Articles - Page 175

The Top 10 AI Tools for Small Business: From Automation to a Coordinated Team of AI Agents

matt-garrepy

It’s impossible to deny Wix.
Just ask supermodel Karlie Kloss, the star of their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meDcOLeWSs">2019 Super Bowl ad</a> – and founder of a <a href="https://www.kodewithklossy.com/">code camp for young women</a>.
In 30 seconds, she shared her personal Wix website with millions of viewers, highlighting features like the Wix Pro Gallery and SEO Wiz (both catchy names for an event that involves a lot of catching). 
Needless to say, it was a touchdown.
Kloss isn’t the first celebrity to promote Wix as the world’s premier website building and content management platform. A quick YouTube search will bring up the likes of Jason Statham and Gal Gadot in a 2017 Big Game spot. And it’s no surprise they can foot the bill for these heavy hitters and massive media buys: at last count, Wix is host to 160 million websites.
That’s worthy of a Super Bowl ring. Or five.
Wix has certainly established itself as the go-to solution for small, do-it-yourself entrepreneurs (think local florist or photography studio), competing with other “pre-fab” solutions like <a href="/squarespace-7-review/">Squarespace</a> and <a href="/weebly-review-2016/">Weebly</a>.
Like these platforms, Wix has always lead with simplicity. Basic templates and attractive themes allow for mobile responsiveness and limited control over images, color, content, and other dimensions. You can easily add features like photo galleries or browse the Wix App Market for some nifty integrations. It’s also one of the only platforms that allow you to animate elements and offers an AI-driven design bot that (sort of) assists with simple tasks.
When it comes to offering more advanced designers the freedom to explore and customize – while still delivering a low-code experience – Wix has generally fumbled the ball. But the game might be changing with Editor X.
<h3 id="introducing-editor-x">Introducing Editor X</h3>
Previously available as a closed beta program, Wix recently launched its new Editor X, specifically built for web designers and digital agencies that are seeking to push the aesthetic limits without the hassle of coding from scratch. Much of the emphasis has been on adopting drag-and-drop feature sets, which has been the main focus of many CMS platforms – the most popular being <a href="/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/">Gutenberg</a>.
Wix has now entered the competitive field with Editor X, combining advanced drag-and-drop capabilities with cutting edge responsive design, flexible grids with full breakpoint control, and advanced CSS editing and control (in fact, you don’t even need to know CSS). For designers who are seeking to create more bespoke, hand-crafted experiences, Editor X could be a win.
“Gifted and talented creators have the ability to see the invisible and create the unimaginable,” said Wix Co-founder and CEO, Avishai Abrahami. “Until now these creators’ only option was platforms with restricted design freedoms or limited business web infrastructure that demanded code and multiple plugins. With Editor X, we’ve built the world’s best CSS editor and designed a radical new creative landscape for designers and web professionals, one in which the technology keeps pace with designers’ visions and enables them to swiftly create breathtaking websites, applications and digital experiences that continually raise the standard of the web.”
Here's a short video introduction to Editor X:
<figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card kg-card-hascaption"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bpEHKYd51cY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><figcaption>Introducing Editor X</figcaption></figure>
<h3 id="what-features-come-with-editor-x">What Features Come with Editor X?</h3>
<a href="https://www.editorx.com/">Editor X</a> is made with designers and agencies in mind. It offers advanced layout capabilities that allow you to create more complex website designs for any device – all without using code.
While that’s the main selling point of Editor X, it actually comes with a number of additional features and capabilities for development, business solutions, digital marketing, and SEO.
Main Features
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/HVzjSdXdJCfiAg_T3SxrcCqzypCRDEhp2tyjBcSsc9noz5agWsbPDz5Jx8FF9TM1NZdXVsjScpkEqT0kGvdA5uavmE79DPZWq34zUt8xXy-RAd2MAG142nDy-xCZGKxv_qdnwBMwZA8GNJUPng" alt="A picture containing electronics, table, monitor, deskDescription automatically generated" /><figcaption>Editor X Responsive Views</figcaption></figure>
