Headless commerce is transforming the way brands build online stores—by decoupling the front end from the back end, it allows for faster, more flexible, and highly customized digital experiences across all devices. As customer expectations grow, this modern approach is quickly becoming the go-to solution for brands aiming to deliver high performance and standout design.
At the forefront of this shift is Shopify, with many forward-thinking companies leveraging its robust backend while creating fully tailored front-end experiences. The result? Lightning-fast, visually stunning, and conversion-optimized storefronts that break free from traditional limitations.
In this blog, we showcase 10 exceptional headless commerce examples powered by Shopify, highlighting how leading brands are redefining e-commerce. Plus, we’ll explore how SimplSo’sShopify experts help craft scalable, high-converting storefronts that can bring your headless vision to life.
Headless Commerce Examples From 10 Premium Brands Using Shopify
Headless commerce is revolutionizing e-commerce by decoupling the front-end and back-end, allowing brands to deliver highly customized and seamless shopping experiences. Several premium brands have embraced this approach using Shopify's robust platform. Here are ten notable examples:
1. Allbirds
Allbirds, renowned for its sustainable footwear, transitioned to a headless architecture to enhance site performance and scalability. By leveraging Shopify's Hydrogen framework and Oxygen hosting, they achieved faster load times and a more personalized user experience. This setup allowed them to incrementally decouple their frontend, starting with features like a store locator and eventually converting their entire website to Hydrogen. They also integrated Contentful as their CMS and Gladly as their CRM to manage content and customer relationships effectively.
2. Kotn
Kotn, a Canadian apparel brand, adopted headless commerce to gain greater control over their site's customization and scalability. Utilizing Shopify's Storefront API, they consolidated two stores into one, integrated a new CMS (Sanity), and customized product pages and checkout processes. This transition reduced reliance on custom apps and empowered their team to manage inventory and customer experiences more efficiently. The use of React allowed their developers to build reusable components, enhancing both consumer-facing and internal applications.
3. Victoria Beckham Beauty
Victoria Beckham Beauty implemented a headless setup using Shopify Plus and Contentful CMS. This combination allowed for a tailored and seamless shopping experience, aligning with the brand's luxury aesthetic. The headless architecture enabled multilingual and multicurrency support, enhancing their global reach. Hosting on Netlify further ensured fast page loading speeds and smooth operation.
4. Inkbox
Inkbox, a temporary tattoo company, embraced headless commerce to manage increasing demand and enhance user engagement. By integrating a custom front-end with Shopify's backend, they improved site speed and scalability. This setup allowed them to showcase their vast library of tattoo designs with dynamic filtering and a responsive interface, contributing to their rapid growth in the temporary tattoo market.
5. Paul Valentine
German-based jewelry brand Paul Valentine utilized a headless architecture to manage multiple international storefronts efficiently. With Shopify Plus and Contentful CMS, they achieved a scalable and flexible e-commerce solution. Their setup covers over 24 regional storefronts, all managed through just two Shopify stores, enabling them to offer localized experiences across different markets.
6. Recess
Recess, a wellness beverage company, adopted headless commerce to support their subscription-based model. Using Shopify's backend with a Vue.js frontend and Sanity.io CMS, they delivered a dynamic and responsive shopping experience. This architecture allowed for seamless content distribution and storefront customization, catering to their modern and innovative brand image.
7. Blume
Blume, offering vegan body care products, implemented Shopify's Storefront API to create a fast-loading, SEO-friendly website. This headless approach allowed for continuous design enhancements without compromising performance. They utilized a React frontend framework to empower their e-commerce components, ensuring a seamless and engaging user experience.
8. Rothy’s
Rothy’s, known for washable shoes and bags, leveraged headless commerce to facilitate international expansion. By decoupling their front-end and back-end, they provided localized experiences without overhauling their existing systems. This approach enabled them to reuse their backend while setting up separate frontends for each region, streamlining their global operations.
9. The Feed.
The Feed, a performance nutrition brand for athletes, adopted a headless Shopify Plus setup to enhance speed and flexibility. This upgrade led to faster load times and a smoother user experience—essential for time-sensitive customers. The headless build enabled dynamic content updates, including expert tips, custom bundles, and nutrition plans. With greater agility and performance, The Feed strengthened customer engagement and scaled more efficiently.
10. Bols
Bols, a historic spirits brand, adopted a headless Shopify Plus configuration to expand their direct-to-consumer reach. This move resulted in a 50% increase in site speed and greater design flexibility. The headless setup facilitated intuitive dashboards for managing multiple storefronts and launching new products efficiently. Additionally, it allowed Bols to regularly update their site with rich content like recipes and at-home beverage tips, enhancing customer engagement.
These brands exemplify how headless commerce, powered by Shopify, can provide the flexibility and performance needed to meet modern e-commerce demands. By decoupling the front-end and back-end, they have achieved enhanced customization, scalability, and user engagement.
Simplso – Enabling Brands To Build Seamless Headless Experiences With Shopify
SimplSo is a design-driven Shopify Plus agency helping premium brands build high-performance headless commerce experiences. By leveraging Shopify’s Hydrogen and Oxygen frameworks, SimplSo decouples front-end and back-end systems to create lightning-fast, fully customized storefronts. Their API-first approach enables brands to craft immersive, omnichannel experiences with maximum flexibility and speed.
The agency offers a full suite of Shopify services, including custom theme and app development, headless builds, performance optimization, and seamless platform migrations. SimplSo also integrates third-party tools like ERPs and CRMs to streamline backend operations while maintaining a strong focus on UI/UX design and conversion rate optimization.
With a growing global portfolio, SimplSo has worked with brands like KRÉSHA BAJAJ and Palladio Mosaics to deliver tailored Shopify solutions. Their recognition as a Shopify Expert agency reflects their technical expertise, strategic approach, and commitment to creating future-ready digital commerce experiences.
FAQs
1. What Is A Headless Business?
A headless business separates the front-end (user interface) from the back-end (data and functionality), allowing for more flexibility in how products and content are displayed across different channels.
2. What Is Meant By Headless Commerce?
Headless commerce is an eCommerce architecture where the front-end and back-end are decoupled, enabling brands to customize their storefronts and user experiences while still using a powerful commerce engine like Shopify.
3. Why Are Brands Choosing Headless Commerce?
Brands choose headless commerce for greater design flexibility, faster site speed, improved scalability, and the ability to create seamless experiences across web, mobile, apps, and more.
4. What Makes A Good Headless Commerce Example?
A strong headless commerce example features a fast, highly customized user experience, smooth integration with CMS and third-party tools, and strong performance across all devices and channels.
5. Can Small Or Medium-Sized Businesses Use Headless Commerce?
Yes, small and medium businesses can use headless commerce, especially if they need advanced customization or plan to scale across multiple platforms, but it requires more development resources than traditional setups.
6. How To Know If Headless Commerce Is Right For Your Business?
Headless commerce is a good fit if your business prioritizes performance, multi-channel delivery, and custom experiences, and if you have the technical resources or a reliable agency to manage it.
Conclusion
Headless commerce is clearly transforming the eCommerce landscape by offering brands unmatched flexibility, speed, and customization. The headless ecommerce examples we explored demonstrate how leading Shopify brands are leveraging this approach to create unique, engaging, and scalable digital experiences.
Agencies like SimplSo play a crucial role in helping businesses design and implement seamless headless Shopify solutions that drive innovation and growth. Whether you’re a growing business or an established enterprise, adopting a headless strategy with Shopify and the right partner can unlock new opportunities for success.