Headless Shopify Agency
We build headless Shopify storefronts with Sanity CMS when your content operations, multi-brand structure, or product experiences justify the added complexity. When they don’t, we tell you why and recommend what fits instead.
Real results from named clients:
- +41% conversion in year one for Yabby (TileCloud portfolio)
- +22% AOV and +6% conversion YoY for Kastel
- +102% sales in year one for Goldsource
- 5-brand shared platform for TileCloud portfolio
What is headless Shopify?
Headless Shopify separates the frontend storefront from Shopify’s backend. Shopify handles checkout, inventory, orders, and payments. Your custom frontend handles everything customers see and interact with before checkout.
You manage content in Sanity instead of Shopify’s theme editor. Product information, campaign pages, and structured content stay centralized while the storefront fetches what it needs through APIs.
This architecture gives you flexibility for complex content operations and custom product experiences. It also adds complexity, technical requirements, and ongoing maintenance that standard Shopify doesn’t need.
When headless Shopify makes sense
Headless architecture is worth considering when you have:
Content operations that outgrow Shopify’s CMS — You need reusable content blocks, campaign scheduling across multiple storefronts, or structured product information that updates everywhere from one edit. (Read about Sanity for headless Shopify)
Multi-brand commerce on a shared platform — You operate several brands and want shared development without rebuilding every improvement for each store. TileCloud manages five storefronts on one platform: improvements reach multiple brands without duplicating work. (Read the TileCloud case study)
Custom product experiences beyond Shopify themes — You need a product configurator, live market pricing, or custom visualizations that themes can’t support. Goldsource shows historical price charts for precious metals. KHOLA built a custom shoe configurator. (Read the Goldsource case study)
Performance requirements for complex pages — You need sub-second page loads with interactive features, experimentation frameworks, or measurement tools integrated into the storefront. Kastel tracks Core Web Vitals from real visitors and runs A/B tests on product pages. (Read the Kastel case study)
When headless Shopify doesn’t make sense
Headless adds technical complexity, development cost, and ongoing maintenance. It’s the wrong choice when:
Your content operations are straightforward — If you publish blog posts, simple product pages, and occasional landing pages, Shopify’s built-in CMS probably does the job.
You’re a small team without technical resources — Headless requires developers to change page templates, deploy updates, and handle frontend infrastructure. Theme-based stores let non-technical teams make changes in Shopify’s admin.
You don’t need custom frontend behavior — If a theme meets your needs and you’re not building custom integrations or experiences, native Shopify is simpler and cheaper to maintain.
Speed to market is more important than customization — Theme-based stores launch faster with fewer moving parts. Headless projects take longer to build and require more planning.
We document the decision with you during discovery: catalog shape, content workflows, team capabilities, and what you’re trying to build. If headless doesn’t fit, we’ll tell you and recommend what does instead.
How headless Shopify architecture works
Frontend and Shopify separation
The custom frontend lives separately from Shopify. It fetches product data, content, and inventory through Shopify’s Storefront API. When customers are ready to buy, they go to Shopify’s checkout.
You deploy the frontend to Vercel or similar edge infrastructure. Shopify handles the backend: products, variants, inventory, orders, customer accounts, and fulfillment.
Sanity as your content operating system
Most of our headless Shopify projects use Sanity for content management. Editors create campaign pages, manage product information, and structure reusable content in Sanity Studio instead of Shopify’s admin.
TileCloud case: One Studio edit updates across five storefronts. The team chooses which brands receive each product. Shared product details are maintained once. TileCloud’s conversion rate increased 18% in the first 90 days. Yabby’s conversion rate increased 41% in year one.
Learn about Sanity for headless Shopify
Product data and content synchronization
Product data flows from Shopify to the frontend through the Storefront API. Additional product information, marketing content, and structured data live in Sanity.
When the team updates a product in Shopify, the frontend receives the change. When they update Sanity content, it flows to the storefronts that need it. Webhooks and sync processes keep the systems aligned without manual copying.
Checkout and payments stay in Shopify
Customers add products to the cart in your custom frontend. When they’re ready to buy, they go to Shopify’s checkout. Shopify handles payment processing, order creation, tax calculations, and fulfillment.
This keeps PCI compliance, payment security, and checkout optimization in Shopify’s hands. You build the product experience. Shopify handles the transaction.
What we build with headless Shopify
Fast storefronts with custom content management
We build headless Shopify storefronts with Sanity CMS, performance measurement, and experimentation tools. The storefronts load fast and let your team manage content without rebuilding pages.
Kastel case: We track Core Web Vitals from real visitors and run A/B tests to improve conversion. AOV increased 22% and conversion increased 6% year over year.
Multi-brand platforms with shared development
When you operate several brands, we build a shared platform that keeps each brand’s identity while reusing what should work the same way. One improvement reaches multiple stores.
TileCloud case: We manage development across five storefronts on one platform. Shared improvements reach several stores without rebuilding for each one. The team controls which stores receive each product and content change.
Custom product experiences and operational tools
We build product configurators, live pricing systems, customer intake workflows, and tools around the work your team repeats.
Goldsource case: Product prices update as metals-market rates change. Customers see historical price charts. The team manages sell-your-coin inquiries in Sanity. Sales increased 102% and orders increased 167% in the first year.
Read the Goldsource case study
KHOLA case: A custom configurator lets customers design their own footwear, choosing colors and details before ordering.
Integrations and automation
We connect headless storefronts with your systems: ERP, OMS, PIM, CRM, fulfillment platforms, and custom middleware. Changes in Shopify reach the right system with retry handling so temporary failures don’t need manual intervention.
