Luxury brands are synonymous with opulence, sophistication, and exclusivity. Their customers expect top-of-the-line quality, premium customer service, and a seamless online experience. This includes B2C customers that prioritise having access to high-end services, items, and experiences 24/7, but can of course also include B2B customers. As the competition in the luxury industry continues to grow, these brands need to stay ahead of the game to retain their loyal customer base.
Most of the time, we notice that our clients’ audiences know exactly what they are shopping for, however the navigation, access and speed of a site can affect a shopper's journey; luxury shoppers want to be treated to an optimised site with no issues.
One way we are seeing luxury brands solve this multidimensional issue is by adopting a headless CMS. With their various functionalities headless CMS systems are becoming increasingly popular among luxury brands in order to offer both high-end, luxury products and target their services to a very specific group of customers with high expectations of website design/interaction. A headless CMS allows content to be created and managed separately from the presentation layer, giving brands more control over their content and how it’s presented across various channels.
First things first, what exactly is headless ecommerce?
‘Headless commerce is the separation of a website’s front-end from its back-end ecommerce functionality. This architecture gives retailers more freedom to customise and build anything they want. Brands can update the front-end without touching the back-end. A headless setup separates the two in order to give you more flexibility in the buyer experiences you create.’
Shopify
Now that you know the answer to the question, “What is headless commerce?” we can shift our attention to the purpose of this blog, which is to uncover the amazing benefits of this unique approach to an ecommerce website build. Here are a few reasons why luxury brands need to consider a headless CMS in 2023:
1. Personalisation
Luxury ecommerce brands rely heavily on personalisation to create a unique experience for their affluent customer base. A headless CMS allows brands to deliver personalised content based on the customer’s preferences, history, and behaviour. Brands can use this data to create tailored content that resonates with their customers, making their shopping experience more enjoyable and ultimately driving sales.
2. Omnichannel experiences
Luxury brands typically have a presence across multiple ecommerce channels, including social media, websites, mobile apps, and in-store experiences. A headless CMS allows brands to create content once and publish it across various channels, ensuring consistency while reducing the workload for content creators.
3. Faster time-to-market
The luxury industry is ever-changing, and ecommerce brands need to stay relevant by providing fresh content and merchandising. A headless CMS can help brands reduce the time-to-market by streamlining the content creation process and enabling faster deployment across multiple channels. This means brands can stay ahead of their competition and keep up with market trends.
“As a front-end developer who has worked on monolithic ecommerce platforms for years, the possibilities of headless commerce are very exciting. By decoupling the back-end data from the front-end presentation layer, the UI is no longer limited by the constraints of the platform. This allows us the freedom to choose from a variety of modern tech stacks such as Next.js to build performant and SEO friendly websites that developers love to work on.”
James Collins, Lead Frontend Developer Unified
4. Scalability
As luxury brands grow, so does the need for scalability. A headless CMS can help brands scale their content and deliver it across multiple channels without having to worry about the presentation layer. This allows brands to add new features, expand their product lines, and update their content with ease.
5. Customisation
Luxury brands are known for their attention to detail and customisations. A headless CMS means brands can customise their content and present it in a way that aligns with their brand image. This allows brands to create a unique experience that resonates with their customers and sets them apart from the competition.
6. Cost effective
A headless CMS allows you to make modifications quicker than a traditional ecommerce build, which can sometimes take weeks, if not months. Of course projects this long will also rack up a huge expenses bill and use up a lot of valuable billable hours. A headless CMS eliminates both of these pain points as changes can be made fast and efficiently. This means that brands can save not only a lot of time but also money.
“Luxury brands should be empowered with an agile IT architecture, allowing them to offer the most premium and personalized experience to their clients, while continuously placing innovation at the core of the customer journey design. Adopting a composable architecture is a no-brainer in order to remain at the hedge of the latest trends - and headless CMS is an essential piece to that end.”
François Le Menn - Partner Growth Lead, Storyblok
7. Engage in customer experience optimisation
The biggest advantage? Optimising CX. When your back-and front-end systems are connected, your ability to tailor needs are limited. But with a headless approach, every aspect can be tailored to suit the preferences of your target audience.
Here are some headless websites we love:
FEELUNIQUE
FeelUnique—Europe’s leading retailer in beauty products—understood that they needed to spice up their customer experience in order to drive more revenue—especially for a brand of their size.
Nike wanted a mobile-first website to gain more sales. This meant they needed to optimise every element, including the visuals. A headless CMS was the answer and they have gradually started capturing more market share than their competitor Adidas, turning them into a market leader, as a result.
Boll & Branch, known for organic bedding, wanted to introduce flexibility in their ecommerce website design. They decided to adopt headless CMS architecture to reach this goal; achieving an improved user experience.
