Why Headless Drupal Commerce is Future of Ecommerce Solution?

By | Date posted: | Last updated: December 29, 2020
Headless Drupal Commerce

Performance and customer experience which were once an afterthought, are now vitally important with rising customer expectations and with a dramatic shift in the way they shop.
Anyone who in the ecommerce business knows that an intuitive customer experience creates the best first impression and wins over customers.

Some of the best ecommerce outlets like Amazon have reduced the loading time to improve their performance. They also took efforts to provide the best customer experience which increased their repeat customer base as well as the conversion rate.

With a spiraling number of ecommerce sites today, it was also noted that many are struggling to compete and only a few ecommerce businesses are leading the pack.

What is Headless Drupal?

When the frontend of your Drupal Commerce is decoupled from the backend it is referred to as headless Drupal Commerce architecture. In other words, we are segregating the presentation layer from the commerce stack. This decoupling of Drupal Commerce improves the scalability and flexibility of eCommerce solutions.

Issues with the traditional Drupal architecture

  • In traditional Drupal architecture, you would experience design constraints when you make alterations. A lot of time is consumed in handling the database, editing the code, and customize the front-end design.
  • In traditional commerce, developers have to work with multiple lines of code even for simple customization. They may have to see that the database layer isn’t affected in the backend.

Benefits of Headless Drupal Ecommerce

Easy Customization

Decoupling of both front-end and back-end facilitates easy customization to help you create the ideal customer experience, use the CRM, data management, and personalization tools without any performance issues.

  • In a headless Drupal Commerce, marketers and merchants don’t have to worry about the back-end setup. They can make customizations, alterations, and experiment with the shopping experiences.
  • The frontend developers also do not have to worry about handling the databases. They can create everything from scratch in headless commerce.
  • In headless commerce, you would have more room for customization. You don’t have to dread over dealing with any of the backend features while working on the look and feel of the Drupal Commerce platform.

Enhanced Shopping Experience

Headless Drupal Commerce gives a great shopping experience to all the stakeholders – developers finding it easier to make changes to the product listings and other modules, merchants with administering the store, and end-users with content-rich experience. An API-based headless Drupal Commerce is creating a boom in the ecommerce market and provides the scalability and flexibility to deliver incredible shopping experiences to the customers.

Personalization

Personalization is the foremost factor that drives conversions. Customers find it extremely frustrating if their shopping experience isn’t personalized. They wouldn’t mind their data being collected and analyzed if that provides a personalized shopping experience to them. In headless Drupal Commerce, the data collection and user segmentation become easier. In other monolithic architectures, the tools used for this purpose may show some performance lapses. In headless Drupal Commerce, these tools and personalization systems are easier to implement without slowing things down.

Best front-end tools and portable backends

With backend decoupled from the front end, there are no restrictions on picking up the best front-end tools for your platform. You don’t have to worry about the coupled solutions and pick faster and cost-effective solutions. Also, the frontend team can work without relying on the Drupal developers if they need to work on the styling of the websites.

Smooth Upgrade

With 70% of the Drupal platforms still on Drupal 7 and with the recent release of Drupal 9 and the older versions reaching their end-of-life, one needs a smoother upgrade to the latest versions. Adopting the new versions has always been time-consuming and this can be reduced if Drupal goes headless and become a decoupled model.

Portable Data

In traditional architecture, your content is in Drupal’s web of database which is huge and complicated. With decoupling it, your entire content becomes easily available and portable with an API.

Ultrahigh Speed

Headless Drupal Commerce sites are faster and reactive. Without the tight Drupal architecture, the whole setup is not overloaded and it is reflected in the performance. Many headless ecommerce websites have shown faster loading speeds with decoupled shopping carts.

Rich and Interactive Cart Experiences

Decoupled Drupal Commerce provides an enhanced interactive experience with features like push notifications, real-time updates & previews of the cart, updating the cart without page reloading, and many more.

Omnichannel Presence

Headless Drupal store can enjoy an omnichannel Commerce with the same data displayed in different ways. You can share the content and data on a mobile app, websites, or web apps. The large choice of front-end technologies won’t restrict you to one platform and hence you can multiply the benefits.

