Web
Next.js
A modern web technology for fast, search-friendly websites, online stores and web applications that load quickly on mobile.
Used for
- Business websites
- Online stores
- Web apps
- Customer portals
Headless commerce
Headless commerce development
Custom Next.js storefronts on the commerce engine of your choice, for brands whose front end has outgrown a theme.
At a glance
The short version
What it is
Next.js storefronts on a headless commerce engine and CMS, for brands that need speed, several storefronts or content-led shopping.
- What you get
- Storefront
- Commerce engine
- Content and merchandising
- Integration layer
- How it works
- Headless CMS
- Webhook and cache
- Next.js storefront
- Commerce engine
- 2 more
- Runs on
- Website
- PWA
- Web app
- Admin
- Built with
- Who it's for
- Cost depends on
- Engine and licences
- Storefronts and locales
- CMS modelling
How to start
Tell us what you need in your own words. You talk to the developers who would build it and get a written, line-item estimate.
Get a project estimateWhen decoupling the storefront pays off
Headless is an architecture, not an upgrade. It earns its extra complexity when a brand needs what a theme cannot deliver cleanly: editorial pages mixing stories and products, several storefronts sharing one catalogue, fast pages under heavy campaign traffic, or a website and app that must behave identically.
If none of that applies, a well-built theme is cheaper to run. When it does, our headless commerce development covers the storefront, the CMS model, caching and revalidation, and the integration layer between them.
Challenges
Signs a theme is holding you back
Design boxed in by the theme
Campaign pages and product storytelling need workarounds wedged into templates.
Editors waiting on developers
Content teams cannot build or preview rich pages without a release.
One catalogue, several copies
Each brand or region runs its own store, and updates drift apart.
Speed lost to scripts
Every new feature adds client-side JavaScript to listing and product pages.
What is included
Layers of a headless build
Platform: Next.js website
Storefront
- Server-rendered and incrementally regenerated pages
- Edge caching with revalidation on webhooks
- Responsive images through an image CDN
- Structured data, canonicals and sitemaps from the catalogue
Platform: APIs
Commerce engine
- Products, prices, carts and orders via the engine
- The engine's checkout or a custom checkout service
- Indian payment methods and GST logic
- Promotions and stock available to every channel
Platform: Headless CMS
Content and merchandising
- Page builder with typed, reusable sections
- Draft preview on the real storefront
- Scheduled campaigns and localised content
- Stories linked to live product data
Platform: Backend services
Integration layer
- Search indexing from catalogue events
- Order sync to ERP, OMS and couriers
- Webhook queue with retries and alerts
- Shared APIs for apps and in-store screens
How it works
How a headless storefront serves a page and takes an order
Content, commerce and back-office systems stay separate, and APIs and webhooks keep them in step.
- Headless CMS
Step 1: An editor publishes content
A campaign page is built from typed sections, previewed on the real storefront with live products, then published or scheduled.
- Webhook and cache
Step 2: Only the affected pages refresh
The CMS and commerce engine notify the storefront, which rebuilds just those pages and updates the edge cache.
- Next.js storefront
Step 3: The shopper gets a fast page
Server-rendered HTML arrives from a nearby edge location, so pages stay quick even during a sale.
- Commerce engine
Step 4: Cart and checkout run through APIs
Products, prices, carts and orders come from the engine; checkout is the engine’s own or a custom one with Indian payment methods.
- Integration layer
Step 5: The order flows to back-office systems
A webhook queue passes the order to your ERP, OMS and courier, retrying if any of them is briefly down.
- Apps and in-store screens
Step 6: The same APIs serve every channel
Your app and other storefronts read the same catalogue and promotions, so prices and offers match everywhere.
Integrations
Engines, CMSs and services we pair
Commerce engine
Shopify Storefront API
Keep Shopify admin and checkout, replace the storefront.
Medusa
Open-source Node.js engine you host and extend.
commercetools
API-first commerce for large catalogues.
Headless CMS
Sanity, Strapi or Contentful
Structured content with previews and editorial roles.
Search
Algolia or Typesense
Hosted or self-hosted search.
Payments
Razorpay or PayU
Indian payment methods in custom checkout flows.
Comparison
Theme-based store versus headless
| Theme-based store | Headless storefront | |
|---|---|---|
| Front-end freedom | Within theme and app limits | Any design or page type |
| Moving parts | One platform | Storefront, engine, CMS and hosting |
| Edits without developers | Theme editor | CMS page builder, once modelled |
| Suits | One store, standard catalogue | Several storefronts or content-led brands |
Platforms
Where a headless set-up runs
A Next.js website that shoppers can install as a web app, web apps for editors and integrations, and an admin dashboard for orders and content.
- Web
Website
Marketing and content websites: fast, search-friendly pages with a CMS your team can update without a developer.
- Web
Progressive web app
Installable web apps with offline support and notifications, useful when an app-store listing isn't essential or phones have little storage.
- Web
Web application
Browser-based applications with logins, roles and workflows, such as customer portals, SaaS products and internal tools.
- Back office
Admin dashboard
Back-office panels for operations, support and finance teams: orders, users, content, reports and permissions.
Technology
Technology behind headless builds, and why it matters
Next.js renders fast, crawlable pages, Node.js and NestJS run the integration layer, PostgreSQL and Redis back custom services and caching, and Docker keeps deployments repeatable.
Web
React
Builds interactive screens in the browser, such as dashboards, admin panels and portals, that respond instantly as your team works.
Used for
- Web apps
- Admin panels
- Dashboards
- Customer portals
Backend
Node.js
Runs the server side of apps: fast, scalable back ends that power your app, website and integrations.
