Headless Shopify Development on Hydrogen
For Australian brands whose content, speed, or design ambitions have outgrown a Liquid theme, React storefronts on Oxygen, wired straight to Shopify's native checkout.
When a Liquid theme stops keeping up
Headless is the right call when the storefront itself is the bottleneck, not before. These are the signs.
Content and commerce are fighting
Editorial, CMS, and product data live in separate systems and the theme can't stitch them together cleanly.
Speed has plateaued
You've tuned the theme, cut apps, and compressed images, but Core Web Vitals won't move on mobile.
Design is capped by Liquid
Rich PDPs, interactive lookbooks, and app-like navigation don't fit the theme model you're stuck with.
App scripts dominate load time
Every feature added another third-party tag, and those tags now decide how fast your store feels.
Your team thinks in React
Developers want a modern component-based front end without giving up Shopify's checkout and admin.
Global or multi-brand plans
You need one content-rich storefront to serve multiple markets, currencies, or brands from a shared codebase.
What's ours, yours, and out of scope
A clear split of responsibilities so nothing falls through the gap.
| Nexly delivers | Your side | Out of scope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storefront build | Hydrogen front end, components, templates | Brand assets, copy, product data | Net-new brand identity design |
| Content | CMS setup and content modelling | Editorial content and imagery | Ongoing content production |
| Checkout | Native Shopify checkout wired in | Payment gateway and tax config | Custom checkout beyond Plus scope |
| Post-launch | Docs, handover, warranty window | Day-to-day merchandising | Long-term feature roadmap (retainer) |
Is headless right for you?
A strong fit if
- You're on Shopify Plus, or moving to it, with real content and traffic behind the store.
- Speed and Core Web Vitals directly affect your revenue and paid-media efficiency.
- You want a content-led experience, editorial, campaigns, and commerce in one front end.
- You have, or will resource, ongoing front-end capability to steward a React codebase.
- You're planning multi-market, multi-currency, or multi-brand growth.
Probably not yet if
- A well-built Online Store 2.0 theme would meet your goals for far less cost.
- You have no in-house or retained developer to maintain a headless front end.
- Your roadmap depends heavily on plug-and-play theme apps with no headless support.
- You need to launch in weeks on a tight budget, a theme build is the faster path.
What headless with Nexly includes
Everything to design, build, and ship a production Hydrogen storefront on Oxygen, with Shopify's checkout untouched.
What's included
- Hydrogen storefront architecture and component design system
- Deployment on Shopify Oxygen with global edge caching
- Native Shopify checkout, accounts, and order flows preserved
- Headless CMS integration for editorial and campaign content
- Responsive, WCAG 2.1 AA front end across every template
- Analytics, consent, and tag management wired in cleanly
Technical deliverables
- React storefront on the Storefront API and Hydrogen framework
- Server-side rendering and streaming for fast first paint
- Edge caching and cache-invalidation strategy on Oxygen
- Structured metafields and metaobjects modelling
- Performance budget with Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals gates
- Documented codebase and CI/CD pipeline for your team
Technology & integrations
- Shopify Plus, Storefront API, Hydrogen, Oxygen
- Headless CMS, Sanity, Contentful, or Storyblok
- Search, reviews, and subscriptions via headless-ready apps
- Shopify Markets for multi-currency and localisation
- Klaviyo, GA4, and server-side tagging
- Custom apps and the Admin API where the build needs them
How we build it
A staged path from discovery to launch, typically 8–12 weeks depending on content and integration scope.
Discovery & fit
We pressure-test whether headless is right, map integrations, and scope the build against your goals.
Architecture
We design the Hydrogen structure, content model, and Oxygen caching strategy before writing feature code.
Design system
Component library and templates designed for performance, accessibility, and your brand.
Build
We develop the storefront on the Storefront API, integrate the CMS, and wire native checkout.
Integrations & content
Search, reviews, subscriptions, analytics, and CMS content connected and populated.
QA & performance
Cross-device QA, WCAG 2.1 AA audit, and Core Web Vitals tuning against a set budget.
Launch & handover
Staged cutover, CI/CD handover, documentation, and a warranty window with your team.
Quality controls on every headless build
Speed and accessibility aren't a final polish, they're gates the build has to pass.
- Performance budget enforced in CI, Lighthouse 90+ at launch
- Core Web Vitals measured on real mobile devices, not just lab
- WCAG 2.1 AA audit across every template before sign-off
- SEO parity checks, metadata, structured data, redirects mapped
- Edge cache strategy tested for correctness and invalidation
- Documented handover so your team can ship confidently
Investment
Headless is a larger commitment than a theme build. Pricing is typical and scoped after discovery.
Focused headless build
Single market, curated templates, one CMS, native checkout.
Content-rich storefront
Editorial-led experience, richer integrations, deeper design system.
Multi-market / multi-brand
Multiple markets or brands on a shared Hydrogen codebase.
Headless Shopify FAQs
Explore related services
Thinking about going headless?
Book a call and we'll tell you honestly whether Hydrogen is the right move, or whether a theme build gets you there faster and cheaper.
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