Headless · Shopify · Los Angeles
Your own front end on top of Shopify’s checkout, catalog and admin.
Headless means the shop window and the store engine are built separately. Shopify keeps products, carts, checkout and orders; a custom front end, usually Hydrogen hosted on Oxygen, draws every page from the Storefront API. Our Glendale-led team scores whether you need it, builds it if you do, and wires orders into Zoho.
Hydrogen on React Router
Storefront API queries tuned for speed
Orders landing in Zoho
Shopify PartnerAlso a certified Zoho Advanced Partner
01Headless or a theme?
A headless Shopify store keeps Shopify as the commerce engine and replaces the Liquid theme with a separate app that fetches data over an API. It buys you design and content freedom. It also hands you a codebase to look after, so most stores we talk to are better served by a well-built theme.
02Headless services
Five kinds of work cover nearly every headless brief we see. A new Hydrogen build uses all five; a store that went headless with another agency usually calls us for the last two.
We compare your theme’s real limits with what headless would cost to build and run, then pick the stack: Hydrogen on Oxygen, or Next.js on Vercel when your team already lives there.
Decision memo
Routes, product and collection pages, search, cart and customer accounts, with server-side rendering and caching set per route so pages stay fast under a sale.
Hydrogen · Oxygen
Shopify metaobjects for simple content, or a headless CMS for heavy editorial work, set up so editors can preview drafts before anything goes live.
Metaobjects · CMS
Reviews, subscriptions and loyalty rebuilt through each vendor’s API, consent-aware analytics, structured data, sitemaps and redirects so rankings survive the switch.
Parity checklist
Hydrogen and Storefront API version upgrades each quarter, performance budgets watched in CI, and a person who answers when a deploy misbehaves.
Quarterly upgrades
03The fork in the road
Picture a sample outdoor gear brand in Colorado doing steady online sales, with a content team that wants trail guides tied to products. Three questions on the shared road, then the route splits. Here is what each branch looks like in practice.
We list the requests the design team gave up on. For our sample brand: guides with shoppable gear lists, and a pack-fit quiz.
Reviews, a back-in-stock alert and a loyalty program. Two have Storefront-friendly APIs; one would need a replacement.
The brand has one in-house developer who knows React. That tips the scales more than any feature does.
Branch A · Online Store 2.0 theme
Lower build and running cost. The quiz feels a little boxed in.
Branch B · Hydrogen on Oxygen
More freedom and a bigger build. Upkeep becomes a standing line in the budget.
Sample outcome: this brand took Branch B because the guides are the business and someone in-house can carry the code. Swap any one answer and Branch A wins.
04Try it · sample scoring
Answer six questions honestly. The scorer weighs the reasons that justify headless against the ones that make it a burden, and tells you which way it leans. Sample weights from our own experience; a real recommendation comes after we look at your store.
Your lean Sample
Stay on a theme
Most of your answers point to a theme. Put the budget into custom sections and a speed pass.
Pulling toward headless
Pulling toward a theme
Sample scoring only. It ignores budget and timing on purpose, because those belong in a conversation, and it can’t see your theme code or your app list. Bring both to the first call and we’ll redo it with you.
05Headless Shopify + Zoho
Going headless changes the front end only. Orders still come out of Shopify’s own checkout, so the back-office plumbing works the same way it does for a theme store, and the custom front end opens a few extra doors.
Shopify’s order webhook updates stock in Zoho Inventory and raises the matching invoice in Zoho Books, with refunds following the same route.
A Hydrogen server route reads a buyer’s tier or assigned rep from Zoho CRM and shows it on their account page. The Zoho keys stay on the server, never in the browser.
“Problem with this order?” opens a ticket in Zoho Desk with the order number already attached, so support never asks for it twice.
Want the order sync without a custom build? See Shopify and Zoho integration, or route simple hand-offs through Zoho Flow.
