Storefront API

Storefront API

Storefront API is a set of APIs that lets you control your curated inventory (via Shops API and Collections API resources), fetch it with the detailed product data via Products API and finally enable your users transact via Shopping Carts API. The ideal use case for this APIs is to build amazing and unique shopping experiences on top of Tipser's rich inventory, when the set of standard Components and Elements is not enough.

As you've learned as of now, Tipser's inventory curation happens in the POS Portal. It may be however that the standard way of combining products into collections under your shop is not fully corresponding well with how you want to organize the products on your surface.

You may not need Storefront API

Before we head out to typical Storefront APIs usages, let's first explain when you don't need to dig into Storefront API. If you are comfortable with using POS Portal as a search and curation tool and Tipser Script/Element as an embed into your system/flow, you're perfectly good to go without any of the Storefront API. That's excellent and in most of the cases, that's the best and fastest way to proceed.

Now, if either the curation of the inventory is something you would rather own, or how the storefront flow and structure looks for the end consumer - you probably are looking at the right place. Check out below the most typical use-cases for Tipser Storefront REST API and problems it solves.

Own Storefront UI

When you have already your own storefront/e-commerce implementation up and running and want to "retrofit" your existing architecture with Tipser's inventory and Tipser's native checkout - you probably want to use Storefront UI. The easiest usage of Storefront UI is to fetch Tipser's products contained in collections by consuming Shops API and Collections API - even if the curation happens on the Tipser Portal - and enrich your existing inventories with our product data. Once you managed to fetch Tipser's inventory into your products database and successfully render product detail page with Tipser product data, you may enable users transact by feeding in original Tipser Product ID into Tipser Checkout Element.

Tipser inventory as an additional inventory source

The example described below is one of the common scenarios for using Storefront API - when there's already another inventory source and/or transactional engine in your systems and you'd like to enrich your existing commerce implementation with Tipser's inventory and Tipser's transactional engine.

As an example, you may already now work with some affiliate networks, synchronize their products into your system and render them your way up until the "Buy this product" affiliate link. That's a perfect scenario for Storefront API - you may curate Tipser products in the Portal and then retrieve them through Shops API/Collections API on your backend, then abstracting them to the common product model and display that you may already have in place, but transact through Tipser Checkout Element.

Custom content curation

Another usecase for the Storefront API is to let you blend in Tipser's content curation into your own CMS, for example by enabling a product search and product picker directly in your content curation platform instead of forcing your editors to open external tool - Tipser Portal. That is usually achieved by building your own product inventory synchronization storage with the aid of Export API and then, upon editor's choice of the product, save them using Collections API.

Head out to Storefront API technical reference to get started with explore the Storefront API in details.