In this blog post, we'll explain how the combination of commercetools Composable Commerce and Frontend can help eCommerce managers take control of their online storefronts with no-code tooling, so they can run their storefronts independently from developers.
Put yourself in the shoes of an eCommerce manager. You're eager to boost sales and keep up with the fast-paced online market. But there's a problem: Every time you want to make a change to your website, you're stuck waiting for developers. This slows things down, costs money and makes it hard to stay ahead of customer needs. So how do you overcome these challenges and free yourself from developer dependency?
The frustrations of dependency
In eCommerce, staying ahead means being able to respond quickly to market demands. However, for eCommerce managers, this often translates to frustration and delays due to reliance on developers for even the smallest website changes. Imagine spotting a golden opportunity to boost sales by adding a slider to your product pages, only to find yourself tangled in a web of bureaucratic processes. Each alteration becomes a cumbersome task, requiring tickets to be raised, waiting for developer availability, and enduring lengthy release cycles.
This dependency not only hampers agility but also inflates costs with every tweak, particularly when external development resources are involved. As urgent initiatives are stalled and potential revenue streams slip away, the stark reality of missed opportunities looms large, casting a shadow over your aspirations of keeping pace in a fiercely competitive market.
Gain independence with composability
But there's hope! You have access to the leading eCommerce solution out there: Composable commerce — where autonomy is not only possible but a given. Composable technology, unlike traditional monolithic setups, allows businesses to break down their eCommerce architecture into modular components that can be easily customized and orchestrated.
That's where commercetools Frontend comes in. It seamlessly integrates with commercetools Composable Commerce, providing you with intuitive interfaces to navigate and modify your storefronts without being tethered to coding dependencies.
Picture the liberation of being able to execute product- and content-related initiatives independently, orchestrating campaigns and optimizing displays in real-time! With the barriers to innovation broken down, you can now swiftly respond to changing market dynamics and consumer preferences, so your online store is always ahead of the game.
API-first (‘headless’) platforms are investing in business user-facing no-code UI management tools to manage the new decoupled, JavaScript-based storefronts that are quickly becoming best practice.
Orchestrate seamless experiences
Now, imagine having a surplus of items to sell. With commercetools Frontend, you can create a campaign to move that excess stock easily and in no time at all. By accessing product information in real-time from commercetools Composable Commerce, you have all the data you need at your disposal.
With just a few clicks in the Frontend Studio (our no-code business tooling that allows you to create, manage and localize entire eCommerce sites), you can duplicate and tweak homepage layouts, update product sliders, and even create dedicated landing pages — all without needing to code anything yourself.
The best part? You can see exactly how your changes will look on different devices instantly, ensuring a smooth experience for your customers. You can even share upcoming campaigns internally to get everyone on the team's buy-in. And when it's time to launch your campaign, you can schedule everything to go live without disrupting ongoing operations. With this level of control and flexibility, you can adapt to changing market conditions and drive sales with ease and confidence.
Let's look at APG & Co. for proof
APG & Co. made a strategic move from Salesforce’s legacy stack to commercetools, prioritizing scalability and future readiness while sidestepping complexity. A key factor in this transition was the ability to uphold usability and empower brand managers with intuitive, no-code business user tooling from commercetools Frontend. The company's business users now wield enhanced capabilities to merchandise effectively, optimize storefronts effortlessly and enhance customer experiences autonomously, minimizing reliance on engineering assistance.
Additionally, live preview functionalities empower marketing and eCommerce teams to visualize changes in real-time, streamlining the experience creation process and ensuring speed and precision in implementation. This newfound independence allows marketing and development teams to operate autonomously and concurrently, accelerating innovation cycles and enabling agile responses to market dynamics.
We probably wouldn't have gone headless if we hadn't found commercetools. They're the solution that makes the headless approach work for our brand managers.
Head of Technology, APG & Co
The composable commerce approach further enables APG & Co. to craft personalized shopping experiences tailored to specific brands, channels and regions. Since migrating to commercetools, APG & Co. has witnessed significant benefits, including a 35% reduction in technology operating costs and a 60% decrease in technical support time within the initial months.
To eCommerce managers: It's time to benefit
The day-to-day work of an eCommerce manager is full of challenges, but commercetools Composable Commerce and Frontend offer a huge leap forward. By decoupling the frontend from backend systems, business leaders can operate with unprecedented independence and efficiency. Developers can focus on innovation, while eCommerce managers take control of their online storefronts — which is the way it should be.
Learn more about how business users and marketers can take advantage of commercetools Frontend with The Business Leader Guide to Digital Storefront Technology.
Catherine Jones is the Senior Product Manager of Frontend Studio at commercetools. She has worked in many different positions at different levels, but always with a customer focus and always looking to create the best experience for users.