After successfully launching an integration with Vue Storefront, Vendure Founder Michael Bromley was kind enough to have a digital sit-down with me via Twitter Direct Messages.

Here's what I learned about one of the most exciting projects in the headless commerce space.

Introducing Vendure

Launched in 2018, Vendure is an open-source, GraphQL-based, headless commerce framework built with TypeScript & Nodejs.

Built and scaled by Austria-based Michael Bromley, the project currently has over 3,000 stars on Github.

"Headless commerce does not need to be expensive and time-consuming," Bromley explained.

"I've designed Vendure to bring unparalleled developer productivity & flexibility to the backend. From unicorn startups to fortune 500 enterprises, Vendure is rapidly gaining traction," he continued.

The IBM Milestone

Not many small, open-source projects turn up on enterprise radars. Vendure, on the other hand, did more than simply catch IBM's eye.

"That [was] a big milestone for me. IBM using a one-man open-source project for some major enterprise stuff," Bromley said.

A milestone, indeed.

Will Milne, Tech Lead on "Project Marlin" at IBM, explained that Vendure was an ideal solution for rehauling IBM's legacy commerce stack. It was going to slash maintenance costs and play right into Milne's GraphQL-based commerce strategy.

So far, the largest store to make the transition to Vendure is the IBM Employee Purchase Program, but the project seems to be ongoing.

"Once we accomplish our goal of shutting down some key legacy systems, our team is looking forward to contributing some of [our] plugins back to the Vendure community," Milne said.

Vue Storefront, Vercel, and Beyond

Vendure is very much a backend tool, and while developers can pair it with any frontend they desire, that doesn't mean that ready-to-go integrations aren't desirable.

Their latest integration with Vue Storefront, an open-source front-end-as-a-service, is one example of how Vendure is aiming to streamline the process of going to market with a headless commerce stack and strategy.

"With our new Vue Storefront integration, the barrier-to-entry is now at an all-time low," Bromley said.

The integration enables developers to get up-and-running rapidly with "a full-stack open-source headless commerce using a single tech stack. It provides a set of building blocks (“composables”) which seamlessly integrate with the Vendure Shop API as well as a modern, responsive, clean storefront design."

Bromley doesn't intend to stop with Vue Storefront, though. He sees GraphQL, Headless-ness, and open-source software as key drivers for the continuation of the eCommerce boom. And he wants Vendure to be the go-to backend for the list of growing frontends sprouting up across the headless commerce industry.

"I'm working with Vercel on their Next.js Commerce product. Vendure is one of the officially-supported integrations for that [too]," he mentioned.

"In general, I want to support and partner with any headless frontend solution that could lower the barrier to entry and speed up time to market, and ease maintainability," Bromley continued.

With Bromley's eyes on frontend partnerships, an already busy roadmap up ahead, and a lively community that's already building Vendure plugins, the future of Vendure, and headless commerce, looks bright.