If you are well-tuned into the Shopify and/ or ecommerce space, it's likely tht you'll have heard about the many online businesses turning to headless e-commerce in 2021.

If you’ve gone as far as to explore the available headless solutions out there for your Shopify store, you’ll know that there’s an overwhelming amount of info to wade through across the web, but we’re not here to overwhelm you.

 is here to help you understand the purpose of headless e-commerce and why many stores on the platform have decided to make the change.

However, before we can delve into this article it should be noted that headless e-commerce isn’t for everyone and in some ways, it would seem as though it’s taken off as a bit of a trend, but this shouldn’t be the reason why a Shopify brand decides to take their website headless.

So, let’s dial it back a little, take the pressure off and step away from the crowd to run through the key information that you need to understand about headless e-commerce before deciding on whether or not it’s the right thing for your Shopify store.

To start, let’s discuss the true meaning behind headless e-commerce. If you believe that it’s the next right move for your business, we’ll introduce you to a leading ecommerce CMS that can help your Shopify store get to where it needs to go.

You may have already heard about headless e-commerce and all that it entails, but for those of you who have not, headless e-commerce simply refers to the move from a commerce-led solution to a content-led solution.

On the other hand, perhaps you’ve heard that headless e-commerce represents a lean toward an ‘API-first’ approach?

As with any largely uncharted territory, it can be hard to work out what’s growing faster, the technology or the terminology, we digress.

So, because headless e-commerce can appear quite inaccessible with all of this attachable jargon, we’re aiming to add some clarity and address common questions about redesigning your Shopify's store's ecommerce architecture.

We can feel you all impatiently waiting for an answer to this question. So, we’ll get straight into it.

Simply put, headless e-commerce refers to separating (or decoupling) the front end of your Shopify store. This means that the beautifully laid-out interface that your store’s customers interact with will be a completely separate entity from the back end of your website.

Behind the scenes, the core functions that facilitate sales will still take place, but the front end is where digital users will experience the best of ecommerce to date.

In short, with a headless e-commerce Shopify store, both the front and backend of a website will work as two separate sides that function independently from one another, but they do communicate via APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces).

How Does A Headless E-Commerce Website Operate?

Are you still with us? Let’s break it down even further so that we can truly grasp how headless e-commerce all works. In Layman’s terms, the backend portion of a Shopify store is what becomes known as “headless”, thus this is where the term comes from.

If you think about a traditional storefront as a body, if you were to remove the head, the front end platform added on top would become the head. As a result, the two separated platforms obtain a faster, agile, adaptable, and consistent shopping experience for the store’s website visitors.

While this is going on at the frontend, the backend is performing the crucial functions of an ecommerce solution without being tied to a front-end delivery platform (which previously acted as the ‘head’ of the website).

So, what does headless e-commerce truly mean? Well, a headless website gives direct-to-consumer businesses more flexibility than ever before, whereas traditional ecommerce platforms can be regarded as slightly limited in terms of design and functionality, but that depends on the business and its requirements.

However, there is no denying that from our perspective as a team of Shopify agency designers and developers, that headless e-commerce does provide store owners with more freedom to customise the frontend of a website (which is like the presentation layer of an online business) while keeping the existing backend of a website intact.

So, in conclusion, a headless e-commerce website allows Shopify stores to create a beautifully branded, memorable shopping experience for their customers and overall, it’s a well-known fact that headless storefronts see dramatic improvements to site speed and customer experience.

With a headless e-commerce storefront, no technical changes to inventory, subscriptions, checkout, or payments are required, keeping the way that things are run exactly the way you know them.

Headless E-Commerce CMS for Shopify Stores 🖥️

So, now that you know what headless e-commerce is and how it works, we’re guessing that you’re still reading because you think it could be the right solution for your online business.

If you’re looking for a headless e-commerce solution, 

 is an API-first ecommerce CMS that fully integrates with Shopify, Bigcommerce, Snipcart amongst other leading vendors in the ecommerce industry. More often than not, brands take advantage of Sanity’s capabilities to build bespoke ecommerce experiences across their business channels.

