In part one of this two-part blog series, we went over some of the primary factors that tend to play the largest role in the cost of headless ecommerce. From site analysis and planning to software development and eventual project management, there are a few important stages to be aware of here -- but that isn't the full scope of this process, either. At SiteSource, we're happy to offer numerous headless ecommerce services, including headless PWA development, Shopify solutions and many more. In addition to the primary areas we went over in part one of our series, there may be a few areas of extra spending that are required depending on the nature of your project. Here are a few of these to keep in mind in case they impact your costs for headless ecommerce.
Within the realm of headless ecommerce, a key buzzword that you'll hear is the "extension." These are essentially plugins or add-ons that offer extra features and functionality beyond what a standard PWA already has by default. These extensions can provide you with a number of different options ranging from gift cards to customizable checkout flows, but they typically come at an added cost -- sometimes up to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the depth of the features they offer. If your PWA will require any extensions, be sure to budget appropriately for them in your project cost estimate. While some can be purchased from open source repositories, others may need to be created from scratch by developers -- which can also increase your costs significantly.
In other cases, it may be necessary to migrate from Magento 1 over to Magento 2 for headless ecommerce. While the process is fairly streamlined and straightforward, it does require a great deal of planning (which you can read about in more detail here ). Fortunately, there are several services out there that can assist with this kind of headless PWA migration. However, keep in mind that depending on whether or not you're migrating from an older version (Magento 1), the amount of data that you need to migrate, and other factors, this process can still take up a significant amount of your budget.
There are a few forms of custom or specialty functionality that also may impact your bottom line. For instance, additional custom pages beyond the basic homepage and product pages that you'll need to create for your PWA solution. While these can be further optimized to improve conversion rates, they do add up in terms of cost -- especially if you're considering putting any paid advertising or remarketing services behind them, as well. Special features may also include specific logistics and fulfillment needs such as automatic inventory tracking, advanced reporting, and more. These extras may be necessary depending on the nature of your business and product offerings; just make sure to speak with your project team ahead of time to determine what features you'll need so that you can be ready for their costs when the time comes. For more on the factors that will impact your headless ecommerce costs, or to learn about any of our headless CMS development or related services, speak to our team at SiteSource today.