An Alternative to Magento: A New Way to Grow Headless eCommerce Business

The headless eCommerce trend has been gaining a lot of attention lately. Open source eCommerce storefronts are slowly becoming the industry standard due to their many benefits. The headless architecture allows retailers to build online stores using independent front-ends on top of eCommerce backends like Saleor. This digitally transformative design delivers faster store performance, higher conversion rates, and better search engine ranking.

If you don't want to build your own PWA storefront from scratch, don't worry - plenty of great options are available. Thanks to the popularity of headless architecture, there are now many off-the-shelf eCommerce solutions. There is a thriving market of open-source storefronts, some of which are compatible with multiple eCommerce platforms, while others are developed for specific platforms.

Headless eCommerce: Saleor

Headless eCommerce is a new way of building eCommerce applications. Instead of having a traditional, monolithic e-commerce platform, headless commerce decouples the front-end and back-end of an eCommerce application.

Headless commerce has several advantages.

1. First, the front end can be built using any technology, including modern JavaScript frameworks like React or Angular.
2. Second, it makes it easier to scale an eCommerce application since the front-end and back-end can be scaled independently.
3. Finally, it makes it easier to build custom eCommerce applications since the front end can be tailored to the specific needs of each business.

Sale is an excellent platform for building headless commerce applications. It's built using Django, a modern web framework perfect for building scalable applications. Moreover, being open source, anybody can contribute to the project or develop their customizations.

Headless eCommerce Architectures

• Decoupling the front and back end allows for greater freedom and flexibility in design and improved stability and scalability. The headless approach, combined with a GraphQL API, gives front-end developers the ability to start working on a project before the back-end is completed. They can work independently based on the SDL schema.
• This also offers more design freedom than traditional sites, allowing for the creation of better user experiences. With JavaScript and other modern tools, you can shape your storefront into anything you can imagine.
• Different front-end versions can be created for specific needs and devices, including PWA applications, multi-channel and multi-store.
• As features are isolated, there is less chance of issues affecting other features due to the isolation.
• This also allows for easy integration with other services. The modern Internet is built on a service-based architecture. Headless eCommerce readies your products for omnidirectional consumption by external services, such as Snapchat, Instagram, or any other integration your business requires (like CRM or CMS).
• Overall, this approach can operate faster and with more scalability than traditional sites.

Understanding The Headless Structure Of Saleor

Saleor is a highly innovative open-source eCommerce platform that can help businesses achieve various goals. It offers a wide range of features and functions that make it easier for companies to reach their objectives. Saleor structure is divided into 3 parts: storefront, back-end, and Admin.

1. Saleor Storefront

The Saleor storefront was constructed using React. It offers users and visitors an eCommerce platform with a beautiful and appealing design.

Users and visitors to this storefront can interact with the user interface, buy the goods, add it to the Shopping basket, and use all of the other features necessary for eCommerce sites.

With PWA, Saleor Storefront provides an entirely open-source platform for web applications for online shopping. Additionally, the saleor storefront offers many more features; for more information, see the official Saleor document.

2. Saleor Backend

The entire Saleor platform is structured on Django using GraphQL as the backend.

Through a GraphQL query, the Saleor back-end interacts with PostgreSQL for database purposes. Since GraphQL makes it simple to connect and run queries to take and post data to databases, this method is widely used.

3. Saleor Admin

The administrator has the right to add, update, and remove products. Besides, functions like adding or editing user information and removing users are under the administrator's control.**
**

By sending a confirmation email, the admin can dispatch orders to users based on their submitted orders. Additionally, you can check all category information, add new categories, and view information about current collections.

Benefits of using Saleor

1. Web Performance, Speed, and Loading Time

Customers choose (or don’t) an online store based on page speed and performance, which are essential Google ranking factors. With a seamless buying experience that loads in a flash, Saleor enables you to provide an excellent user experience to your customers.**

2. SEO efficiency

The front-end layer in Saleor stores is static. Since static pages are quick, light, and simple for robots to scan, Google prefers them.

3. Rich user experience

A special offer is still insufficient, and one of the ways to gain a competitive edge is by designing a unique user experience. You can experiment with your design without compromising the page’s loading time.

4. Security

The Saleor storefront is not connected to the database, dependencies, user data, or other sensitive information, which keeps your customer's data safe and secure.

Saleor vs Magento vs Shopify

I love recommending three popular eCommerce platforms to organizations seeking eCommerce website development services. Shopify vs Magento vs Saleor - each has its pros & cons, making one better-suited than others, for different users.

Here’s an extensive comparison of Saleor, Magento, and Shopify.

Saleor

Saleor is a powerful eCommerce open source platform that uses GraphQL to deliver fast, dynamic, and custom shopping experiences. The new upgrade is built on Python and Django and uses a lightweight front end driven by a GraphQL API. This allows you to combine it with your preferred CRM, CMS, delivery, and fulfillment service.

Pros of Using Saleor

• Fast operating
• Allows complete personalization
• Easy to integrate with the system
• Possibility to use pre-made shop
• Multilingual
• Accepts various currencies.

Cons of Using Saleor

• Lack of deployment resource
• Saleor is still polishing itself to use ready-to-use SDK

Magento

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento 2) is an open-source eCommerce platform that enables you to build complex webshops with outstanding user experience in mind. A key advantage of using Magento is that you have complete control over your hosting environment, which can lead to lower monthly costs and requires more responsibility for managing any hosting issues.

Pros of Using Magento

• Flexibility and unlimited customization
• Helpful and large community
• Availability of multiple themes
• No subscription
• Support SEO

Cons of Using Magento

• Requires coding knowledge
• Long time to market
• Additional cost to run the shop
• Difficult to find a hosting provider

Shopify

Shopify is a platform that allows you to quickly and easily create an online store. It has numerous advantages for small businesses without a team of web developers. It is also an easy-to-use platform because it does not require coding knowledge to choose a theme, change its arrangement, or add different features.

Pros Of Using Shopify

• Easy to use for beginners
• No coding knowledge required
• Ready to use themes
• Hosting provided
• Customers support

Cons Of Using Shopify

• The majority of themes are paid
• Transaction fees (paid plan)
• Not SEO-friendly

Challenges of working with Saleor

Saleor is the new graphQL first open source eCommerce platform which is still in development but still delivers ultra-fast, dynamic, and custom shopping experiences. However, there are still some challenges that you can face if you want to use saleor for your business.

• Expensive

While Saleor is a free and open-source platform, the cost of using it can quickly add up if you need to purchase additional plugins, themes, or support services.

• Resource requirement

Using Saleor requires technical expertise and knowledge to set it up and configure it properly. If you don't have these skills on your team, you will need to invest time and resources into training someone or hiring someone with the necessary skills.

• Time-consuming

Because Saleor is a complex platform, it can take a significant amount of time to learn how to use it properly. If you're not careful, you can easily spend more time configuring the platform and setting up your store than you planned.

• Output

The output of using Saleor can vary depending on your needs and the level of customization you require. If you're unfamiliar with coding or web development, you may need to hire someone to help you with more complex tasks.

What type of businesses should use Saleor?

Saleor is ideal for small and medium businesses on the verge of rapid growth. It may not be the best choice for beginners, but it provides the company with the possibility of customizing. As a result, the webshop becomes easier to manage. Saleor can cover both physical and digital inventories, providing customers with a satisfactory shopping experience.

I hope that this article will help you to get a better understanding of working with saleor. If you have any specific questions or want to know which eCommerce platform will be the best choice for an eCommerce website, I will be happy to answer them!