🛒 From BigCommerce to Headless in 5 Easy Steps

No coding required. Preview before you buy. Full ownership after purchase.

Create BigCommerce Channel

Go to BigCommerce Admin → Channel Manager → Create a new Headless Storefront channel. Or use your existing main store channel if preferred.

💡 New channel recommended for testing without affecting your live store

Create Demo Store Here

Use this launcher to deploy your headless store. You'll get a free demo domain like:

your-store.demo-store.papathemes.com

Preview & Customize

Explore your new headless storefront with our premium theme. Connect to Makeswift to customize everything: drag-and-drop content, add/remove sections, create new pages — all without coding!

✨ Full creative control with Makeswift visual editor

Purchase Theme License

Love what you see? Buy the theme license — one-time payment, lifetime use for your store, free updates forever.

🎁 One store = One license, use forever

Go Live!

We transfer the demo store to your Vercel account. Simply connect your custom domain and your headless store is live!

🚀 Full ownership — your code, your hosting, your control

Demo: Under 5 minutesTry before you buyLifetime license

See It In Action

Watch how to launch your headless BigCommerce store in under 5 minutes.

Finding your BigCommerce CLI command

Configuring your store settings

Deploying to production

Making your first page edit in Makeswift

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about headless commerce.

Headless commerce separates your store's frontend (what customers see) from the backend (inventory, orders, payments). Think of it like a restaurant: the kitchen (backend) stays the same, but you can completely redesign the dining room (frontend) without disrupting operations. This architecture unlocks incredible speed, design flexibility, and the ability to create unique shopping experiences impossible with traditional platforms.

BigCommerce is a leading SaaS e-commerce platform powering over $25 billion in annual sales. It handles everything behind the scenes: product catalogs, inventory management, payment processing, shipping, and taxes. Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce offers true multi-storefront capabilities and doesn't charge transaction fees on any payment gateway. It's the backbone that keeps your business running while your headless frontend wows customers.

Catalyst is BigCommerce's official headless storefront framework, built on Next.js 14 with React Server Components. It's not just a starter template — it's a production-ready foundation with: • Full BigCommerce API integration out of the box • Optimized for Core Web Vitals (90+ Lighthouse scores) • Built-in cart, checkout, and account management • SEO-optimized with automatic sitemaps and metadata Think of Catalyst as the "Rails for headless commerce" — opinionated, fast to deploy, and battle-tested.

Makeswift is a visual page builder that integrates directly with Next.js. Unlike traditional page builders that slow down your site, Makeswift compiles to optimized React components. For marketers: Drag-and-drop editing, no developer needed For developers: Full control, custom components, type-safe With Makeswift, your marketing team can launch landing pages, update promotions, and A/B test designs — all without touching code or waiting for developer sprints.

PapaThemes has been crafting premium BigCommerce themes since 2014. We've helped thousands of merchants increase conversions with designs that balance beauty and performance. Now, we're bringing that expertise to headless: • Pre-designed Catalyst themes ready to deploy • Conversion-optimized layouts based on real data • Makeswift components for easy customization • Ongoing updates and dedicated support You get the speed of headless with the polish of a premium theme — no design skills required.

Not at all! This launcher handles all the technical complexity. You'll: 1. Copy a command from BigCommerce (we show you exactly where) 2. Click through our setup wizard 3. Choose your domain 4. Hit deploy That's it. Your store goes live on a global CDN with HTTPS, automatic scaling, and zero server management. Want to customize later? Makeswift's visual editor lets you redesign pages without code. Need deeper changes? You can always export and modify the source code.

💰 Theme License (One-time Purchase): • Buy once, use forever — lifetime license for 1 store • Free updates forever — all future improvements included • No recurring fees, no subscription 🌐 Hosting & Infrastructure: • Vercel — Free tier handles most small-medium stores • BigCommerce — Your existing plan (no additional fees) • Makeswift — Free tier available for basic usage No hidden fees. No transaction charges. No lock-in. Just one simple theme purchase and you're set for life!

The Future of E-commerce is Headless

Traditional e-commerce platforms bundle everything together — your storefront, checkout, and backend are all tied to one system. This creates limitations in speed, design flexibility, and scalability.

Headless commerce breaks free from these constraints.

With BigCommerce as your powerful backend and Catalyst + Makeswift as your frontend, you get:

Blazing Speed

Sub-second page loads with Next.js & Edge deployment

Total Design Freedom

Drag-and-drop page building with Makeswift

Enterprise Power

BigCommerce handles inventory, payments & fulfillment

SEO Excellence

Server-side rendering for maximum search visibility

Zero Lock-in

Own your frontend, switch themes anytime

PapaThemes brings 10+ years of BigCommerce expertise to the headless world. Our themes are crafted for conversion, optimized for speed, and designed to make your brand shine.

Powered by Industry Leaders

Best-in-class technologies working together seamlessly.

BigCommerce

Commerce Engine

Enterprise e-commerce platform trusted by 60,000+ brands

Catalyst

Next.js Framework

BigCommerce's official React storefront, built on Next.js 14

Makeswift

Visual Builder

Visual page builder that gives marketers design superpowers

Vercel

Edge Hosting

Deploy globally with automatic scaling and zero configuration

PapaThemes

Premium Designs

Theme designs proven to increase conversions

Ready to Go Headless?

Join merchants who've already made the switch. Your faster, more flexible store is just minutes away.

Start with the wizard on the right

Setup Wizard

Deploy your store in minutes

BigCommerce Setup

Get your BigCommerce configuration from the admin panel.

Instructions:

Go to BigCommerce Admin
Channel Manager → Create Headless Storefront
Follow wizard to "Start Development" step
Copy CLI command starting with corepack enable pnpm

CLI Command

Need help? See the process guide, video, or FAQs on the left.