Finding the bugs easily

When the presentation layer is decoupled from the backend, you are bound to uncover some issues. Fixing these bugs via API updates contributed to improving the Drupal core and this even helped in fine-tuning the entire application structure.

Do you need Headless Drupal ecommerce?

Many enterprises are catching up with the latest trends in the market and adapting tools that improve their customer experiences. Headless Drupal Commerce is becoming one of the most important benchmarks for ecommerce businesses to survive in the market. Decoupled Drupal Commerce is more data-centric, personalized, and faster winning the customers and improving conversions.

Many ecommerce businesses have already been facing the competitive heat from other companies which have been faring extremely well. They realized that sooner or later, it is imperative for them to go headless for providing a consistent and engaging customer experience.

Conclusion

If you are still wondering if you need a shift to headless, first understand your end goals. If speed and customer experience are affecting your business revenue, you don’t want to lose more customers to your competitors who are already on headless architecture. With time, more and more businesses will be showing a paradigm shift from traditional to the headless framework. So it is advisable to gear up for the future and not lose out in the race.

If you are looking for headless Drupal commerce solution, Drupal ecommerce solution, Drupal web development, Drupal commerce development and other related web development services, please explore our Drupal web development services! We also provide Drupal website maintenance services, Drupal migration and Drupal website SEO audit, Drupal application security audit. For more information, Please visit our Drupal maintenance services!

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How to relaunch an online store? How it can boost the sales volume!

By | Date posted: | Last updated: December 29, 2020
Online Store Relaunch

An online store relaunch can push your sales numbers properly if you approach it in the right way. Read how it works here!

What you need to consider for a successful restart?

There are many reasons to open your own online store. This step can be done for current or design reasons. However, it can be just as necessary or desirable if the entire company is realigned or the existing store system is changed.

In order for it to be crowned with success, you have to take many aspects into account, from planning to concrete implementation to the final launch.

Clearly define expectations of the online store relaunch

If you want to give your ecommerce website or online store a new design, the first step should be to answer the question, what do you expect from this measure – and how can these ideas be implemented.

Analyse the weaknesses of your ecommerce store and think about concrete approaches with which these can be eliminated. In addition, you should also question those processes that are already running smoothly.

The next step is to select the ecommerce system with which you can best implement your wishes and ideas.

Standard or individual template?

By choosing the ecommerce system you have laid the foundation for your online business. The question now is whether you would like to have a ready-made design or an individual solution – both have their specific advantages:

With pre-made templates, you can do the relaunch much faster because you save the effort of design programming. Depending on the complexity, you would have to plan between 3 and 6 weeks. After the settings for the individual pages have been made, you can fill them with your products.

Individual templates require a lot of programming effort, but you then have the option to tailor the look of the website to your company. You can also tweak a lot of screws to offer your customers an even more personalize shopping experience. Personalize shopping is becoming increasingly important in the current flooding of users. You can use your online store to stand out from the numerous other online stores and leave a lasting positive impression on users. The offers on the Internet are becoming more and more similar, so the shopping experience is a decisive factor: How do users feel? Do they find their way well? Through a usability tailored to the target group, the conversion rate is demonstrably and permanently heard.

The development phase before the relaunch of your online store

Now that the design has been completed, it goes to the development phase of your ecommerce website or an online store:

Two things are particularly important: First, the development environment must be selected so that it fits the system. On the other hand, you must ensure that your ecommerce store is not found by search engines during this time by placing the newly built pages on NOINDEX. This setting, which you make via the meta tags, means that Google & Co. Don’t downgrade because of duplicate content.

Speaking of Google, SEO is an essential building block when relaunching an ecommerce website or online store. In addition to the user-friendliness of the page, search engine rankings are one of the most important factors for success in online store.

Watch out for:

  • Working 301 redirects to the new URLs
  • A sitemap (which is set to NOINDEX and FOLLOW in the meta settings)

Generally good metadata such as tags, alt attributes etc.

  • Adequate number of internal links

If you are new to the world of search engine optimization, it is advisable to hire an SEO agency.

