Headless CPQ Platform
Dealer portal team rejected vendor CPQ iframe. Mercura API returned priced configuration inside their existing React screens in six weeks. Headless CPQ separates engine logic from interface so your UI stays yours.
The challenge
Dealer portal team rejected vendor CPQ iframe. Mercura API returned priced configuration inside their existing React screens in six weeks.
A maker of laboratory centrifuge systems for research and clinical labs runs a proprietary dealer portal where partners check order history, spare parts stock, and support tickets daily. Product asked to add configure-and-quote for rotor kits and refrigeration modules. The vendor CPQ demo showed an iframe that broke the portal navigation, clashed with the design system, and could not reuse dealer login or saved account pricing.
Coupled CPQ suites tie rules to a prescribed interface. Theming the vendor configurator is not enough when dealers expect the same header, breadcrumb, and approval flow as the rest of the portal. Teams either limit CPQ to internal reps only or rebuild customer-facing pages around a foreign UI, leaving external channels without configuration and pricing.
Composable CPQ swaps configuration, pricing, quote, and checkout layers on independent timelines. API-first CPQ exposes every capability as REST endpoints for integration teams. The CPQ SDK wraps auth and pagination in typed clients. Headless CPQ is different: Mercura configuration and pricing engine runs behind your screens through stateful API sessions so dealers configure rotor kits inside your React components while product updates rules centrally without redeploying the portal front end.
Inquiry to config to price to approval to order should not force dealers into a vendor UI shell because your portal already owns authentication, layout, and the workflow they use every day.
How it works
How Mercura headless CPQ works
Your application calls Mercura REST APIs to open configuration sessions, fetch valid options at each step, calculate price, generate quote documents, and submit orders. The API enforces the same constraint and pricing rules as the Mercura admin UI. Sessions support partial saves and resume for multi-step flows you design. Webhooks notify your portal when approval completes or quote PDF is ready. OpenAPI documentation describes request and response shapes. Your team owns layout, navigation, and branding; Mercura owns configuration validity and price accuracy. Someone must map API calls to your UX, handle auth between portal and Mercura, and test constraint edge cases before dealer rollout.
What's included
What headless CPQ covers
- REST API for configuration sessions with step-by-step option filtering
- Constraint validation on every selection before price calculation
- Pricing API reflecting list, discount, and account-specific rates
- Quote document generation returned to your UI for download or send
- Order submission with validation and optional ERP routing
- Partial save and resume for multi-page custom configurators
- Webhooks for approval, quote ready, and order events
- OpenAPI spec for integration and QA automation
The difference
Dealer CPQ before and after headless API integration
- Dealers forced into foreign CPQ UI outside portal navigation
- Design system and login cannot wrap vendor configurator
- External channels excluded while reps use separate CPQ screens
- Front-end team locked to vendor widget theming limits
- Each new channel needs duplicate CPQ deployment
- Configure and price inside existing dealer React screens
- Portal auth and layout unchanged, Mercura handles CPQ logic
- One rules source for portal, website, and inside sales
- Product updates constraints without portal front-end redeploy
- Same API serves additional channels when you add them
Real-world application
Example workflow: centrifuge rotor config in dealer portal React app
A laboratory centrifuge manufacturer needed rotor kit configuration in a dealer portal built over eight years on a custom stack. Vendor iframe proposals failed UX review. Mercura headless API let the portal team render option steps in existing components, return priced lines in six weeks, and keep dealer SSO. Product changed refrigeration module rules in Mercura without a portal release.
Business impact
Why headless CPQ is engine behind your UI, not a substitute for portal UX design
Headless CPQ decouples configuration intelligence from interface ownership so manufacturers add CPQ where customers already work. It complements composable layer migration, API-first architecture, SDK clients, and script-based widgets when you need full control of layout. Mercura does not replace portal design, accessibility review, or dealer training. Someone must map sessions to your screens and test edge cases. If the pain is "dealers will not leave our portal for a vendor configurator iframe", headless CPQ aligns inquiry, configuration, price, approval, and order with the experience you already operate.
See priced rotor kit configuration inside your dealer React screens without a vendor iframe
Book a demo and walk headless CPQ until API sessions, constraint steps, and quote return match how your portal team builds today.
Let’s build together.
We empower manufacturers to master product modeling, streamline quoting process, reduce errors, and ultimately deliver the tailored solutions that customers demand.