What are APIs?
APIs act as a bridge between different software systems, allowing them to communicate with each other in a standardized and controlled way. They allow developers to create more flexible and integrated software applications that can easily communicate and exchange data with other systems. In digital commerce, APIs are used to facilitate communication and data exchange between the frontend and backend systems.
For example, an ecommerce website may use APIs to:
- Retrieve product information and inventory levels from the backend system and display them on the frontend product pages
- Submit customer orders and payment information from the frontend checkout flow to the backend order processing and payment systems
- Retrieve order status and shipping information from the backend systems and display them on the frontend customer account pages