With Sanity, headless e-commerce Shopify stores will be able to launch multiple sites for different regions, brands, or languages, while simultaneously managing their content within a single instance of Sanity Studio.

If you’re going headless with Sanity, we would highly recommend checking out the solution’s localisation capabilities to specifically tailor content to the market segments of your choosing. Additionally, Shopify store owners will be able to provide shopping experiences to the customer which is more relevant and compelling than before.

Did you know that you can also centralise the management of content for a consistent global presence without any extra effort on your part? If you’ve decided that headless e-commerce is right for you, Sanity could be your single source of reliable truth when it comes to content.

It’s also worth mentioning that Sanity’s headless e-commerce CMS can be easily integrated with a variety of third-party solutions through a robust set of APIs. 

From this, Shopify store owners will be able to leverage ecommerce platforms and marketing analytic tools alongside other necessary applications to deliver compelling shopping experiences to their customers every single time.

For the developers here, you’ll be able to choose from; REST APIs, the HTTP API, GraphQL and Sanity’s Graph Oriented Query Language to pull in content and data.

As a headless e-commerce CMS, Sanity has a 

 that has been built with Vue. What makes this even better is the fact that this fully integrates with Snipcart via APIs to provide shopping cart functionality to the Shopify store at hand.

If you’re concerned about the security of this headless e-commerce CMS, Sanity’s Data Store is secure and scalable within the Google Cloud.

That means a Shopify store’s IT team can focus on delivering an exceptional user interface and experience for the customer as opposed to maintaining infrastructure because Sanity will do that for you.

Naturally, as your IT team will be free of these ties, they will be able to spend their time across other pressing projects.

The Benefits of Sanity's Headless E-Commerce CMS 🙌

To keep things super simple, we have compiled a conclusion list from the information above of what you can expect from Sanity as an ecommerce CMS:

Easy integration with third-party ecommerce platforms via APIs, GraphQL, and more.

Merchants will be able to utilise Sanity’s innovative GROQ language to pull in content.

Open-source CMS solution is a fantastic option for maximum flexibility, giving power back to your business.

Cross-channel shopping experiences can be managed from one interface with ease.

Sanity offers a developer-friendly approach for faster time to market.

The solution is also scalable and secure with the Sanity managed Google Cloud.

Online businesses can tailor content to; specific regions, brands, languages and more with Sanity’s headless e-commerce solution.

Additionally, Sanity will assist merchants with launching multiple sets to create a global presence for their business online.

As we’ve already established in today’s guide Sanity improves the quality and value of online shopping experiences for the customers that visit a headless e-commerce store, but merchants can do more to make a consumer's experience of their Shopify store a better one.

How? You may ask. Well by unifying product data with marketing content, merchants will reap further value and achieve further reach from what has already been attained.

So, with custom content, online businesses will be able to supply exceptional product and content experiences for visitors browsing their website and what’s more, merchants will be able to sell anywhere.

Unified Content & Product Experiences 🙏

Let us be the first to tell you, your business doesn’t have to settle for generic product experiences built on predictable data and page templates.

Oh no, if you choose to go down the headless e-commerce route with Sanity, your Shopify store will be sure to unlock value and exceed expectations by combining rich content and products in transformative ways.

In conclusion, unified content and product experiences will result in authentically crafted brand experiences, a nest of product data in editorial content alongside a store that has been built, iterated and scaled as required by the merchant.

So, what are your thoughts on utilsing Sanity the headless e-commerce solution for your Shopify store? Reach out and let us know.

If you’re actively looking to work with a Shopify agency designer or developer to assist you with your business, we’d love to hear from you. 

If you believe that headless e-commerce is the next right move for your business, we’ll introduce you to a leading ecommerce CMS.

Sanity The Headless E-Commerce Solution

It was announced only yesterday morning that the 

 ecommerce partner and we couldn’t be more excited about this collaboration.

With the power that Shopify’s ecommerce platform beholds and Spotify’s influence within the music and now podcast industry, the two companies have decided to merge their services to allow artists who utilise both services to connect their Spotify profile with a Shopify store.