In addition, you have to make other essential decisions for the relaunch:

  • Which payment options should the user have? Would you like to get new or different payment providers on board?
  • With what logistics providers will work together and they are connected through interfaces to the ecommerce? How is smooth shipping ensured?
  • Should ERP systems be integrated? These support you in procurement planning and you always have an overview of how your ecommerce website or online store is developing.
  • How can awareness of the ecommerce store be funded? Those who are not present on the Internet practically do not exist.

In addition to the rankings of the actual online store pages, a blog can also attract additional traffic to the website. You can use information-related search queries and establish yourself as an expert in your field. In this context, social media tools are also a success factor. Likes and shares of users are extremely valuable because they are authentic recommendations for others.

Stay alert after the relaunch of Online store

Expecting perfection in the first few weeks is not too realistic. It is important to analyse and eliminate the errors that occur. This is especially true for 404 errors. The entire structure of your store can be examined with tools. This makes it much easier for you to turn the right screws and ensure that the relaunch of your store is a success. We are happy to assist you for any type of ecommerce solution advice at any time.

If you are looking to revamp your existing online store, new marketing opportunities for your existing online store or want to create a new online store, Please explore our ecommerce solutions! We also provide ecommerce website maintenance services, online store maintenance services and more. For more information, Please visit our website maintenance services!

If you have any questions or would like to know more about how Skynet Technologies can help your business to reach one step ahead, Reach out us through below form & We'll get back to you soon!

Drupal Commerce Vs WooCommerce – Which one is the Right Ecommerce Solution Platform?

By | Date posted: | Last updated: December 29, 2020
Drupal Commerce vs Woocommerce

The Ecommerce landscape is growing at a fast pace and many brick-and-mortar retail stores are going online to improve their market presence and business revenue. It’s an irrefutable fact that ecommerce business is clearly on a roll, but many are confused about which platforms to pick for building their online websites.

Most of the companies juggle between Drupal Commerce and WooCommerce platforms. Here, we look into different aspects of these two platforms in a comprehensive way so that you can make an informed decision for your Ecommerce platform.

Ease of Installation

Drupal Commerce and WooCommerce are the Ecommerce platforms for Drupal and WordPress content management systems respectively. Drupal Commerce is an open-source framework built on Drupal CMS while WooCommerce is a WordPress Ecommerce plugin.

WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that can be installed after the WordPress configuration. You don’t need any technical skills to work on the WooCommerce plugin. The installation wizard does all the work and in no time, the WooCommerce is set up on your system.

Drupal Commerce can be installed as a module once you install Drupal CMS. It needs certain tech skills to get your head around and complete the installation. Drupal Commerce is well-organized and it leverages the features of the latest versions of Drupal CMS.

Ease of Use

With a huge user base, WordPress is already a proven platform in terms of simplicity and ease of use. It has got many intuitive features and provides a seamless experience to its user base. The users are also familiar with many features and themes. For more advanced features, it also provides great flexibility to customize.

Drupal Commerce is fairly easy to use if you have some prior experience with Drupal CMS. Otherwise, you need to expect a great deal of learning before you become familiar with the usage of the functionality. Once you get through the process, you can start your business without delay as Drupal Commerce facilitates a comprehensive shopping cart, dynamic product additions, custom themes, and attributes. Catalog and inventory management can also be created with ease.

Themes and Templates

WooCommerce can utilize a wide range of WordPress themes. There are numerous pre-built templates available that enable customizations. For more advanced features, you need to go for paid templates and plug-ins.

The entire theme of Drupal Commerce can be customized. This gives an extra edge to this platform.

Catalog Management

With WooCommerce, you can have a traditional way of displaying your products. It also comes with customizations, layout adjustments, and attribute tagging. But these are ideal for small and medium-sized businesses. For more scalability purposes, you may have some trade-offs like compromised performance.

You can have a traditional catalog experience with Drupal Commerce and organize the products by changing the attributes associated with them.

Target Market

WooCommerce is more ideal for small and medium businesses. Handling large volumes of data becomes one of the biggest hindrances when it comes to larger ecommerce systems. This impacts the performance and in case if you intend to use WooCommerce for larger enterprises then it is advisable to go for a seasoned developer who could optimize the speed.

Drupal, on the other hand, can handle any loads of data. It is much more flexible and scalable than WooCommerce. You can customize your functionality instead of looking for suitable plugins like how you do in WooCommerce. If you want to scale your business aggressively and push beyond the mid-tier markets, then Drupal is the best platform for you.

