We Make Websites is one of our trusted agency partners at Littledata. The geniuses behind beautiful ecommerce experiences for Lauren Conrad Beauty, PANGAIA, and countless other Shopify Plus sites, We Make Websites are experts in headless builds. We were honored to be included in their new outline of a “perfect” headless tech stack for ecommerce merchants!
Littledata’s ecommerce data platform now supports any headless Shopify build, and we work together with top Shopify Plus agencies like WMW to help brands get accurate data to fuel their growth.
The “perfect” headless tech stack
Headless ecommerce isn’t new, but the technology has improved across the board in recent years. With the rise of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and increasing popularity of React frameworks, it seems like headless platforms are everywhere you turn these days. Many brands are turning to sites that act like apps, and headless is a great way to do that. Even Shopify seems ready to go all-in with the launch of Hydrogen, which is focused on integrating React server components.
As the WMW team explains, headless isn’t for everyone. To really do it right (and keep maintenance costs down), you’ll need a developer or agency with experience in Node.js and React/Vue as well as the Shopify ecosystem.
When done right, headless sites like Recess and ILIA Beauty are lightning fast and provide personalized experiences for shoppers.
In “Creating the Perfect Tech Stack for Your Headless Build”, the We Make Websites team highlights top apps that work well in a headless environment, work well together, and “harmonize” with the wider tech stack. Here’s their recommended stack.
Shopify
LoyaltyLion
Klevu
Yotpo
Nacelle
Nosto
Shogun
Recharge
Littledata
Littledata is featured alongside some of our longtime integration partners Recharge (for selling by subscription) and Nacelle (for fast, flexible headless builds), as well as our friends at LoyaltyLion. So, this is an ideal stack for a customer-driven brand that is selling by subscription (at least in part) and is serious about data-driven growth.
Note: Littledata also integrates with landing page builders like Shogun, Zipify Pages and Gem Pages
Our headless tracking ensures that sessions are stitched together and linked to ecommerce events. We have also added default integrations with every major landing page builder, whether those pages act as your front-end or you’re running hundreds of top-of-funnel landing pages.
Should you go headless?
As the WMW team puts it, one of the biggest reasons for going headless in the first place is the ability to pick and choose from modern commerce tools, including data platforms and CDP integrations:
A headless architecture [lets you] employ a “best of breed” technology strategy. By harnessing the power and agility of APIs, headless websites allow you to create a tech stack that’s unique to, and perfect for, your business.
We have certainly found that to be true in practice, especially with our merchants using Nacelle and Netlify. For the most part they have managed to keep their Shopify Plus tech stacks while improving speed and engagement .
As Devin Saxon, senior sales engineer at Nacelle put it in our interview last year:
Every headless build is unique. Not because of catalogue size, but due to what the merchant’s goals and needs are for their front end and overall architecture.
The process itself is not dramatically different. We align with the customer on the build scoping process, including their goals, integration, and workflow needs, which can be the biggest determinant of the timeline. It’s best to work this out far before they start building, though, to mitigate any issues from coming up during the build.
In our view, chief among those goals and workflows should be your data vision: what do you want to track, how do you want to track it, and who will be using the data?
Check out our headless tracking demo to get sense for what’s possible. If you’re ready to start planning a headless build — or you’ve already launched are are ready to take data more seriously — let’s chat.