What does this latest update mean for merchants? Well, artists will be in a stronger position to market their merchandise directly to fans on Spotify through the app.

 account with a Shopify store, it’s time to sync the product catalogue with Shopify to showcase the products of their choosing on their Spotify profile. Doing this will enable fans to browse products and make purchases from their favourite artists on the platform.

The integration is expected to become an additional revenue stream for artists that have not yet established a merchandise website. Additionally, this partnership is expected to provide those who already have a website with another reason why they should make the switch to Shopify. So, it’s a win-win situation for both platforms.

Shopify has stated that their platform already plays host for thousands of artists who are expanding their businesses beyond music to build fully realised brands.

Additionally, Shopify’s Director of Products, Amir Kabbara stated that “Artists today are entrepreneurial. They’re building multifaceted brands and businesses and now we’re making it easier for them to meet fans where they are.

By bringing entrepreneurship to Spotify, we’re empowering artists to think beyond the traditional merch table with new ways to monetise, and to experiment with their brands through commerce.”

Shopify has declared that its larger app ecosystem could accommodate artists when it comes to enabling new services, such as print-on-demand or product discovery tools.

The platform’s infrastructure is known for its ability to manage high volumes of traffic. So, for the users who have large followings, coping with a surge of website visitors will be like a piece of cake for Shopify, which is a fundamental attribute for artists who are looking for a reliable space to drop products and launch new collections.

While the partnership between these two industry giants is a buzz-worthy one, it’s not the first time that the Spotify company has taken action to provide artists with the opportunity to market their merchandise through its application.

For many years, Spotify offered artist profile integrations with other merchandise service providers such as 

 have also been ecommerce partners of the platform.

With Merchbar, artists can select three products to showcase on their profile, but now artists using Shopify can do the same thing.

To get started, artists will first need to log into their 'Spotify for Artists' account and access their dashboard on the desktop, then click ‘Profile’ and select ‘Merch’.

From there, users will be able to pick the three items from their Shopify store to feature on their profile. At present, artists are only able to connect to one Shopify store, but we suspect that this may change in the future.

To encourage sign-ups, Shopify is offering a free trial for 90 days straight to all Spotify artists who sign up for the very first time. However, it’s important to bear in mind that the feature is currently in beta mode, so it’s still in the early stages of trial and error.

While all global artists can link their Spotify profile to a Shopify store, it should be noted that any existing merch will only appear to listeners in; Australia, Canada, New Zealand the U.K. and the U.S. at this current time, but again, we think that this list will expand once the feature comes out of trial and error stages.

 believe that this partnership is a major step forward for both new and established artists who are looking to make themselves known through ecommerce outside of their talent and who better to give the task of making this possible to Shopify and the Spotify company?

Each of these ecommerce partners has similar interests in aiding the new creator economy, though with different focus areas, which is what makes this collaboration so unique. Shopify sees its ecommerce platform as a complement to creator businesses of all kinds, while Spotify’s interest is focused on the success of music artists and now, podcast creators too.

In the past, Spotify has rolled out a plethora of tools in the creator space, including those for; ticketing, tipping and Fans First emails, to help artists grow their larger businesses, but it was earlier this year that Spotify’s CEO (Daniel Ek) and Shopify’s CEO (Tobi Lütke) participated in a Clubhouse session where they discussed the many ways in which creators are beginning to diversify their monetisation strategies.

During this time, Ek hinted toward the possibility of working more closely with Shopify, as it was noted how many artists were already using the platform.

Ek stated - “Almost every successful creator now is omni-talented and 

. That means that they are on YouTube putting up videos. They are on Instagram. They are perhaps putting together brands and putting it on Shopify, but they’re also putting out music and merchandise on Shopify and music on Spotify, of course, and touring.

So, they’re really just doing a multitude of different things and connecting with their fan bases across many different platforms.”

We for one are very eager to see the success that this new feature is bound to bring to users across the two platforms. What are your thoughts on Shopify and Spotify becoming ecommerce partners? Reach out and let us know.