Pricing

WooCommerce is an open-source platform with many free plug-ins. You can also have commercial extensions and plugins which come at an annual cost as the free plugins provide only basic functionality. For advanced features, you may go for some premium plugins. Users may also incur additional expenses for customizing designs that improve your branding in the market. You should also pay for the hosting of your site.

Drupal Commerce is also an open-source platform and free to use. Drupal modules and functionalities come with zero price and you need to pay only for the hosting fee.

The only additional cost you may entail is for the support which may vary from vendor to vendor. The support is offered at different price points and you may choose what suits you the best.

Security

WordPress has a huge installation base and it is also more prone to security vulnerabilities.

Drupal, on the other hand, is more secure. They go for module and security updates regularly to keep the security breaches to a minimum.

Customizations

WooCommerce provides easy customizations with numerous plugins and extensions. With an easy installation process, even the beginners can get the most out of their site. Equally beneficial for advanced users who want to flex their customization muscles for accessing advanced features and modules.

Drupal Commerce is highly customizable too. It offers a seamless experience and works as a fine extension of an existing web page. You can tailor your websites as per your requirements and preferences. With minor tweaks, you can change the face of the Drupal Commerce platform.

Integrations

WooCommerce works seamlessly with popular integrations such as PayPal, Stripe, UPS, FreshBooks, and also on most of the web-based devices. A huge martech stack of extensions and add-on plugins are available with which you can integrate additional functionality on the websites. Even social integrations are easy with plugins and extensions.

Drupal Commerce is ideal for integration with major social channels like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and allows customers to share the product details, reviews, and other information across their own social networks. Easy integration with some of the most popular third-party payment gateways along with discount pricing is possible. Drupal also works well with a variety of web-based applications and systems like Twitter, Facebook, and more.

Search Engine Friendly

Built-in SEO friendly plugins are available with WooCommerce. Elements like URLs, meta tags, description plus plugins like Yoast enabler help in optimizing the platform for better visibility on search engines. These SEO plugins and extensions make WooCommerce more search engine friendly.

Drupal can also install Google analytics and also enable SEO through a plethora of SEO modules. It also has meta-tags, URL management, a site map generator all of which improve the SERP results of Drupal platforms.

Responsive websites

Mobile responsiveness doesn’t come easily with WooCommerce. You have to install some modules to boost your mobile performance of your WooCommerce platforms.

Drupal Commerce follows a mobile-first approach and hence building mobile responsive websites gets easier with Drupal Commerce. The Ecommerce websites built using Drupal are responsive across all devices.

Customer Retention

In WooCommerce, Businesses develop their brand awareness by thoroughly understanding the user persona from the analytics data. They even create targeted promotional offers to reach out to their customers.

Drupal Commerce’s main focus is on customer retention than reaching out to new customers. So the major focus is on building brand awareness and customer loyalty. You can gain deeper insights into customer persona and use the data to convert customers. Customer-specific campaigns are run to gain traction among users. User segmentation and analysis are done based on the user preferences data.

Cross-selling

In any Ecommerce business, the cart value remains at the core of its success. Cross-selling saves some dollars for the consumers. WooCommerce and Drupal Commerce are pioneers in creating need-specific content to cross-sell the products.

Drupal Commerce has an edge over WooCommerce as it offers multiple cross-selling content options, unlike WooCommerce which has a limited number. Drupal has upselling options also like pop-ups showing free shipping benefits.

Multilingual

As your business becomes global, you need to provide the product details, review, pricing information in the local languages.

Both Drupal Commerce and WooCommerce are multilingual but Drupal Commerce has an in-built multilingual module that makes the process much easier. In WooCommerce, you need to enable the multilingual module to internationalize your business.

Popularity

WooCommerce is one of the most used and popular CMS ecommerce platforms with over 3 million live websites. It is easier to use and less complicated than Drupal set up making it the most sought out platform. Drupal Commerce also powers more than 5000 live websites.

Market Base

WooCommerce has a huge market in more than 160+ countries including the USA, Russia, the UK, and others. Drupal Commerce has a global community that pushes new modules periodically but when it comes to market presence, it hasn’t got any lead over WooCommerce in these places.

