BigCommerce Unveils Catalyst Storefront Technology, Empowering Rapid Launches of Composable Ecommerce Experiences
- None.
- None.
Insights
The recent announcement by BigCommerce about the availability of Catalyst, a next-generation storefront technology, is a significant development in the e-commerce platform market. The integration of Makeswift's page-building tool into Catalyst could potentially enhance the user experience for BigCommerce's clients, which may lead to increased customer satisfaction and retention. From a market perspective, this move aligns with the growing trend towards headless commerce solutions that offer more flexibility and performance optimization. By targeting Google Lighthouse scores of 100 out-of-the-box, BigCommerce sets an ambitious benchmark that could differentiate its offering in a competitive market and potentially attract new customers looking for high-performance e-commerce solutions.
In terms of impact, the acquisition of Makeswift and its integration into the BigCommerce ecosystem may result in operational efficiencies for the company. By providing a simplified starting point for developers and agency partners, BigCommerce may see a reduction in the time and resources needed to deploy online stores, which could translate into cost savings and improved margins. Additionally, the focus on a composable architecture and a streamlined GraphQL API client optimized for Next.js and React Server Components indicates a strategic move towards modern, scalable web technologies that are likely to be well-received by the developer community.
BigCommerce's strategic move to enhance its platform with Catalyst and the Makeswift acquisition could have notable financial implications. By offering a more compelling product that simplifies management and accelerates development time, BigCommerce may increase its market share in the mid-market and enterprise B2C and B2B segments. This could potentially lead to higher revenue growth as the demand for efficient and high-performing e-commerce platforms continues to rise.
Moreover, the emphasis on a no/low-code Next.js visual editor and the collaboration with agency partners could expand BigCommerce's addressable market by making it more accessible to brands with varying levels of technical expertise. The ability to rapidly deploy storefronts can be a key selling point that drives adoption and customer loyalty. Investors should monitor BigCommerce's customer acquisition metrics and average revenue per user (ARPU) in subsequent quarters to gauge the financial success of Catalyst's rollout.
The launch of Catalyst by BigCommerce represents a significant advancement in the e-commerce technology space, particularly in the realm of headless commerce. Headless commerce is a separation of the front end and back end of an e-commerce application, allowing brands to enhance the customer experience without being constrained by the limitations of traditional e-commerce platforms. Catalyst's composable architecture suggests a modular approach where components can be added or replaced without impacting the rest of the system, offering greater agility and innovation potential for users.
The use of headless technologies, such as Next.js and React Server Components, indicates a focus on cutting-edge web development practices that can lead to faster, more responsive and customizable storefronts. This architecture can improve website performance, which is crucial for user experience and search engine optimization (SEO). By achieving high Google Lighthouse scores, Catalyst storefronts may also benefit from improved search rankings, leading to increased organic traffic and potential sales for BigCommerce's clients.
Recent acquisition of Makeswift page-building tool enhances Catalyst with captivating storefront experiences and simplified management
Purpose-built for the needs of mid-market and enterprise B2C and B2B brands and retailers, Catalyst is designed to provide a simplified starting point for BigCommerce customers, ecommerce developers and agency partners to easily and quickly build online stores using a composable architecture. Catalyst combines popular headless technologies and proven best practices – based on over 4,000 existing headless implementations – into a reference storefront targeting Google Lighthouse scores of 100 out-of-the-box. The experience Catalyst provides sets a formidable standard for shopper UX and conversion rates, establishing a high bar by default for brands using it as their foundation. To enable a world-class developer experience, Catalyst increases the pace of development without sacrificing quality, with fully customizable storefront components and a streamlined GraphQL API client optimized for the latest version of Next.js and React Server Components.
“Catalyst introduces BigCommerce’s reference composable architecture, equipping developers with the most preferred, highest performing technology, and brand users with the world’s best no/low-code Next.js visual editor,” said Brent Bellm, CEO at BigCommerce. “This new reference architecture serves as a composable starter kit to help customers launch faster and with greater success. Our partners now have a simplified gateway to offer their clients a comprehensive ecommerce solution that easily unlocks the full potential of composability on the BigCommerce platform.”
A key component of Catalyst is Makeswift, a composable page builder for websites built using the popular Next.js framework that BigCommerce acquired in the fourth quarter in 2023. Makeswift simplifies the visual administration of storefronts and content pages, including content sourced from DXP and CMS providers such as Amplience, Contentful, Contentstack, Strapi and WordPress or prominent search-and-merch solutions such as Algolia and Bloomreach (also a CMS provider).
“Catalyst enables brands and retailers to create incredible customer experiences faster, and we're looking forward to helping customers drastically reduce their time to market with this new set of tools,” said Alan Pledger, Makeswift co-founder. “Since joining the BigCommerce team, we have been impressed with their vision for the future of composable commerce. Makeswift’s visual page-building capabilities help marketing teams quickly and easily deliver amazing customer experiences without the need for developer support.”
Makeswift, which BigCommerce used to build its own composable website, can work as a standalone no-code website builder for lightweight sites and blogs or as a part of a composable tech stack for more complex websites. Makeswift serves teams making changes to both content and commerce websites with a Next.js front-end, helping modern marketing teams scale their operations without huge investment in custom development.
“Catalyst is the solution for empowering developers looking to quickly create incredible storefronts. The reference architecture optimizes for flexibility, performance and faster time to ship,” said Guillermo Rauch, founder and CEO of Vercel, and the creator of Next.js. “Vercel’s front-end cloud provides the developer experience and infrastructure to build, scale and secure faster, more personalized shopping experiences. Our collective goal with Catalyst is to lower the barrier of entry, and enable merchants big and small to build and launch fast, composable storefronts that convert.”
As part of the development of Catalyst, BigCommerce collaborated with some of its agency partners who specialize in composable commerce, including 10up, AmericanEagle.com, Apply Digital, EPAM, Huge, Mira Commerce, Orium, Space 48, VML and ZaneRay. The company expects additional partners to be included following the launch.
“Brands and retailers need choice and flexibility to take advantage of new innovations and meet changing customer expectations,” said Everett Zufelt, vice president of product & partnerships at Orium. “With Catalyst, we can make composable builds easier to execute and significantly accelerate the time to launch new stores while also making them easier to operate over time.”
Developers and agency partners can gain access to Catalyst on GitHub and catalyst.dev.
About BigCommerce
BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC) is a leading open SaaS and composable ecommerce platform that empowers brands and retailers of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce provides its customers sophisticated enterprise-grade functionality, customization and performance with simplicity and ease-of-use. Tens of thousands of B2C and B2B companies across 150 countries and numerous industries rely on BigCommerce, including Burrow, Coldwater Creek, Francesca’s, Harvey Nichols, King Arthur Baking Co., La Perla, MKM Building Supplies, United Aqua Group and Uplift Desk. For more information, please visit www.bigcommerce.com or follow us on X and LinkedIn.
BigCommerce® is a registered trademark of BigCommerce Pty. Ltd. Third-party trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240208025996/en/
Brad Hem
pr@bigcommerce.com
Source: BigCommerce
FAQ
What is the purpose of Catalyst?
What is Makeswift and how does it enhance Catalyst?
How can developers and agency partners gain access to Catalyst?