Used for
- App back ends
- Live order tracking
- Chat and notifications
- Payment processing
Backend
NestJS
A structured way to build back ends on Node.js, so large business systems stay organised, testable and easy to hand over.
Used for
- Business app back ends
- SaaS platforms
- Marketplaces
- Admin panel back ends
Data
PostgreSQL
A reliable database for the records your business runs on: orders, payments, bookings and stock, kept accurate and easy to report on.
Used for
- Orders and customers
- Payments and ledgers
- Stock and inventory
- Bookings
Data
Redis
Keeps frequently used data in fast memory, so apps stay quick on busy days and live features like order tracking feel instant.
Used for
- Faster apps
- Live order status
- Shopping carts
- Job queues and alerts
Cloud & DevOps
AWS
Cloud hosting for your app, website and data, with data centres in India and room to grow when traffic rises.
Used for
- App hosting
- File and photo storage
- Backups
- Busy sale days
Cloud & DevOps
Docker
Packages your software so it runs the same way on every laptop and server, which makes releases predictable and moving hosts easier.
Used for
- Reliable releases
- Same setup everywhere
- Faster onboarding
- Easy scaling
Plain-English glossary
Headless terms, in plain English
- Headless CMS
- A content system that stores pages as structured sections and delivers them by API, with no website of its own. Editors get a page builder and previews; developers decide how content looks on each storefront.
- Commerce engine
- The backend that owns products, prices, carts, stock and orders. In a headless set-up it has no customer-facing pages of its own; the storefront and apps call it through APIs.
- Edge caching
- Keeping ready-made copies of pages on servers close to shoppers. Pages load quickly under campaign traffic without every visit hitting your backend.
- Incremental regeneration
- Rebuilding only the pages whose content or prices changed, in the background, rather than the whole site. Editors see updates within moments, and a large catalogue never needs a full rebuild.
- Canonical tag
- A line in a page’s code naming the main version of that page. It stops filtered, sorted or variant URLs from competing with each other in search results.
Product preview
What shoppers and your editors see
Illustrative screens, using a content-led menswear brand as the example.
Storefront. Editorial pages mix stories with live products, so the prices and stock shown inside an article are always current. 
Headless CMS. Editors assemble pages from reusable sections, schedule them for a launch time and preview drafts on the real storefront before publishing. 
Admin dashboard. Every hand-off between storefront, engine, ERP and courier is queued and retried, and failures raise alerts before customers notice. 
Admin dashboard. Page speed and cache hit rate are tracked by page type, so new features do not quietly slow the store down.
Illustrative preview
Sample screens: names, prices and figures are examples, not client data.
Industries
Brands that tend to go headless
Services
Services a headless project needs
E-commerce development
Online stores, shopping apps and B2B ordering portals on Shopify, WooCommerce or custom stacks, wired to Indian payments, couriers and GST invoicing.
Web application development
Browser-based products, customer portals, dashboards and internal tools, built on clean data models with secure roles and integrations.
API development
Secure, documented REST and GraphQL APIs, plus integrations that connect your apps to payment, logistics, GST, messaging and business systems.
Website development
Fast, SEO-ready company and marketing websites with a CMS your team can edit, designed and built by our in-house team.
UI/UX design
Product design for web and mobile apps: research, user flows, wireframes, prototypes and design systems that engineers can build from.
Cost drivers
Factors in a headless commerce budget
Engine and licences
Open-source engines cost engineering time; SaaS engines add fees but less upkeep.
Storefronts and locales
Each brand, region or language adds routing, content models and testing.
CMS modelling
Well-designed content types and previews take time up front and save developer time later.
Migration approach
Moving page types over one at a time lowers risk but means running old and new side by side.
Estimates are written from your scope, with the effort and assumptions behind each line item.
How pricing worksWork
Sample projects
Illustrative projects that show how we plan and build this kind of product. They are samples, not client work.
E-commerce & marketplaces
Illustrative sampleMulti-vendor fashion marketplace
An illustrative marketplace where independent fashion labels sell through one storefront, with vendor onboarding, commission rules, multi-pickup shipping, returns and scheduled payouts.
- E-commerce
- Marketplace web platform
Runs on
- Website
- Web app
- Admin
Built with
- Next.js
- NestJS
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- AWS
- +1 more
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is headless commerce worth it for a small catalogue?
Usually not on its own. With a small catalogue, one storefront and a small team, a good theme on a hosted platform is cheaper to build and simpler to run. Headless makes sense when you need several storefronts, rich content-led pages, an app sharing the same APIs, or performance your theme cannot reach. We would rather say so than build complexity you do not need.
Can we go headless and keep Shopify as the backend?
Yes. Many headless builds keep Shopify for products, inventory, orders and checkout, and replace only the storefront with a Next.js site reading from the Storefront API. Your team keeps working in the Shopify admin. Apps that inject features into themes will not work on a custom front end, so we list the ones you rely on and plan replacements during scoping.
How do editors preview content before it goes live?
We connect the CMS preview mode to the real storefront, so editors see draft pages rendered with live products and prices before publishing. Scheduled content goes live automatically, and each publish revalidates only the affected pages rather than triggering a full rebuild. Roles in the CMS control who can draft, review and publish.
Can a headless store rank as well as a traditional one?
Yes, if it is built with search in mind. That means server-rendered HTML rather than content loaded only in the browser, correct canonical tags on filtered and variant URLs, structured data for products and breadcrumbs, sitemaps generated from the catalogue, and redirects for every old URL during migration. These are acceptance criteria, not afterthoughts.
Related
Keep exploring
Next step
Weighing up a headless move?
Send us your current stack and what it stops you doing. We will tell you plainly whether headless is worth it and what a phased migration looks like.