Conclusion

Both Drupal Commerce and WooCommerce have their own pros and cons. In terms of market share and popularity, WooCommerce may seem to be an ideal choice. Although, it would be depend on type of your business and goals. In some aspects, Drupal Commerce can also be a great choice based on your business goals!

If you are looking for an ecommerce website development, shopping cart development, online store development and web application development, Please explore our Ecommerce Solutions! We also provide ecommerce website maintenance services, online store maintenance services and web application security audit. For more information, please visit our Website Maintenance Services!

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How Headless Commerce is the best compared to Traditional Open Source B2B Ecommerce Platform?

By | Date posted: | Last updated: February 15, 2021
Headless Commerce Solution

Headless commerce is the technology of the hour. If you want to be well positioned in future B2B trade, you have to deal with the question of which devices, channels and operating concepts will play a role in the future. But there are already concrete applications. We explain what headless commerce means and in which scenarios it makes sense.

Why do B2B retailers need headless commerce? The most important promise of headless commerce is to make the online shopping cart particularly flexible. This enables dealers to deal with each channel separately.

With headless commerce, every channel gets a tailor-made front end. This does not have to be limited to the ecommerce surface, the user guidance and the operating concept can differ depending on the platform or device. Combined with personalization and a headless CMS, retailers can even play the products and content individually on each channel.

Headless Commerce vs. Traditional Ecommerce platform

In contrast to the headless commerce, the classic ecommerce platform maps the entire functionality and appearance of the website: in the backend, the software manages the products and customer data and processes orders. The software displays interface so that the customer can order in the ecommerce. The integrated front end of the software is typically designed to deliver a well-functioning desktop and mobile version of the online shopping cart.

But it doesn’t always have to be that the ecommerce is used and displayed in a certain way in the browser. In times of the Internet of Things and social media, the variety of devices, channels and thus also usage preferences and operating concepts is increasing. Even B2B buyers are already using an average of six channels today.

Channels & Scenarios for headless commerce:

  • Online Shopping Cart
  • Website
  • Mobile website / PWA
  • Social media
  • Online Store / POS (point of sale)
  • Marketplaces
  • Multistore Platforms
  • Multibrand Ecommerce
  • Individual Country Ecommerce
  • Internet of Things
  • Voice Commerce
  • Conversational Commerce / Chatbots

How Headless Commerce works?

In order to achieve more flexibility and make the ecommerce future-proof, a headless architecture backend and front end of the ecommerce application are separated. But what does that mean? The software no longer provides all the functions of an ecommerce application as a large overall package. Instead, it provides its core function, order processing, in the backend. The front end for the customer is developed separately and specifically for the customer’s usage situation such as the device or channel. On the other hand, the processes from business applications are also connected to the controlling ecommerce software via interfaces.

In this context, one also speaks of decoupled systems. With headless commerce, the individual areas of an ecommerce system are decoupled. This enables a company to view each channel individually. Using optimized front ends, retailers integrate data and functions and can adapt or expand them at any time if necessary.

Why the API and Interfaces are so important?

Interfaces, i.e. application programming interfaces (API), are the link of a headless ecommerce. They are used to call up the desired functionality from the ecommerce backend, to exchange data and ultimately to offer the customer an outstanding user experience.

A headless commerce also communicates reliably with the company’s internal systems via standard interfaces. For example, the queries customer-specific prices in real time from the ERP system. The customer data comes from the CRM, the PIM supplies the product data and the CMS the content. The ecommerce software is the central exchange through which all inquiries and data run.

It is important that the interfaces are well defined, standardized and well documented. This ensures that the APIs provide developers with a set of powerful tools that avoid familiarization with complex systems and many dependencies. If the API is well thought out, retailers also achieve high performance and security for the entire ecommerce application. For this reason, a REST API is often used in headless systems, which is based on standardized processes.

What is API-first and microservices? How did it work for headless commerce?

With an API first strategy, this principle of headless commerce is consistently implemented. At API-first, an interface is first defined for each function. The ecommerce software is as lean as possible. A developer can use the functions in ecommerce applications via the standardized interface.

