Shopify Glossary Terms

Headless commerce is an architecture where the frontend (what customers see and interact with) is completely separated from the backend commerce engine (inventory, checkout, payments, order management). Instead of the commerce platform rendering your storefront directly, a custom frontend application fetches data via APIs and renders it independently.

In a Shopify Plus context, this means using Shopify as your commerce backend while building a custom React frontend with frameworks like Hydrogen or Next.js. You keep everything Shopify is good at - checkout, payments, inventory - and replace the templating layer with something purpose-built for your brand.

Headless isn't always the right call. It adds cost and complexity. But for brands that need complete design control, sub-second page loads, or content experiences that go beyond product pages, it removes the ceiling that theme-based storefronts hit. Read our guide on when a Shopify Plus store should go headless for a practical framework.

Think: Shopify running the engine, your team designing the car.