BigCommerce have announced BigCommerce for Drupal, a headless commerce module built specifically for the open-source content management system (CMS). Developed in partnership with Acro Media, BigCommerce for Drupal gives brands the ability to embed flexible, enterprise-level ecommerce functionality into revolutionary customer experiences created within Drupal’s highly-extensible and secure CMS.
Headless commerce describes the practise of disengaging the back end (CMS) from the front end (presentation) enabling developers to deliver content such as products, blog posts or customer reviews through APIs while fron end developers worry about presenting the content to the end user. This means that retailer can manage their products and other content on one easy to use platform while another handles the presentation to the consumer.
Available now in the Drupal module library, BigCommerce for Drupal facilitates an agile headless commerce architecture for merchants by decoupling Drupal’s powerful front-end CMS and BigCommerce’s scalable commerce engine. Knitted together by fast, open-source APIs, the module allows the two platforms to operate simultaneously and more efficiently within a single interface. Additionally, BigCommerce for Drupal is built directly into Drupal Commerce, making it compatible with the many existing themes and modules available within Drupal Commerce.
“Shopping experiences should not be limited by any single content management or ecommerce platform’s native capabilities, and BigCommerce for Drupal embodies that philosophy. We want pioneering brands to continue driving retail innovation forward and help redefine how customers buy products, whether it be through augmented reality, social selling or any disruptive technology that lies ahead. Furthermore, announcing BigCommerce’s headless implementation at DrupalCon, an event that brings together one of the strongest and most engaged online communities, signals the value we place on open-source technology that can be made better through collaboration.”
– Russell Klein, chief development officer, BigCommerce
Key features of BigCommerce for Drupal
- Drupal Commerce Core: BigCommerce for Drupal is built atop the Drupal Commerce module, developed in part by Acro Media, tapping into years of iterative improvements and enhancements.
- Data Sync: With BigCommerce for Drupal, retailers can synchronize product and metadata directly from BigCommerce into Drupal, and then augment and manage data directly within the Drupal CMS.
- Cached Commerce: The connected BigCommerce store will sync at merchant-determined intervals, saving a cached version of the catalog inside Drupal rather than pinging BigCommerce APIs for information.
“As two open, API-driven platforms, there is a natural alignment between BigCommerce and Drupal, and this module bridges the gap to unify their respective functionalities into one intuitive interface. The future of ecommerce is open architecture, and headless integrations lets even enterprise-level brands be nimble and capitalize on the explosion of new, innovative consumer touchpoints.”
– Shae Inglis, chief executive officer, Acro Media