HEADLESS COMMERCE
Headless Commerce. Maximum Performance. Total Control.
Your frontend. Their infrastructure.
Headless commerce architecture separates your storefront (the frontend you control completely) from your commerce infrastructure (Shopify, Magento, or a composable commerce platform). The result is a store that loads in under 500ms, can be designed without platform constraints, and integrates with your full technology ecosystem.
View our workHeadless Architecture
< 0.5s
LCP
100
Lighthouse
Unlimited
Custom UI
LCP
< 0.5s
Stack
Headless
< 0.5s
Typical LCP on headless builds
100
Lighthouse score achievable
4x
Faster than templated storefronts
Zero
Platform UI constraints
Headless is not a trend — it's the architecture that the fastest commerce experiences in the world are built on.
Traditional eCommerce platforms tightly couple the storefront with the commerce backend — you get the theme system they provide and work within its constraints. Headless commerce decouples them: you build the frontend with any technology you choose (React, Next.js, Vue, Nuxt) and connect to the commerce backend via API. The frontend is entirely yours. The commerce infrastructure — product catalogues, cart, checkout, payments — runs on Shopify, Magento, or a headless commerce platform.
The performance difference is dramatic. A headless Next.js storefront connected to Shopify consistently achieves LCP under 500ms — compared to 2-4s for a standard Shopify theme. For high-traffic brands where every millisecond of load time correlates to conversion rate, and where SEO performance directly determines revenue, headless is the architecture that earns its implementation cost.
< 0.5s
Typical LCP on headless builds
100
Lighthouse score achievable
4x
Faster than templated storefronts
Zero
Platform UI constraints
Sub-500ms LCP is not achievable on a server-rendered Shopify theme. It is standard on a well-built Next.js storefront.
The performance ceiling of a traditional Shopify theme is approximately 2-2.5s LCP on a well-optimised build. Headless with Next.js and edge CDN delivery typically achieves 300-500ms LCP — a 4-8x improvement. For brands spending $500k+/year on paid media, the conversion rate improvement from that performance difference compounds significantly on every campaign.
The design freedom argument is equally compelling. Shopify themes are constrained by Liquid's template system, section architecture, and what the platform exposes through its storefront. A headless frontend is just React — anything you can build on the web, you can build on your storefront. Custom animation, unconventional navigation, immersive product experiences — none of which are possible within a traditional theme.
Every service under one roof.
Swipe or use arrows · 1 of 5
Next.js storefront connected to Shopify via Storefront API.
Custom Next.js storefront built with React and connected to Shopify's Storefront API. All Shopify commerce capabilities — products, cart, checkout, accounts — delivered through a completely custom frontend with no Liquid or theme constraints.
Active coverage area
Next.js storefront connected to Shopify via Storefront API.
View
1/5
Intent
Buyer need
Proof
Trust signal
Action
Lead path
Next.js App Router + React
Shopify Storefront API
Shopify Hydrogen/Oxygen option
Not sure where to start?
Talk to our teamBuilt for performance at every layer.
Sub-500ms LCP
Static generation at CDN edges delivers page loads that standard server-rendered storefronts cannot achieve. A direct conversion rate advantage.
Next.js / React Frontend
Complete UI freedom — design and build any storefront experience without platform template constraints.
Shopify Storefront API
Full Shopify commerce capabilities — products, cart, checkout, accounts — delivered through any frontend you choose.
Composable Architecture
Swap any backend layer independently. Change your commerce platform, CMS, or search provider without rebuilding the frontend.
Algolia Search
Sub-50ms faceted search on any catalogue size. Relevance tuning, A/B testing, and analytics dashboards built in.
Headless CMS
Contentful or Sanity for rich editorial content — your team manages content in a modern editing interface, the frontend renders it at CDN speed.
ISR / On-Demand Revalidation
Incremental Static Regeneration keeps product pages fresh without full rebuilds — critical for large catalogues that change frequently.
SEO Performance
Perfect Core Web Vitals, static HTML for every page, and crawlable content for every route. The SEO ceiling for headless is higher than any platform theme.
Analytics Integration
GA4, Segment, Mixpanel, and custom analytics events — all instrumented properly in the frontend codebase from day one.
The platforms we build on.