Each of these ecommerce partners has similar interests in enabling the new creator economy, though with different focus areas.

Shopify and Spotify Become Ecommerce Partners

As more subscription businesses turn to the likes of ecommerce to grow their ventures, creativity and innovation are becoming vital strategies to set one brand apart from the next.

An increasing number of online retailers are enthusiastically adopting a more modular strategy through the use of 

 model connectors and applications in 2022 to design a bespoke and seamless consumer experience for their customers.

So, if you've decided that incorporating a subscription based business model into the core of your brand would be beneficial to your organisation, the next step is to determine which applications and tools your store requires.

The simplest place to begin is by determining your store’s current stage of development, whether you're just getting started, scaling up, or maturing your brand. Many merchants will manage a subscription based business model at some point along the way.

 is a terrific option for integrating email marketing into a subscription based business model, whereas 

 is a fantastic customer support integration to work with.

However, it’s important to consider that there are many more options and routes to follow, including analytics and SMS marketing solutions, which have been included within today’s guide.

So, be sure to take notes as we walk you through the best solutions for Shopify stores that operate on a subscription model basis:

Integrations for New Subscription Businesses 🔌

The key focus for subscription businesses that are just getting started with their new setup will usually focus on the subscription management tools that can aid customer acquisition and ensure a smooth launch.

Then, once a program has been optimised and set up for success pre-launch, management applications for subscription businesses would benefit a merchant greatly, as these tools often are centred around communications and marketing.

So, how can brands increase awareness and the adoption of their store’s new 

 based business model, whilst engaging customers in a long-term relationship and increasing the average customer lifetime value (LTV)?

These are the questions that we will address within today's guide by taking a look at some of the top subscription business setup integrations accessible in 2022:

Email Campaign Apps for Subscription Businesses

 can help subscription businesses on Shopify to market their brand to consumers via the likes of implementing strategic email campaigns that segment recipient lists, focusing on customers from the past, present and future.

Email marketing is also a very popular strategy when it comes to scaling and maturing a subscription based business model as a means of increasing retention and preventing churn.

Text Management Apps for Subscription Businesses

As consumer preferences have shifted to mobile-first in 2022, transactional SMS has become a growing method of communication for ecommerce subscription businesses to reach out to their customers.

It is thought that text messages have a 209% higher response rate than marketing communications offered via; phone, email and/ or social media channels such as Facebook.

For instance, RechargeSMS enables users to change their customer subscription plans from their phone via the 

 application, which has been proven to raise the average customer lifetime value between 15% and 30% for stores on Shopify.

Furthermore, customers can also use text messaging to:

Learn more about subscription businesses.

In 2022, consumers like to be able to engage with subscription businesses via SMS and according to what we've heard, deploying advanced win-back strategies such as 

 could prevent your customers from cancelling their subscription plans.

So, take it from us, providing this kind of flexibility is critical for companies with a subscription based business model.

As a company grows beyond its start-up phase, greater emphasis is placed on personalisation and customer connections as a business begins to scale.

At this point, merchants should be aiming to improve their store’s 

 even further to boost customer engagement, retention and sales conversions.

 work to modify the purchasing experience by implementing features such as; add-ons at the checkout, subscription upgrades in the cart and post-purchase upsells.

With automatic win-back campaigns and reactivation discounts, apps such as this can help subscription businesses to boost their average order value (AOV) in the pre-purchase phase whilst limiting churn rates, making all of the above purchasing experiences worth implementing.

Customer Loyalty Apps for Subscription Businesses

Loyalty and reward programmes, such as LoyaltyLion help stores on Shopify to reward their subscription based business model customers whilst encouraging them to stick around for longer.

 application, customers are rewarded for committing to recurring subscription plans and inviting others to subscribe via incentive marketing formats with these types of integrations.

Customer Support Apps for Subscription Businesses

Utilising a helpdesk system such as Gorgias for your customer support base can help stores on Shopify to boost their internal customer service productivity whilst providing a positive customer experience for their website visitors.

 can even integrate directly with RechargeSMS to manage customer care tickets sent via SMS marketing campaigns to improve customer engagement.

