What we all think of as an "online store" today is a product of restriction. We've come a long way in online commerce, but we haven't gone nearly as far as you'd expect given the technology we now have available.
We're still stuck in an online analogy of the physical retail store. Too often, online shopping experiences look like this:
- Storefront —> Home page
- Aisles —> Category pages
- Shelves —> Product pages
- Shopping cart —> Shopping cart (seriously it's still called a "cart")
- Checkout line —> Checkout pages
The vast majority of ecommerce activity occurs in this way not because this is the "right" way.
It occurs this way because merchants are restricted by the ecommerce platforms they build on. Sometimes the restriction is due to technical limitations. Sometimes it's due to the financial interests of the platform. In either case, the result is the same: a lack of freedom for the merchant.
Like in other industries on the web, centralized ecommerce platforms helped bring a wave of new merchants online. But as the centralized platforms gain power, and wield it to their advantage, merchants now find themselves restricted in service to the platforms' interests.
It's time to move ecommerce in a more decentralized direction, where merchants and developers regain their rightful place as the arbiters of their own destiny.
The headless movement unbundles monolithic ecommerce platforms, offering merchants the ability to pick and choose the services that make the most sense for their business. It also provides app developers and service providers with a more equitable landscape, where there is no dominant platform that tells them what they can and can't do in pursuit of their vision.
There remains a missing piece in the headless ecosystem, and we're building it.
Rally is a headless checkout that works with any frontend or backend solutions, and will support any apps that build for our ecosystem. Our goal is to align everyone's incentives in the same direction, while removing the limitations and restrictions that too often come with building on a centralized platform.
Rally provides merchants with complete control over their checkout, including customization, optimization, post-purchase upsells, and the ability to enable one-click purchases throughout the Rally network, regardless of platform or processor. It also allows merchants and developers to more easily adopt a headless approach by seamlessly connecting frontend and backend solutions.
The headless ecosystem can unleash the ambition and creativity of merchants, app developers, and the agencies that service them. Join us.
- Jordan, Cofounder & CEO