that we build. We always follow these steps:

Discovery: What needs to be built? What is the acceptance criteria for each task? How much will this project cost? How long will it take to build? What are the checkpoints? What risks are present that could affect the project's success?
Design: We work with our talented design team to craft a beautiful experience that will wow your customers and board of directors.
Build: Once the design is approved, we will get to work. We will regularly communicate with you to keep you in the loop.
User Acceptance Testing: Once we build a piece of the puzzle, we will send it to you for review. We do this early and often.
Release: This is the most exciting day of the project. The culmination of both of our teams' hard work is now visible to all visitors.

a large building with a pool in front of it with Union Station in the background

About SwiftOtter

We are located in the heart of the United States, in Kansas City. SwiftOtter's leadership was raised in the Midwest, valuing the qualities of hospitality and hard work. As a fully remote team, our motto is to hire the best, no matter where they are. Thus, we don't have teams in an office—because it's almost impossible to find a concentration of quality developers in a metropolis.

We would love the opportunity to build a headless front end for you.