Performance and content operations
Core Web Vitals measurement and optimization
We measure page-load speed from real customers, track what slows them down, and fix the problems. Performance monitoring is standard in every headless build.
Fast page loads aren’t just a checkbox. They’re measured, tracked, and acted on when performance degrades.
Campaign preview and content scheduling
Marketing teams can schedule content changes, preview campaigns on future dates, and see how banners, pages, and promotions look together before they go live.
TileCloud case: The team schedules campaign content in advance and previews it on a future date. They can verify the experience before scheduled changes go live.
Experimentation and A/B testing
We build experimentation frameworks into headless storefronts so you can test product presentations, shipping thresholds, recommendations, and bundles after launch.
Kastel case: We tested different ways to present product recommendations, bundles, and shipping thresholds after launch to improve the buying experience.
B2B and wholesale portals
We build B2B solutions on headless Shopify that connect multiple stores and let wholesale customers self-serve.
Abate case: Wholesale customers order across four Shopify stores and warehouses in one B2B portal. They prepare their own orders, choose the store and warehouse, and work through products. The portal splits orders by availability. B2B AOV increased 33% and sales increased 58% in the first year.
Migration to headless Shopify
We migrate existing stores to headless Shopify when the architecture fits your needs. The migration includes product data, customer records, order history, URL redirects, and system integrations.
We plan the migration to keep your store live, preserve search rankings, and validate that customers can complete orders before we switch over.
Why work with Skai for headless Shopify
We tell you when headless doesn’t fit
We evaluate whether headless architecture makes sense for your business during discovery. If your content operations, team structure, or product experience don’t justify the added complexity, we’ll tell you and recommend what fits instead.
The decision needs evidence: catalog shape, content workflows, technical capabilities, and how you plan to maintain the store. We document the reasoning with you.
Proven results with named clients
We publish case studies with real metrics, named clients, and testimonials. TileCloud, Kastel, Goldsource, KHOLA, and Abate are production systems handling real orders and content workflows.
Read our Shopify Plus development work
Sanity integration as standard
Most of our headless Shopify builds use Sanity for structured content management. Your team manages campaigns, products, and content in Sanity Studio without asking developers for page changes.
Learn about Sanity for headless Shopify
Norwegian team, ongoing partnership
We’re a small Norwegian team based in Oslo. We remain your development partner after launch: measuring results, running experiments, and agreeing the next improvements with you.
You work directly with the people who built your store, not a rotating team of strangers.
Shopify partner, Sanity partner
We’re Shopify and Sanity partners. We’ve built headless storefronts, multi-brand platforms, B2B portals, and operational tools for clients in Norway, Europe, and Australia.
Your store and code belong to you. We work in English and Norwegian.
Frequently asked questions
What is a headless Shopify agency?
A headless Shopify agency builds custom storefronts that use Shopify for backend commerce (checkout, inventory, orders) while giving you full control over the frontend customer experience. Content is managed in a separate CMS like Sanity instead of Shopify’s theme editor.
When should we choose headless Shopify?
Choose headless when you need complex content operations, multi-brand management, custom product experiences, or performance requirements beyond Shopify themes. Don’t choose it if your content is straightforward, you’re a small non-technical team, or a theme meets your needs.
We evaluate the decision with you during discovery and document why headless fits or doesn’t.
How much does headless Shopify cost?
Headless Shopify costs more to build and maintain than theme-based stores. You need custom frontend development, content management system setup, ongoing infrastructure, and developers to make changes.
The cost depends on storefront complexity, content operations, integrations, and ongoing maintenance. We discuss scope and cost options during discovery.
How long does a headless Shopify build take?
Full headless storefront builds typically take 12 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of close monitoring. Content modeling, integrations, and custom features affect the timeline. We agree the scope and timeline with you during discovery.
Can we migrate our existing Shopify store to headless?
Yes. We handle migrations with product data, customer records, order history, URL redirects, and system integrations. We plan the migration to keep your store live and preserve search rankings.
We evaluate whether the migration justifies the cost and complexity before starting.
What’s the difference between headless Shopify and Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus is a pricing tier with features like custom checkout, B2B functionality, and higher API limits. Headless is an architecture choice where your custom frontend separates from Shopify’s backend.
You can build headless on standard Shopify or Shopify Plus. The architecture decision depends on content and technical requirements. The Plus decision depends on business needs and volume.
Read about Shopify Plus development
Do we need Shopify Plus for headless?
No. Headless architecture works on standard Shopify. Shopify Plus makes sense when you need its specific features: custom checkout, B2B, multi-store management, or higher API limits.
We evaluate both decisions during discovery.
What CMS do you use for headless Shopify?
We use Sanity for most headless Shopify projects. It handles structured content, product information management, digital assets, campaign scheduling, and multi-brand content operations.
We’ve built production systems on Sanity for TileCloud, Goldsource, and other clients.
Learn about Sanity for headless Shopify
Can our team edit content without developers?
Yes, once the content model is built. Your team creates pages, updates products, schedules campaigns, and manages content in Sanity Studio. New page templates or content structures require development.
That’s why we model content comprehensively during the build.
What happens after launch?
We remain your development partner after launch. We measure performance, handle issues, run experiments, and agree the next improvements with you. You work directly with the people who built your store.
Who owns the code and store?
You own the store and code we build for you. You can keep working with us, hire your own developers, or choose another partner. Software from other companies has its own terms.
What would you like to build?
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We’ll discuss whether headless Shopify fits your needs and what the build would involve.