Full disclosure: I work at commercetools, another player in the space.
The movement towards "headless", API-first platforms has a lot of steam. So much so that older platforms (e.g. Salesforce) are jumping on the bandwagon to stay relevant in the market.
That said, I know there are a lot of startup-focussed readers on HN. This trend is for larger companies who want to really own their customer experience, including their own frontend. You'll have more flexibility, and using an API-first platform will be a lot less work than writing your own backend, but... it's still more work.
If you are small, you need a quick MVP etc. going with a Shopify or BigCommerce is the faster way to start selling. Once you've got a good stream of revenue and you're feeling these platforms are too rigid, looking for an API-first platform is a good idea!
The movement towards "headless", API-first platforms has a lot of steam. So much so that older platforms (e.g. Salesforce) are jumping on the bandwagon to stay relevant in the market.
That said, I know there are a lot of startup-focussed readers on HN. This trend is for larger companies who want to really own their customer experience, including their own frontend. You'll have more flexibility, and using an API-first platform will be a lot less work than writing your own backend, but... it's still more work.
If you are small, you need a quick MVP etc. going with a Shopify or BigCommerce is the faster way to start selling. Once you've got a good stream of revenue and you're feeling these platforms are too rigid, looking for an API-first platform is a good idea!