06What headless costs
The Shopify side is cheaper than people expect. Hydrogen is open source and free, and Shopify includes Oxygen hosting at no extra charge on its paid plans. The real cost sits in the build and in keeping the code current, which is why we price the build before you commit.
From Shopify
From other vendors
Each of these is priced by its own vendor, and we list them in your plan before you sign.
From us
The Hydrogen build, CMS setup and Zoho wiring are quoted as one price inside a BRD that lists every route, integration and app replacement. You sign it before the first commit. Care after launch is a separate monthly scope you can drop.
Shopify plan figures are US list prices in USD before tax, the same ones on our Shopify page. Shopify moves plan perks around from time to time, so we re-check the headless storefront limits and Oxygen terms the week you choose a plan.
07Headless questions
Hydrogen versus Next.js, SEO, apps and running costs. If another agency already built your headless store and nobody can deploy it, tell us that on the first call.
Headless Shopify means Shopify still runs products, carts, checkout and orders, while the pages shoppers see come from a separate front-end app that fetches data through the Storefront API. The front end is often built with Hydrogen, Shopify’s React-based framework, and hosted on Oxygen. It gives full design control in exchange for owning more code.
Usually not. A small catalog with a lean team gets more from a fast, well-built theme that marketing can edit alone. Headless starts to make sense when content and commerce blend heavily, several front ends share one catalog, or a React team is ready to own the code after launch.
Hydrogen is built on React Router, comes with Shopify-specific components and caching, and deploys to Oxygen at no extra charge on paid Shopify plans. Next.js suits teams already running other sites on Vercel or wanting one framework for everything. Both talk to the same Storefront API. We pick based on your team, not on fashion.
Shopify states that Oxygen is available at no extra charge on its paid plans, including Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. You still pay your normal Shopify plan fee. Development stores can deploy to Oxygen too, but their preview links need a store login.
Yes. A headless storefront builds the cart through the Storefront API and then hands the shopper to Shopify’s own checkout, so payments, Shop Pay and order creation stay with Shopify. Checkout customization follows the same rules as any store on your plan.
Apps that work in the admin or checkout keep working. Apps that inject widgets into a Liquid theme, such as many review, upsell and popup apps, do not render on a custom front end. Each one needs an API-based version, a replacement, or a small custom build, and we list them all during the fit check.
Not automatically. Hydrogen renders pages on the server, so search engines see full content, but redirects, sitemaps, structured data and canonical tags all have to be rebuilt by hand. Done carefully, rankings hold or improve with faster pages; done carelessly, a launch can drop traffic. SEO parity is a line item in every headless BRD we write.
Yes, the same way a theme store does, because orders still come from Shopify checkout. Order and refund webhooks update Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books, and server routes in Hydrogen can read customer data from Zoho CRM or open tickets in Zoho Desk without exposing API keys.
The first call is free. After the fit check, the Hydrogen build, CMS setup, app replacements and Zoho links are quoted as a fixed price in a signed BRD with a delivery schedule. Larger rebuilds may need a paid discovery phase, quoted up front. Shopify bills you directly for your plan.
08How a headless project starts
If a theme can do the job, you’ll hear that in the first conversation. When headless still wins, four steps turn it into a signed plan. Bigger rebuilds with many app replacements may need a paid discovery phase, and we quote it before it begins.
Headless builds run over screen share and shared repos with brands across the US, Canada and Latin America; teams near Los Angeles can come and sketch routes with us in Glendale.
Once the BRD is signed, delivery follows our standard build process. See how we work →
09Let’s talk
Book a free consultation with Elite Tech Global. We review your Zoho, AWS, Shopify or WordPress setup, show where AI / SI agents can save time, and agree the next step. If we work together, every requirement and a fixed price go into a signed BRD before the build starts.
Real people, one team. Led by co-founders Ikramul Karim and Khris Kakosimidi, and a 40+ member team across Zoho, AWS and AI.
Thanks, we’ve got it.
We’ll review your request and email you to set up your free consultation. Prefer to pick a time now?
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