API-first commerce gives you the power to transform how you build and deliver commerce applications. It leaves behind the complexities associated with growing and evolving a monolith, opening the door to greater flexibility, superior customer and developer experiences, omnichannel reach and easier integrations.
If this sounds like the future you envisage for your commerce business, read on.
What is API-first commerce?
API-first commerce is about building your commerce architecture with APIs at the centre. It is an architectural approach (one of many different approaches) that means you benefit from all the advantages of using an API for eCommerce. We’ll dive into those benefits in a moment.
What is API-first architecture in the context of eCommerce? This approach puts APIs at the heart of building and delivering your services. It’s not about layering APIs onto your existing tech stack but about taking an API-first approach from the ground up. Doing so takes time, planning and resources – but it can also deliver significant rewards.
This kind of API eCommerce moves away from the constraints and complexities associated with monolithic commerce architectures. Monoliths become increasingly clunky and complicated as you add new features and functionality. On the other hand, an API-first approach provides plenty of flexibility to scale, add new microservices, integrate new systems and grow your business in a way that takes full advantage of new trends and technologies.
For maximum flexibility, the headless commerce API approach serves well. A headless API presents a set of endpoints that a frontend application can access to retrieve data. It decouples the API from the frontend service. Like headless APIs, headless commerce decouples the frontend (the interface your customers use) from the backend. It means your developers can grow and evolve the backend in powerful new ways without impacting the customer experience.
Benefits of API-first commerce
At the top level, API first commerce gives retailers the innovative solution they need to take full advantage of the global growth in eCommerce sales. According to eMarketer, retail eCommerce sales worldwide will jump from $5.717 trillion in 2022 to $8.148 trillion in 2026. The massive growth presents an exciting opportunity for retailers whose systems can scale in response.
At an individual company level, API-first commerce benefits those who adopt it by enabling omnichannel reach, easier integrations and an improved customer experience.
Ease of integration
APIs exist to deliver easy communication and data sharing between different services and systems. As such, they are designed to be easy to integrate. This ‘plug and play’ mentality is a breath of fresh air compared to trying to modernise and scale traditional full-stack commerce infrastructures.
Microservices come into play here, too. Commerce platforms can pick and choose what they need, creating a custom infrastructure that is designed to meet the business needs and those of its customers. An API gateway for microservices can bring everything together, delivering easy management, oversight and performance insights.
As a quick aside, if you’re heading down the microservices and API gateway route, it’s well worth reading up on microservice gateway access patterns to help steer your thinking.
Omnichannel reach
The way people shop is evolving. Social media, retail media networks, live shopping experience streams… all this and more is shifting how shoppers discover, explore and purchase products. This means that an API eCommerce platform has become essential for any business that wants to maximise its chances of connecting with consumers.
Omnichannel reach is about connecting with your customers wherever they are. Monolithic architectures mean piling new functionality on top of an increasingly creaky tech stack. A headless API commerce approach provides developers with an alternative – one where they can spin up new eCommerce experiences and deliver new integrations rapidly in response to changing demands, trends and technologies, whether that means adding a ‘buy now’ integration to an influencer’s blog or delivering a live shopping interface on TikTok.
Improved customer experience
Old, cranky monoliths aren’t known for delivering slick and consistent customer experiences. However, with an API for eCommerce and a commitment to taking an API-first approach, you can build services that deliver a reliable and superior customer experience.
Much of this stems from decoupling the frontend and backend of your commerce setup. This allows developers to tinker, test and tweak things in the backend without impacting the customer experience. It also provides greater flexibility for developing, testing and rolling out new brand features and functionality, which can further enhance how the customer experiences your commerce business.
Costs of API first commerce solutions
Building an API-first commerce solution isn’t free. You’ll need to budget for designing and implementing your architecture and purchasing software, microservices and so on while paying developers to create and build what you need. There’s a cost attached to implementing and running an API management solution as well – though Tyk can certainly recommend a powerful open source API gateway solution that you can use for free if you’re watching the purse strings!