We're platform-agnostic but opinionated. Every platform recommendation is made after understanding your business model, your team's capability, and your growth plans — not because it's easiest for us.
Next.js / React
FrontendNext.js App Router with React server components for optimal performance. SSG for product pages, ISR for freshness, SSR for personalised content. TypeScript throughout.
Shopify Storefront API
CommerceGraphQL-based Shopify API for all commerce operations — product queries, cart management, checkout, and customer accounts. Compatible with Shopify Plus for advanced checkout.
Contentful / Sanity
Headless CMSContent managed in a modern headless CMS — Contentful for enterprise editorial teams, Sanity for real-time collaborative editing and custom document types.
Algolia
SearchInstantSearch for faceted catalogue search. Sub-50ms results, relevance tuning, A/B testing, and analytics dashboards. Dramatically better than any platform-native search.
Vercel
HostingNext.js applications on Vercel's edge network — automatic preview environments on every PR, ISR revalidation hooks, and edge middleware for personalisation.
Klaviyo / Segment
Data layerCustomer event data flowing from the frontend to Klaviyo for lifecycle marketing and Segment for a unified customer data platform across your entire tech stack.
Proven outcomes.
420ms
LCP (was 2.8s)
+68%
Organic traffic
Coastal Collective
Shopify theme migrated to headless Next.js. LCP improved from 2.8s to 420ms. Organic traffic up 68% from Core Web Vitals improvement in first 4 months.
420ms
LCP (was 2.8s)
+68%
Organic traffic
+44%
Conversion rate
100
Lighthouse score
LuxeBrand
Custom Next.js storefront with Contentful CMS and Shopify commerce. Editorial and product pages unified in one immersive experience. CVR improved 44%.
+44%
Conversion rate
100
Lighthouse score
150k
SKUs with sub-50ms search
+85%
Search-to-purchase rate
Industrial Supply Co.
Magento 2 + PWA Studio headless build for a 150k-SKU B2B catalogue. Full-text search via Algolia with faceted filtering across 200+ attributes.
150k
SKUs with sub-50ms search
+85%
Search-to-purchase rate
Our Strategic Process
Design the composable architecture before any development.
Stack selection (frontend framework, CMS, search, commerce platform), API integration design, data flow mapping, and infrastructure planning. This phase determines your total cost of ownership for years.
Book a Free CallPhase 1 of 6
Architecture
All phases
Next: Design
Answers, before you ask.
The most common questions we hear about services, process, timelines, and fit — answered plainly.
No. Headless commerce has a higher implementation cost and requires more technical capability to maintain. It's the right choice for brands where maximum performance and design freedom provide a measurable commercial return — typically brands at $5M+ revenue, with significant SEO traffic, or with design requirements that can't be met by a platform theme. For smaller stores, a well-optimised Shopify theme delivers most of the same benefits.
Industry perspectives.
Practical guides and data-backed insights from our senior team.
Headless Commerce
Headless Commerce in 2026: When It's Worth the Investment and When It Isn't
Headless Commerce in 2026: When It's Worth the Investment and When It Isn't
Headless commerce has significant advantages — performance, design freedom, composability. It also has real costs — implementation complexity, maintenance overhead, and a steeper technical learning curve. We've built 20+ headless storefronts and have a clear framework for when the investment pays off and when a well-optimised traditional build is the smarter choice.
Next.js Performance
How to Achieve Sub-500ms LCP on a Next.js Commerce Storefront
How to Achieve Sub-500ms LCP on a Next.js Commerce Storefront
Sub-500ms LCP requires the right combination of static generation, edge CDN delivery, image optimisation, and font loading strategy. We walk through the complete optimisation stack we use on every headless commerce build, with before/after Lighthouse scores from real projects.
Composable Commerce
Algolia + Shopify Headless: Building Search That Converts
Algolia + Shopify Headless: Building Search That Converts
Platform-native Shopify search handles basic keyword matching. Algolia on a headless storefront delivers faceted search, typo tolerance, personalised ranking, and A/B testing in under 50ms. We walk through the integration architecture and the conversion impact we've measured on stores that made the switch.
Let's build something that
compounds over time.
One senior team. Every channel. No hand-offs. Book a Free Call and we'll review your current setup before we speak.