Online shops · Headless
Headless WooCommerce development
We build custom Next.js storefronts on top of WooCommerce. Your customers get a shop that loads like an app; your team keeps the WordPress admin it already knows.
Overview
What headless WooCommerce is
Headless WooCommerce keeps WordPress and WooCommerce as the back office, where you manage products, stock, orders, coupons and customers, and replaces the theme-driven storefront with a separate front end built in Next.js. The two sides talk through an API.
Your team keeps the admin it already knows. Your customers get a storefront that loads like an app instead of a WordPress theme. Checkout, payments and order logic stay inside WooCommerce, where the payment gateways, tax rules and shipping integrations already live.
WordPress + WooCommerce
Back office: products, stock, orders
GraphQL API
Persisted queries, cached at the server
Next.js storefront
Pre-rendered pages, refreshed on change
Your customers
App-like speed on any device
Comparison
When headless is the right call, and when it is not
Headless costs more to build than a themed store and needs a developer for front-end changes. It pays off when speed, design freedom or scale are limiting the business. It is the wrong choice when a standard theme already does the job.
| Criterion | Standard WooCommerce | Headless WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Storefront | WordPress theme or page builder | Custom Next.js application |
| Page loads | Rendered by PHP on each request, tuned with caching plugins | Pre-rendered pages served from cache, updated the moment content changes |
| Design freedom | Within what the theme and builder allow | No template limits; any layout, animation or interaction |
| Front-end plugins | Work out of the box | Their front-end output is rebuilt; back-office plugins keep working |
| Who edits content | Your team, in WordPress | Your team, in the same WordPress admin |
| Who changes layout | Your team, in the page builder | A developer |
| Security surface | WordPress is publicly exposed | WordPress origin is hidden behind the storefront |
| Build cost and time | Lower, faster to launch | Higher, longer to launch |
| Best for | New and small shops validating a market | Established shops where speed, brand and scale drive revenue |
If your shop is new, your catalogue is small and a good theme covers what you need, start with our standard WooCommerce build. You can move to headless later without changing the back office, because products, orders and customers stay where they are.
Scope
What you get
A custom storefront
Designed in Figma and built in Next.js, with semantic HTML and accessibility handled from the first component.
The full shopping flow
Catalogue, search and filters, product pages, cart, checkout, customer accounts, order history, invoices and reorder.
Instant content updates
Changing a price, stock level or product in WordPress refreshes only the affected pages, within seconds, with no full rebuild.
A cached API layer
Queries are stored as persisted documents and cached at the server, so the storefront does not hit the database on every visit.
A hidden WordPress origin
Media and API traffic are routed through the storefront domain, so the admin address is not exposed to visitors or bots.
Payments and subscriptions
Through the gateways WooCommerce already supports, including Stripe, with custom subscription logic where a plugin would not fit.
Search and AI readiness
Structured data, clean sitemaps, llms.txt and Markdown versions of key pages, so search engines and AI assistants read the shop correctly.
Analytics and consent
GA4 with ecommerce events and a consent banner that respects EU rules.
Process
How a project runs
Discovery
We map the catalogue, integrations, payment and shipping setup, and agree what is in scope.
Design
Key templates are designed in Figma and reviewed with you before any code is written.
Back office
WooCommerce is configured or migrated, and the API layer is set up and secured.
Storefront build
We build in short iterations on a staging address you can open at any time.
Testing
Full order flow with payment test cards, plus performance and accessibility checks, mobile first.
Launch and handover
Redirects from the old shop, Search Console setup, an admin walkthrough and a support period after go-live.
Live demo
See it running
Pewes Energy is our public demo shop, built to show what this architecture does in practice. This site, pavels.dev, runs on the same headless WordPress and Next.js stack.
- Next.js storefront over WooCommerce
- Customer accounts with downloadable invoices
- One-click reorder
- Custom monthly subscription
- Stripe payments
- Lighthouse desktop: performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO
- 100
- Lighthouse mobile performance, with a 3D hero
- 93–96
- Cumulative Layout Shift, mobile and desktop
- 0.00
- Agent-readiness score, level 5 of 5
- 93
Lab scores from PageSpeed Insights on the homepage, 21 Sep 2026. Mobile simulated on a Moto G Power over slow 4G; range covers two runs. Agent-readiness from an independent audit on the same day.
Stack
Technology
Hosting can be on your own server or a managed platform; we set up whichever fits your traffic and budget.
- Next.js + React
- Storefront
- WordPress + WooCommerce
- Back office
- WPGraphQL
- API with persisted queries
- Stripe
- Payments
- Tailwind CSS
- Styling
- GA4
- Analytics
Frequently asked questions
Everything you might want to know before reaching out. Can't find what you're looking for?
Get in touchIt is a WooCommerce shop where the storefront is a separate application, in our case built with Next.js, that reads products and sends orders through an API. WordPress and WooCommerce remain the back office for products, stock, orders and customers.
Yes. Products, prices, stock, coupons, orders and content are managed in the same WordPress and WooCommerce admin. Changes appear on the storefront within seconds, without a rebuild.
Plugins that work in the back office, such as payment gateways, shipping, invoicing, tax and stock tools, keep working. Plugins that only add things to the theme front end need their output rebuilt in the storefront, so we review your plugin list during discovery.
Yes. Products, customers and orders stay in place because the back office does not change. We build the new storefront alongside the live shop, then switch over with redirects so existing URLs keep their search rankings.
With WooCommerce you own the code and the data, pay no platform fee on top of your payment processor, and can change any part of checkout and order logic. Shopify is quicker to start and handles hosting for you, but customisation, fees and data access are controlled by the platform.
When the shop is new, the catalogue is small and a well-built theme already meets your needs. In that case a standard WooCommerce build is faster and cheaper, and you can move to headless later without changing the back office.
Your team edits all content and products. Layout and feature changes to the storefront need a developer, which we cover through a maintenance agreement or on request, billed at 120 EUR per hour for headless work.
Start a project
Tell us about your project
A few lines are enough. We come back with questions, a realistic timeline and a quote.
- Enquiry about
- Headless WooCommerce development
- A reply within one business day
- A clear scope and quote before any work starts
- You talk directly to the people building it