With modern software as a service (SaaS) solutions, consider future costs and your initial outlay. Some SaaS providers hit you in the pocket when you jump from one tier to another or exceed usage quotas on your given tier.
Of course, as with any business decision, there are costs involved in not taking action. So much development time can be lost to dealing with legacy spaghetti and fighting fires when it could instead be spent innovating. There’s also the fact that unhappier developers can mean higher rates of staff churn, while inflexible and increasingly outdated customer experiences can also lead your customers to churn. Then, there is the cost of missed opportunities when more innovative commerce brands (usually those with an API-first commerce ethos) beat you to market.
API first commerce architecture
With the flexibility and scalability of APIs at its centre, an API-first commerce architecture lays the foundations for innovation and growth. Let’s take a quick look at some of the terminology for clarity.
API first vs headless
We’ve discussed API-first commerce and headless commerce above, but it’s important to be clear on their differences. An API-first approach refers to putting APIs at the centre of your architectural decisions. At the same time, headless commerce is more about decoupling the user interface of the front end from the commerce logic and data of the backend for greater flexibility.
Git-based vs API first CMS
It’s worth a quick mention of your content management system (CMS) at this point, too. Should you opt for a Git-based CMS or an API-first CMS? Well, the answer depends on what you need.
A Git-based CMS is great for robust version control and content tracking capabilities. An API-first CMS allows greater flexibility in delivering content to multiple channels. If content management control is your top priority, a git-based CMS might be the right solution. However, if you focus more on facilitating seamless content distribution across multiple digital touchpoints, an API-first CMS might be better.
Migrating to an API-first model
Migrating from a monolith to an API-first commerce model isn’t the time to go in all guns blazing. Instead, map out a step-by-step approach to migrating your system to an API-first model, with the ability to roll back each stage built into the process. After all, implementing a whole new API first architecture is pretty pointless, designed to deliver a better customer experience, if you steamroller the delivery and damage the frontend in the process!
Instead, map out your migration plan and implement it one stage at a time. That way, you can learn from each stage of the process and ensure that the migration of the next phase takes on board the experience you’ve gained during the previous one.
It’s also crucial to bring on board the broader team before you go too far down the path of building an API-first commerce solution. This is not simply an IT department decision. It has wide-ranging implications for various teams and business processes, so obtaining broad buy-in early can result in a smoother journey.
Tap into support where it’s available, as well. For example, your chosen API management provider will likely have worked with plenty of retailers rolling out API-first commerce solutions. Use their experience to spot any likely pitfalls well in advance. One of the benefits of Tyk is our superb support, so if you choose to deliver your API experience in partnership with us, don’t be shy about enjoying the rewards of that support.
Testing and experiments for API first commerce
As you roll out your API-first commerce service, build testing and experiments into your process. Testing APIs involves testing their functionality, performance, security, reliability and more. The goal is to ensure that the API performs consistently and reliably during regular operations and peaks in demand.
API load and spike tests are particularly important for an API ecommerce platform. These can determine an API’s capability to respond to a high volume of concurrent queries and manage spikes in traffic. Consider what a Black Friday promotion could do to your customer volumes, and the importance of experimenting with this kind of testing should be instantly clear.
Tracking and managing APIs
Managing your APIs is an ongoing part of taking an API-first approach. You can use automation to help you with this, with API monitoring solutions that can flag errors and issues in real-time to help you manage everything effectively.
Tracking API usage can be a powerful way to gain insights into your business and maintain the health of your APIs. Data gained during tracking and managing APIs can thus contribute to more innovative, data-driven decision-making across broader business operations.
Best practices for implementing API first commerce
If you plan to implement an API-first commerce architecture, carefully line up your building blocks. Define your strategy and goals, map out the resources you’ll need and take a phased approach to implementation. Tap into your API management provider’s expertise and focus on customer experience at every point. Remember these best practices, and you’ll soon be on your way to API eCommerce success.
Talk to Tyk to learn more, or check out our Einhell Germany AG retailer case study for inspiration.
