Your Theme Can't Handle Your Catalog Anymore
If you're a DTC operator watching conversion rates drop as SKU count climbs, you've hit the theme ceiling.
Most ecommerce agencies hand you a Shopify theme and call it done. We build headless -- meaning your storefront is a custom Next.js app talking to whatever commerce backend fits your catalog (Shopify Hydrogen, Medusa, Saleor, BigCommerce). That separation is where real performance, real SEO, and real conversion lives. ## When you need a headless commerce agency You've outgrown a theme when any of these hit: - Your catalog has 10,000+ SKUs and search is slow - Mobile Lighthouse score is under 60 - You want to launch in 5+ languages with native URLs (not /en/en/) - You need custom product configurators, bundles, or pricing rules - Checkout feels like it belongs in 2018 - You want Core Web Vitals green so Google actually ranks category pages ## What we build A custom Next.js App Router storefront running on Vercel edge. Product data flows from your commerce backend via its API (Shopify Storefront API, Medusa REST, Saleor GraphQL). Content -- blog, hero sections, landing pages -- lives in a separate headless CMS (Sanity, Payload, or Storyblok). Everything is cached at the edge and revalidated on demand when you update products. Result: sub-1-second LCP. Category pages that rank. Checkout that converts. A tech stack you can extend without begging a Shopify app developer for the millionth time. ## Our commerce backend playbook **Shopify Hydrogen** -- for brands already on Shopify who need speed without a replatform. Keeps checkout on Shopify's PCI-compliant flow. **Medusa** -- for brands outgrowing Shopify's limits (B2B pricing, subscriptions, wholesale portals). Self-hosted, fully customizable, no transaction fees. **Saleor** -- for teams that want GraphQL-first commerce with strong multi-channel support (web, in-store, marketplaces). **BigCommerce headless** -- enterprise ecommerce with B2B features baked in. Good for catalogs over 50K SKUs. ## What sets this apart from template agencies 1. Fixed-fee quotes -- no hourly surprises 2. 4-week MVP to first live page with real data 3. Full Next.js App Router (not Pages Router) 4. Internationalization with proper hreflang and locale routing 5. 95+ Lighthouse target non-negotiable 6. SEO-ready: structured data, sitemap automation, IndexNow integration 7. 30-day post-launch support included ## FAQ **What is a headless commerce agency?** A headless commerce agency builds custom storefronts as standalone applications (typically Next.js) that talk to a commerce backend via API -- rather than building inside the backend's native templating system. This gives you full control over UX, performance, and content. **How much does a headless commerce build cost?** A custom headless storefront on Shopify Hydrogen starts around K for a launch-ready MVP. Medusa or Saleor self-hosted builds typically run K-K depending on catalog complexity, B2B features, and integrations. **How long does headless commerce take to build?** Our MVP timeline is 4 weeks to a live launchable storefront with 10-20 pages. Full catalog migration, custom bundles, and multi-region launches extend to 8-12 weeks. **Should I move from Shopify theme to Hydrogen?** If your theme is hitting Lighthouse scores under 70, you're blocked on customization, or you want SEO parity with content sites -- yes. Otherwise, stay on theme and iterate. **Do you work with existing Shopify stores?** Yes. We replatform active Shopify stores to Hydrogen or Next.js storefronts with zero downtime and full URL preservation (301 migration plan included).
Headless commerce decouples your storefront presentation layer from the commerce backend, replacing a monolithic theme with a custom Next.js application that fetches product, inventory, and cart data via API. This gives engineering teams independent control over rendering performance, URL structure, and checkout logic without being constrained by a theme's templating system. The result is a storefront that can serve a catalog of any complexity at consistent page speeds.
What is holding your current website back?
Common gaps we find in nearly every audit.
How We Build This Right
Every safeguard, built in from Day 1.
PCI Scope Reduction
By offloading payment processing entirely to Shopify Payments, Stripe, or a dedicated checkout service, your custom Next.js frontend never touches raw card data, keeping your PCI surface area minimal and audit documentation straightforward.
GDPR and Cookie Consent Architecture
We build consent management into the data-fetching layer from the start, ensuring analytics scripts, personalization calls, and third-party pixels fire only after verified user consent signals, with a clear audit trail.
Core Web Vitals Accountability
Every build ships with a defined LCP and INP target agreed in the project spec. We instrument real-user monitoring before handoff so you have baseline data to hold against regressions after your team takes ownership.
What We Build
Purpose-built features for your industry.
Next.js App Router Storefront
We use the Next.js App Router with React Server Components to render product and collection pages at the edge, keeping time-to-first-byte under 200ms for catalog pages regardless of variant count. Static generation and on-demand revalidation are configured per route type based on how frequently your data changes.
Backend-Agnostic Commerce Layer
Your storefront communicates with the commerce backend through a typed API layer we write during the project, which means swapping Shopify Hydrogen for Medusa or adding a second backend for B2B is an interface change rather than a rewrite. We document every endpoint and data shape so your internal team can extend it.
Custom Checkout and Cart Logic
We implement cart state, discount application, subscription rules, and upsell logic in code you own rather than inside a SaaS cart widget. This lets you express product relationships — bundles, configurable products, tiered pricing — exactly as your catalog requires them without workaround scripts.
Structured Content Integration
Storefront copy, collection landing pages, and campaign content are managed through a headless CMS — Sanity, Contentful, or Payload — with typed schemas that match your editorial workflow. Merchandising teams can publish without a deployment, and content changes propagate to the edge within seconds via webhook-triggered revalidation.
Built on a Modern, Secure Stack
Our Development Process
From discovery to launch. Quality at every step.
Catalog and Architecture Audit
1 weekWe map your existing product data model, variant structure, integration dependencies, and current performance baselines before writing a line of code. This produces a written architecture decision record that specifies which commerce backend, rendering strategy, and CMS setup fits your catalog and team, along with a fixed project scope.
Storefront Foundation and Design System
2 weeksWe build the Next.js project structure, configure the commerce API layer, establish the component library in code, and wire up the CMS schema. You review a working staging environment with real product data before any visual design is locked, so structural decisions get validated against your actual catalog early.
Feature Build and Integration
2 weeksCart logic, search, filtering, account flows, checkout handoff, and any catalog-specific features defined in scope are built and tested against your staging backend. We run Playwright end-to-end tests across critical purchase paths and instrument Core Web Vitals monitoring before this phase closes.
Launch, Handoff, and Documentation
1 weekWe manage the production cutover, configure edge caching, and monitor error rates and performance metrics for the first week post-launch. You receive a handoff package that includes architecture documentation, a component reference, deployment runbooks, and a recorded walkthrough of the codebase for your engineering team.
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