Apps for Established Subscription Businesses 👥

The focus switches to operational efficacy and automation for mature subscription businesses with an established customer base.

Even with a regular stream of subscription orders, merchants can still improve their subscription based business model and the way to do so is to lower the workload required to operate at higher rates while continuing to analyse consumer behaviour.

Apps for Subscription Businesses to Analyse Customers

 are prevalent at this stage for merchants on Shopify to implement ecommerce monitoring and understand the consumer journey from marketing to subscription.

Therefore subscription businesses should be eager to discover where their customers are coming from and what motivates them to turn their browsing sessions into purchasing experiences.

Then, once the results are in, stores on Shopify can utilise this information to increase sales for their subscription based business model.

Automation Programmes for Subscription Businesses

Last but not least, automation programmes such as 

 automate simple procedures by using triggers and actions to produce desired outcomes between apps, for instance by sending Slack channel alerts regarding new Recharge customers.

Recharge also features a native workflow feature that allows its users to automate specific operations, such as adjusting prices or exchanging products, from the first order onwards.

Take your Subscription Based Business Model Above and Beyond

There are a plethora of alternatives for subscription businesses to integrate repeat purchase services; yet, some retailers’ needs will go beyond what existing apps on the market can provide.

So, while existing apps make it easy for online stores to fill in the gaps, the 

 API can be a useful tool for developing bespoke subscription based business models.

As a result, custom development via the API enables merchants to go above and beyond and offer extremely unique solutions.

While any of these applications could serve a magnitude of subscription businesses at any time, today’s article functions as a starting point for those of you that are considering the best setup for a subscription based business model that will adapt a business and its customer experience in 2022.

Note: 

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get your subscription based business model off of the ground with the application and integrations listed throughout today’s article.

As more subscription businesses turn to the likes of ecommerce to grow their ventures, creativity and innovation are becoming vital strategies.

What Is The Setup For Subscription Businesses? 

As one of the most prominent ecommerce platforms on the web, Shopify currently offers its users 88 flawless themes to choose from, which can be viewed and implemented via the 

However, the option for Shopify themes doesn't end here as retailers can also achieve their desired website design from the likes of third-party theme stores such as 

So, what are the best ThemeForest themes for Shopify stores? This is the question that we are going to be answering in today's article.

As mentioned above, ThemeForest offers a wide variety of store; designs, capabilities and layouts for Shopify merchants to choose from.

However, there will always be a selection of designs that will best support and grow each business to reach its capabilities. So as you might imagine, selecting the right theme is crucial.

For example, Wokiee and Ella are two of the top versatile themes on ThemeForest, whereas Vendy is a wonderful all-rounder for clothing stores, whereas Roxxe has the user’s experience at the heart of its design.

It's entirely up to you which theme you choose, but if you need a little help making the decision, we’d recommend sticking around for the rest of today’s article.

So, if you haven’t already guessed, we are going to take a look at four of the greatest ThemeForest themes for stores on 

Ella offers the following two licences for users:

, Ella is one of the best ThemeForest themes for merchants on Shopify.

Did you know that this design just so happens to be the best-selling item on ThemeForest?

That’s right, Ella has an outstanding reputation as a drag-and-drop Shopify theme with fantastic UX and UI capabilities for mobile-friendly design.

This Shopify theme also walks hand in hand with a plethora of well-designed, responsive and eye-catching layouts for online stores to choose from.

 When customers click on the cart symbol, the shopping cart drop-down will appear. As a result, browsers can easily check the status of their basket without having to navigate to another page.

 Ella not only updates current themes frequently but releases new Shopify themes monthly to keep online stores looking fresh.

A child theme inherits all of the features and functionalities of its parent theme. So, if and when a merchant chooses to customise the parent theme, the child theme will retain all of its present functionalities.

 Lazy loading is an online content optimisation strategy that minimises both loading time and memory use. As online stores tend to display images on product and category pages, loading all contents can be time-consuming. However, lazy loading loads only the photos that are requested, deferring the appearance of remaining images until they are required.

