Here’s a controversial take I’m often asked to weigh in on: going headless on top of Shopify.  

As a non-developer who has been deeply involved in the operational side of e-commerce, I’ve seen this debate from the front lines. I’ve explored headless builds extensively in the past, even pushing a full Progressive Web App (PWA) live on top of our Adobe Commerce stores. My experience taught me a crucial lesson that many tend to overlook when they get swept up in the headless hype. 

The core beauty of Shopify lies in its simplicity.  

It’s a platform designed to let you build and launch an exceptional e-commerce store without needing a dedicated development team or paying a hefty monthly retainer to a specialized agency. Its extensive theme library and app ecosystem are built on the promise of enabling merchants to focus on their business, not their technology stack.  

Headless commerce fundamentally changes that promise. 

Once you go headless, the simplicity disappears. You are no longer just using a platform; you are building and managing a complex, custom-coded solution. This means you absolutely need ongoing support.  

In my experience, this isn't a "nice-to-have," it's a non-negotiable. Our PWA project was a success because we had a dedicated in-house dev team who could maintain, support, and troubleshoot it daily.  

The moment you decide to go headless, you are committing to a long-term relationship with a technical team—whether in-house or an external agency—and that is a commitment that will hit your OPEX line every single month. 

So, when does a headless Shopify build actually make sense? In my view, it's a decision reserved for a specific set of circumstances, not a general recommendation for scale. 

You have unique design or UX requirements that are so specific and complex they go far beyond what even the most advanced Shopify themes can offer. We’re talking about truly custom, brand-defining digital experiences that are critical to your competitive advantage. 

You are operating across multiple channels—web, a custom app, and in-store—and you want one unified, multi-platform front end. Headless is perfect for a truly omnichannel strategy that centralizes content and data. 

You need advanced performance optimization, and I mean lightning-fast load times or dynamic content rendering that is critical for a high-volume, global operation. For some brands, a millisecond saved is a million dollars earned, and headless is a powerful tool for this. 

That said, I seriously question anyone who suggests going headless is a "must" just because a business is scaling. Many of the most successful, $100M+ stores in the world deliver exceptional UX and top-tier performance on a standard Shopify build. They leverage the platform’s core strengths and invest their resources in marketing, product, and customer experience—not custom dev work. 

The biggest misconception about headless commerce is that it’s a silver bullet.  

Without a clear strategy, it can cause more issues than it solves. It adds complexity, costs, and a new layer of technical debt. It requires a deep understanding of your business needs and a candid assessment of your internal capabilities. The decision to go headless should be based on a clear business strategy, not just the industry hype.