Migrating to headless commerce
Most headless migrations succeed by changing one layer at a time. The hard part is sequencing, not the technology.
A migration to headless commerce is not a rebuild. The commerce backend usually stays. The storefront is what changes. The risk is not technical; it is sequencing — keeping the existing site running while the new one is being readied to take over.
- Stage-gated rollout
- Backend stays first
- Storefront ships in slices
- Cutover by URL pattern
Benefits
Backend stays put
Norce, Shopware, or Adobe Commerce remains the source of truth for products and orders. The migration is a frontend project.
Ship slices, not the whole site
Product detail page first. Category listings second. Checkout last. Each slice goes live behind a URL pattern while the rest of the site keeps running on the old storefront.
Measure before each cutover
Real-user performance, conversion rate, and search ranking are baselined before each slice goes live. A regression on any of the three pauses the next slice.
How we work
Discovery
Map current storefront features, traffic patterns, integrations, and SEO surface. Identify the slice order.
Slice 1: product detail
Lowest-risk slice. Product detail pages move first; the rest of the site keeps running on the old storefront.
Slice 2: category and search
Category listings and search move next. SEO surface for these is preserved via mirrored URLs and structured data.
Slice 3: cart and checkout
Highest-risk slice. Done last with conversion monitoring. Old checkout stays available as fallback during the bake period.
Cutover and decommission
When all slices are stable, the old storefront is decommissioned. The commerce backend stays.
Frequently asked questions
Ready to talk?
See how Frntkey fits your stack. Book a 30-minute demo.
Book a demo