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This article was submitted by Sam Van Hees, Founder and CMO of Instant Commerce.

Frontend as a service is the latest digital experience trend taking the eCommerce industry by storm.

On the 19th of November 2021, commercetools announced that they had acquired Frontastic, a composable frontend platform.

Around the end of 2021, Google searches for frontend as a service quadrupled their previous levels, and in 2022 they have consistently doubled their 2021 levels. The curiosity in this approach to eCommerce continues to gather steam, but what’s driving it?

What Is Frontend as a Service?

Frontend as a service (FEaaS) is a new way to build, test and deliver vibrant frontend experiences. Unlike other ways to build on the frontend, using FEaaS helps you get things done faster and more efficiently.

For example, Instant Commerce is a frontend as a service solution that helps make headless commerce easier for eCommerce merchants to implement. One of the challenges many brands face when it comes to implementing headless commerce is that it is highly developer intensive. If you don’t have the right frontend development support, building storefronts from scratch to take advantage of headless commerce can seem almost impossible.

But, you can use Instant Commerce or another frontend as a service vendor to create a headless storefront in days. How? Let’s consider the typical frontend experience on an eCommerce website.

First, you have your layout. You’ll need to include a shopping cart, product descriptions, images, promotional videos highlighting your products, and maybe a search feature for visitors to find additional products easily. This might even include a chatbot to help increase conversions. Rather than building these layouts from scratch for all of your channels, you can use our pre-built building blocks to drag and drop them into place.

Simple right? You can also use APIs to integrate your FEaaS solution with an eCommerce platform to handle inventory and other details, as well as a headless CMS to do even more with your content.

Now let’s see why everyone is starting to pay attention to FEaaS.

Why FEaaS Is On Your Competition’s Radar

There are numerous benefits for brands that adopt frontend as a service, and that’s why your competition is probably already using it.

1. Speed and Flexibility

Frontend as a service allows eCommerce brands to move much faster than ever before. Many eCommerce platforms are still monolithic, with limited templates that end up slowing down your store. And we all know how important speed is for an eCommerce brand. With frontend as a service, you can gain more speed that helps convert more site visitors into customers and the flexibility to integrate with more modern tools that make your internal team’s jobs much easier.

2. Freedom

Nowadays, organizations are recognizing that the old suite-based approach to handling their eCommerce needs doesn’t quite cut it anymore. With FEaaS, you can use a microservices-based approach to integrate with the best 3rd party tools and systems for your needs.

3. Growth of Headless & Composable Commerce

Brands are recognizing the potential of new approaches to building their eCommerce tech stacks like headless commerce, composable commerce, and MACH. FEaaS allows companies to capitalize on these modern approaches without worrying as much about whether they have enough resources to do it.

Examples of Frontend as a Service Tools

So, now that I’ve explained why frontend as a service is becoming so popular let’s see some examples.

1. Frontastic

Frontastic provides the delivery layer for commerce sites. The studio allows you to manage pages, layouts, and navigation while APIs connect to other services within your tech stack like commerce platforms or a headless CMS.

2. Vue Storefront

Vue Storefront provides the frontend for headless commerce and connects to the other best-of-breed systems within your stack. It allows you to build a progressive web app to create native shopping experiences.

3. Shogun

Shogun offers a page builder and frontend platform that makes headless commerce simple and integrates with leading eCommerce platforms. You can use animations, videos, and more to build your storefront.

How Instant Commerce Does Frontend as a Service

Instant Commerce embraces the new era of eCommerce that allows brands to manage headless storefronts. Here’s how:

No-code solutions

Instant Commerce is a no-code platform that empowers non-technical users to easily build their storefronts. Instead of relying on developers for every frontend experience created using headless commerce, you can leverage Instant Commerce to simplify the process.

Empowering eCommerce brands

Instant Commerce puts your brand and creative personnel back in charge of the frontend experience rather than in-house developers or agencies.

Headless without the hassle

Going headless can be challenging for brands that don’t have access to the right resources. Instant Commerce removes the hassle of implementing headless commerce so that you can reap the benefits.

Integrations with leading tools

Integrations are a necessity for any eCommerce tech stack, and Instant Commerce features no-code integrations with other applications like Shopify or Storyblok’s headless CMS.

Climbing the eCommerce Store Speed Charts

For eCommerce stores, speed is currency, and frontend as a service solutions like Instant Commerce can help your store get more out of the experience. You can remove the dependency on developers and improve conversions to your eCommerce store.

With a faster site and no need to rely on developers, you can also go to market much faster, increase traffic, and generate more revenue. Frontend as a service is only just beginning but will be a crucial element of the eCommerce experience for years to come.

Interested in learning more about frontend as a service and Instant Commerce? See why we’re the best way to grow your eCommerce brand by contacting us today.