Discover three essential strategies to overcome eCommerce website challenges for better performance and user experience.
Do you remember the biblical story of Moses carrying stone tablets up the mountain? It’s a fitting metaphor for how eCommerce merchants often feel about their websites. The struggle is real: slow performance, outdated technology, and a cumbersome user experience. Updating the site feels like trying to carve those tablets by hand while maintaining it is an ongoing burden. Fortunately, there are ways to lighten the load.
You will know if you belong to the 25% of websites that perform according to Google and your customers' expectations. If you do, feel free to skip past this article. Otherwise, we leverage our experience to share the pros and cons of the three approaches at your disposal. A large part of our work is focused on modernization from legacy systems.
In this eleventh edition of the eCom Buzz, we dive into three powerful options to bring your website into the modern era. But first, let's check out some of the latest industry news.
Observation: AI is everything, and everything is AI
We attended eTail East last week. One takeaway was that you are probably AI-powered, and you might not even know it. The number of companies that did NOT have “AI” in their marketing was in the single digits. AI is no longer a selling point. It’s tablestakes. Perhaps the tide will turn such that we will see companies advertising that they are AI-free.
FTC finalizes rule to combat fake reviews and testimonials
Fighting counterfeit reviews is a pain. “They” can publish tremendous numbers of 4 and 5-start reviews. The FTC is coming after companies that allow these reviews. The net result should be higher-quality review systems.
eCommerce is growing and Shopify beats Q2 earnings prediction
Online sales are up 6.6% year over year and should cross the $300B mark in 2025. In contrast, brick and mortar inched up 1%. Summary: keep investing in eCommerce.
The future is bright for Shopify. After a “disappointing” Q1 earnings call and significant stock drops, they are back up to where they were expected to be. This simply emphasizes that Shopify is here to stay.
There’s a 25% chance that your website has a passable Google Page Speed score (above 40 for Mobile). Google uses the Mobile score for its ranking analysis. Your visitors may feel like they are climbing a mountain bearing Moses' tables of stone. You may feel like adding content is akin to finding and inking up, and utilizing a quill pen. Thanks to these historical inefficiencies, you may be spending more money than necessary on front-end improvements in the process.
Thus, you may ask: What is the prognosis for bringing your front end into the modern era?
This episode of the eCom Buzz will evaluate the options you have at your disposal.
Impact: 3/3
Risk: 1/3
Cost: 3/3
Pros
Cons
If you’re on a legacy system or are tied up with technical debt, a platform may be the most efficient route forward. However, making this work requires a significant amount of effort. By selecting a great partner like SwiftOtter, your effort is massively cut.
This will start with a discovery phase to identify what needs to be moved. This is your chance, in collaboration with our team, to fine-tune these new requirements into a system that serves as a foundation for massive future growth.
We have written several guides on this to help ascertain the value of this move.
Impact: 2/3
Risk 2/3
Cost: 2/3
Pros
Cons
Technology is rapidly changing. The tooling to deliver an incredible front-end experience has moved faster than eCommerce platforms offer. By leveraging a composable front-end, your visitors will be blown away by how fast your website is. Search engines will be pleased, too.
This will require less effort from you than a website migration. Your involvement will center around the beginning and end of the project.
We wrote a book on this option.
Impact: 1/3
Risk 3/3
Cost: 1/3
Pros
Cons
Budget is an inescapable part of every conversation. If this is the key driver, this option is a solid choice. The original theme (front-end) is often poorly built and inherently slows down the website. You may notice significant gains by simply using a different theme.
Hyvä is our go-to for Adobe Commerce.
Shopify and BigCommerce's default themes are by far the best. We know how to start with these themes and beautifully tailor them to match your brand and customer expectations.
Whether you need to overhaul your website or simply optimize it, these solutions offer a path forward. Start making your eCommerce experience smoother, faster, and more effective today.
