• A group of startups are raising venture capital funds to bring “headless commerce” into the mainstream.
• Headless commerce refers to a technological infrastructure that separates the front and back ends.
• Here are the main players in space.
• See more stories on the Insider business page.

While “headless commerce” isn’t entirely new to retail, a growing number of startups are doubling down on the concept as they seek to empower brands online to create more flexible technology.

Headless commerce refers to the idea that the appearance of a consumer website can be dissociated from its back-end code. The two layers then communicate with each other using application programming interfaces, or APIs.

Separating the two layers makes it easier for business owners to customize their storefronts for different distribution channels, including their mobile app, desktop site, and even virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa.

Amazon has long used a headless approach to develop its own services. But startups like Fabric, Shogun, and Commerce Layer are leveraging large amounts of venture capital to make headless commerce accessible to brands that lack Amazon’s vast technological resources.

The headless framework for e-commerce is becoming particularly important as more and more shoppers move online and purchase items from their favorite brands in new ways.

“This is a new standard in building e-commerce that is going to stay,” Commerce Layer co-founder and CEO Filippo Conforti told Insider. “Brands that do not move from a monolithic platform to a decoupled architecture over the next two years will put their own businesses at risk.”

Here are some of the major players in headless trading: