Author Archives: alankent
Performance Benchmarking meets Core Web Vitals
Google has announced that Core Web Vitals (CWV), a set of 3 core metrics to measure page experience for users, is a ranking signal. (There are *many* ranking signals.) Why three? Well, you don’t want hundreds of metrics, but the experience of users on a site (as distinct from the quality of the content itself) […]
Gartner at Modern Commerce Day on Composable Commerce
I attended some of the sessions this week at Modern Commerce Day (presented by CommerceTools). There were interesting sessions from companies such as how Lego has modernized their ecommerce site using serverless patterns, Express.com on migrating to a new architecture during COVID (online sales were their sole revenue stream due to physical stores being closed), […]
Next Generation Digital Commerce Architecture Daydreaming
Every so often I day dream of what a next generation ecommerce platform would look like. (Yes, this is one of those pie in the sky blogs.) First, I think SaaS platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Volusion, and so on do a great job for many ecommerce merchants. What I wanted to focus on in this […]
Storyboarding Web Stories with Adobe Illustrator
In filmmaking, storyboarding is often used to plan out a film. You hand draw pictures for various key moments in the film as a way to get an early feel for how the final film will feel. This helps with making corrections earlier, reducing overall development costs. While web stories are typically much simpler than […]
Using Web Stories to promote products
A recent project I saw was a brand trying to improve the profile of one of their products. They had created a video ad, but were interested in other ways to get increased engagement. One approach they tried, with positive results, was to create a web story. Web stories are a visually engaging format that […]
Alternative online shopping experiences
Shopping as entertainment comes up frequently as a trend. For example, 10 Consumer Trends Shaping the Future of Retail mentions it including 51% miss “going shopping” as a way to socialize; and 25% regularly tune into video shopping channels like QVC or HSN. But how to create an enjoyable online social shopping experience? In this […]
Will live-stream commerce drive dropshipping variants?
TJ Gamble recently posted a great video on privacy changes on the web and the potential impact to dropshipping. I found it an interesting video to start the year with. Personally I have been watching live streaming for commerce, massive in China but not so big at least in the US yet. COVID has driven […]
Composable Commerce
Recently I have been hearing the term “Composable Commerce” more frequently, and I like it. It expands beyond “Headless Commerce”, separation of the frontend stack from the backend, into selecting best of breed technologies to build your commerce stack. The first reference I have come across is from Gartner (Composable Commerce Must Be Adopted for […]
My predictions for 2021 ecommerce
So what will be important in ecommerce in 2021? Is it faster web sites with better Core Web Vitals metrics? Do I need to do a better job of WebPack for my JavaScript assets? PWA, TWA, SSR, CSR? REST? GraphQL? React? Next.js? Vue? Angular? Tailwind CSS? Ecommerce platforms? Content management platforms? Bespoke applications? How about […]
