The power of a CMS in a composable setup

Complete freedom and good performance

A standard e-commerce system always includes a CMS within which the content of the webshop is managed. Pages and product catalogs are compiled without the need for technical knowledge. The content is then published directly to the front end of the webshop. What you can get the most out of these CMS functionalities differs per e-commerce platform, but also strongly depends on what you as an organization want to achieve in terms of content. Is unique and inspiring content creation very important to entice your visitors? Or does your visitor know exactly what they are looking for?

Freedom in content management

Whereas the "embedded" CMS is part of an overall e-commerce solution, the headless CMS focuses on what it's really good at. In a composable commerce setup, the place where you manage content is decoupled from the presentation layer. The separate CMS is a backend system that delivers content to the frontend of the webshop through APIs, as well as distributing dynamic content to different channels and devices. From one central location. Which channels? This can be an in-store kiosk, but it can also be mobile apps. A simple content change like changing an image is communicated instantly to all channels. This ensures brand consistency and makes it easy to set up sales and marketing campaigns.

In addition, the frontend is custom built, allowing for unlimited content and design possibilities and the latest technology. You are free to choose which CMS and technology is used. There is no need to work within the boundaries of the e-commerce system in this case.

Is a change of e-commerce system desired or something changes in the overall stack? Then the content in the stand-alone CMS can easily be linked to another e-commerce engine, eliminating the need for content migration. No valuable content is lost.

Stop thinking in terms of pages

A general feature of a headless CMS is the free modeling of content types. This allows the user, or with the help of consultants, to create definitions of the content that will be managed in the CMS. These can be whole pages, of course, but the real power of such a CMS emerges when more conceptual thinking takes place. By cleverly linking content types together, consistency and efficiency can be achieved across the board. For example, a content definition for a brand, a store, a blog author, a theme or a single banner. Which can then be used in various places in the presentation and filled only once. This is a huge advantage over the usually category structure hung CMS in an e-commerce platform.

Focus on performance

Separating content from technology increases the performance and speed of the e-commerce platform. Scaling up seriously in the future? Then this setup is better prepared for this.

An example of a CMS system XSARUS often works with is Prismic. We have successfully implemented this system at clients such as Eijerkamp and Van den Assem in a headless or composable setup. The common denominator: they experience user-friendliness, creativity in terms of content creation, flexibility and speed. Even at times when the web shop is busy.

CMS at Van den Assem

The Prismic CMS contains all content and its management. A very user-friendly solution that offers room for creativity. For example, Van den Assem is able to post inspiring, trend-oriented blogs on the webshop and schedule content changes.

The headless frontend provides complete freedom and flexibility in terms of design as well as optimal performance. Content can also be redirected to screens in stores and the mobile app.

Read the case below.

Relationship between products and content

Because the headless CMS is completely separate from the e-commerce system, these systems also basically "know" nothing about each other. A headless CMS like Prismic bridges this gap by offering integration fields. The CMS uses a product data feed from the e-commerce platform, allowing the content editor to select a product in a user-friendly search screen for placement in the content, for example.

WYSIWYG

What-you-see-is-what-you-get is actually a contradiction in terms in a headless world. Because by being disconnected from the frontend, the CMS has no way of knowing where the content is displayed, what HTML builds will end up and what styling is active. That's unfortunate, but it's often thought of as well. Prismic has a preview feature that allows content, even when not yet published, to be displayed in a configured frontend. Conversely, it is also possible, if authorized, to click through from the live site directly to the appropriate content element in the CMS.

Extra 'enterprise' features

Besides the mainly non-functional arguments in favor of using a headless CMS, the extra features such a CMS has are also a good reason to move in this direction. Think of workflows and approval of content, A/B testing of content (using Google Analytics integration), staging & scheduling, CDN and responsive views. You don't usually see these kinds of features in the e-commerce platform but really come from the (enterprise) CMS world.

Suitable for every organization?

Probably not (yet). We understand that this is not yet feasible or necessary for every organization. Not for nothing does an e-commerce system include enough features by default that can ensure online success. It strongly depends on where you want to go as a brand or retailer and what growth you have in mind. Here it is also important to look at your organization, your team: who will soon have to work in which system and how logical is that given the various roles?

Since a composable CMS system cannot exist without front-end design, time and money must be invested in this. Also, although logical, the overall architecture becomes more complex with the advent of separate components.

Ready to take the first step?

There's plenty to consider. Our consultants are happy to think through the composable issue and the challenges involved, please contact us without obligation.

Or the next step?

Of course you can! Maybe you're already using a headless CMS and now it's time to implement another component or module, a headless checkout or search & navigation solution. We are happy to help with this as well.