Wokiee offers the following two licences for users:

The Regular Licence allows users to utilise the theme to build a single website for themselves or a client. Additionally, website content is free to access.

However, an Extended Licence of this ThemeForest Shopify theme allows users to use the design to develop a single website for themselves or a client, whilst charging individuals to access the content.

Wokiee is one of the multifunctional ThemeForest themes for stores on Shopify and has been rated among the best Shopify themes by 

We here at Karmoon believe that Wokiee is a fantastic way to transform any Shopify store into a; professional, creative and aesthetic space.

Furthermore, stores on Shopify can construct a variety of arrangements to satisfy the needs of their consumers.

Currently the Wokiee ThemeForest Shopify theme contains 70 beautiful homepage layouts, enabling merchants to choose the ideal design for their business. This design also employs motion visuals to provide a rapid overview of all 70 demonstrations displayed on one single page.

Wokiee supplies business owners with eight different navigation design options that are both attractive and effortless to use.

Wokiee also embodies several features that allow merchants to satisfy their customers. For instance; colour, size and material swatches enable customers to visualise a product in depth. Additionally, retailers can develop fantastic content to gain higher search engine rankings thanks to Google’s Rich Snippet Tool.

 Wokiee has been rated as one of the best ThemeForest themes on the platform.

Vendy offers the following two licences for users:

Vendy is a brand-new ThemeForest Shopify theme for 

 that features clean styling and seamless content integration to highlight the brand at hand.

Additionally, Vendy has a variety of pre-made; homepage, lookbook and product page templates, which is why this design has earned the title of ‘best Shopify theme’ for many merchants on the platform.

If you’re wondering what Shopify theme your store requires, it’s important to note that Vendy is well suited for the brands that reside within the trendy industries of; clothing, footwear and accessories.

Furthermore, this Shopify theme is a straightforward option for merchants to utilise with a ready-to-use basic design.

As a result, this design will be relevant in years to come, so commercial propositions will be highlighted from the best side.

Offers merchants more than 10+ home page layouts.

Clothing retailers can utilise lookbook pages and size guide pop-ups and/ or pages.

Online stores can maintain an SEO/ mobile-friendly store.

Roxxe offers the following two licences for users:

The Roxxe Shopify multipurpose theme was created with 

 in mind alongside a positive user experience.

As such, the Roxxe ThemeForest Shopify theme includes a strong navigation search module, as well as 70 pre-designed layouts with ready-to-use sections.

These components are open to adjustments and enhancements, enabling retailers to quickly build a store using one of the most popular online business demonstrations to modify onsite content.

Additionally, Roxxe displays skins for; selling clothing, cosmetics and accessories and also works in conjunction with Shopify’s Visual Builder, enabling merchants to create as many pages and web forms as required.

Collections of catchy banners for merchants to utilise.

We are going to take a look at four of the greatest ThemeForest themes for stores on Shopify.

What Are The Best ThemeForest Themes?

Shopify has introduced a creator programme to help businesses interact with creators so they can grow their customer base and showcase products to new and relevant audiences.

Mamamade launches Seedrs round 🍃

The best way to get rid of your Christmas tree? 

It's that time of year again, and at Karmoon, we're feeling jolly and festive! 

We hope this newsletter finds you feeling the same way. We know that the holiday season can be a busy time for business owners, which is why we're here to help make things a little easier for you. We specialize in creating bespoke Shopify themes for our clients, and we've helped many of our customers make the most of the holiday shopping season.

In this newsletter, we'll be sharing some tips and tricks on how to make the most out of your Shopify store during this festive time of year, from holiday-themed designs to special promotions and sales.

Plus, we'll be revealing our own special holiday offer for anyone who is looking to get a head start on next year's holiday sales.

So, grab a cup of hot cocoa and settle in for some festive reading.

Multistore deploys with ‘permanent_domain’ 👀

And, as always, if you have any questions about how we can help take your Shopify store to the next level, don't hesitate to 

#001 ― Christmas come early?

Ho ho ho!

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Mamamade launches Seedrs round 🍃

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