From Micro Services is called whenever for each small section of an ecommerce application – a small, manageable application is programmed – functions, processes, individual tasks. The sum of the microservices then results in the ecommerce application.

The difference to the classic ecommerce system is not noticeable for the customer, but for the developers there are advantages in headless commerce. The microservice approach reduces complexity because each microservice just does one task. In addition, the microservices can be exchanged very easily. Thanks to the standard interfaces, they can also be created independently of each other by different development teams.

How to switch ecommerce platform as a headless commerce?

API-first and microservices are a modern approach, but also mean a radical change in the development of ecommerce projects. This contrasts with the classic ecommerce platforms, which already master all typical tasks in ecommerce with on-board equipment, but are sometimes not flexible enough. Is there a middle ground between headless commerce and a monolithic ecommerce platform?

There is definitely an approach in which the ecommerce platform and headless commerce can be combined. With ecommerce software that has intelligent interfaces, retailers can switch parts of their B2B online shopping cart to headless commerce if necessary. New areas can be added step by step. This enables a smooth changeover.

9 Best Reasons to Switch to Headless Commerce!

There are several scenarios in which the use of headless commerce already makes sense today in B2B trading:

    Sustainable architecture

  • Sustainable architecture: A more flexible ecommerce allows you to react very quickly to new challenges or changed usage habits of the target group.
  • More Personalization

  • More Personalization: Headless architecture is a good foundation for personalized customer experience. In addition to individual frontends, content and products can be played to match the channel.
  • International Ecommerce

  • International Ecommerce: If international ecommerce store is operated, then headless commerce gives the country ecommerce more control options. Nevertheless, they can access the data and functions that the control centre provides.
  • Multistore / Multibrand Ecommerce

  • Multistore / Multibrand Ecommerce: Even in multistore and multibrand ecommerce, it can make sense to play out individual front ends, products and content for each ecommerce from a central system using headless commerce.
  • Better Performance

  • Better Performance: Lean, headless ecommerce infrastructures and data exchange via standard interfaces enable high-performance ecommerce applications.
  • Less Complexity

  • Less Complexity: Comprehensive ecommerce applications can be broken down and simplified into manageable parts. Dependencies and unwanted interactions with changes that occur in complex environments are avoided.
  • Integrate Business Processes

  • Integrate Business Processes: A strong focus on standardized interfaces makes it easier to integrate business processes from systems such as ERP, PIM, CMS and CRM.
  • Adjustment Costs

  • Adjustment Costs: Dealers avoid high follow-up costs for development projects in which only a sub-area is actually to be changed. Here, the entire ecommerce platform does not have to be reconsidered and possibly converted.
  • Shorter Project Times

  • Shorter Project Times: The project times, for example with redesigns or new functions, are shorter. Sub-tasks as well as changes in the frontend and backend can be transferred to different development teams.

However, especially with the last two points, retailers have to consider that the introduction of a headless system will initially be more complex and therefore also more expensive. After all, the front ends have to develop first. The interfaces must also be programmed first. The savings in time and money only become noticeable with adjustments and extensions.

Conclusion

B2B retailers who now rely on headless commerce well equipped for the future. Regardless of which channels and devices the customers will populate in a few years, a decoupled system adapts and can quickly expand with suitable front ends and operating concepts.

Online shopping carts are already benefiting from the diverse options that result from the decoupling of their ecommerce infrastructure. In combination with personalization, unique customer experiences created with exactly the right content and products per channel. There are also better control options in international business and on complex dealer platforms.

Retailers do not have to rely entirely on an API first concept and implement all headless commerce functions with microservices. You can also decouple individual areas of your B2B ecommerce. This has a positive effect on the complexity and makes maintenance of individual segments easier. It is important to have clean interfaces that form the basis for any further development of the ecommerce.

If you are looking for a Ecommerce Website Development, Shopping Cart Development, Online Store Development and Web Application Development, Please Explore our Ecommerce Solutions! We also provide Ecommerce Website Maintenance Services, Online Store Maintenance Services and Web Application Security Audit. For More Information, Please Visit Our Website Maintenance Services!

If you have any questions or would like to know more about how Skynet Technologies can help your business to reach one step ahead, Reach out us through below form & We'll get back to you soon!