Editor X manages to solve some of the biggest challenges facing modern designers and web professionals – from custom code to no code. The core <a href="https://www.editorx.com/features">features</a> include:
<ul>
<li>Breakpoint Precision: Create custom breakpoints, rearrange layouts, choose what to show or hide, and fine tune sites at every viewport.</li>
<li>CSS Grid: Design with CSS – without even thinking about CSS! Editor X brings a truly accessible, easy-to-use gateway to CSS.</li>
<li>Flexbox Technology: Let your content automatically adjust to every screen in single, multiple, and repeating layouts.</li>
<li>Custom Code: Integrate custom code and connect to internal/external APIs.</li>
<li>Integrated Business Infrastructure: Access Wix’s expansive range of business solutions to manage multiple sales channels, set up online bookings and scheduling, improve SEO performance, and more.</li>
</ul>
Design &amp; Layout
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/2F6sAkhXXmMn6_jYC4rKjBcvMrQfnsK-lqI1ACjWUfHJL-aKce6TkUJ-tfyqBaSf4RcVQ_v5grWu8mHz_YnusRc_VjLQ0V_BJhbVQU7vjQu36VQ0GZ3Od_aY9ya29C-dnFy3DWliYPFzrbGzow" alt="A screen shot of a computerDescription automatically generated" /><figcaption>Editor X Aligning Elements</figcaption></figure>
Editor X was built to expand the Wix design potential. It offers granular layout capabilities that allow you to create complex website designs for any device, all without using code. Some of the coolest design features include:
<ul>
<li>Grid Layouting: An advanced two-dimensional layout system based on CSS grid.</li>
<li>Docking: Anchors elements to a specific position as the viewport changes.</li>
<li>Stack &amp; scale: Reorient media for seamless responsive behavior.</li>
<li>Text scale: Create scalable font sizes as part of a design solution.</li>
<li>Flex Layouter: A smart layout system that relies on Flexbox technology for automatic reorganization of content while resizing.</li>
<li>Custom Breakpoints: Tailor designs to any viewport, not just classic devices.</li>
<li>Flexible canvas: Leverage resizing handles to instantly see and customize your design across viewports.</li>
<li>Advanced sizing control: Define your element as fixed or fluid, using wide support for modern CSS units.</li>
<li>Wix Design System: Features sections with built-in responsive behavior matched to the color palette of your site.</li>
</ul>
Development
Editor X also provides plenty of tools for developers who want to add custom code and build data rich websites. Some of these features include:
<ul>
<li>Dynamic Pages: Design one-page layouts or create unlimited pages – each with their own content, URL and SEO.</li>
<li>Database APIs: Use data APIs in your website’s front-end or backend code to manage and organize data.</li>
<li>Built-in IDE: Make coding more productive using the built-in IDE, equipped with syntax highlighting, code completion and more.</li>
<li>Custom Interactions: Create unique user interactions by triggering events when visitors perform specific actions.</li>
</ul>
Business Solutions
Running an online business always requires a few third-party applications. With Editor X and the Wix platform, you can have all of it in one place. Add an eCommerce store and accept payments, or a member section where customers can sign in and manage their personal accounts. You can also offer live chat, set up automations to collect leads, and <a href="https://www.editorx.com/features/business-ecommerce">so much more</a>.
The Wix App Market offers a wide range of integrations like form generators, social plugins, marketing tools and more. But builder beware: like open source marketplaces, many of the apps are made by third parties – and aren’t guaranteed by Wix.
Web Solutions
On Wix, every website you build is completely hosted – and includes an SSL certificate (which is being deprecated and replaced by TLS). Wix provides automatic updates, so your websites stay secure without any hassles or concerns over managing your own security requirements.
You can also search, purchase, and register domains directly through Editor X.
Marketing &amp; SEO
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/19u-wog6LhGCOi3lLpgMVChee4T3Kcx2xuCEK1NLbBzoDAUZrbNpoGNFI0jlt6xL1zv5LZM0ne1hPlxoBP-KpJVvx6a8ajhu_nkAP0MLsJvuDrAKl4XPe3FVk7Ba8lwxR5lpklq4BxR3ZZiCdA" alt="A screen shot of a clockDescription automatically generated" /><figcaption>Editor X SEO Settings</figcaption></figure>
In addition to providing basic SEO tools such as XML site maps, structured data, canonical URLs and 301 redirects, Editor X offers custom SEO plans and email marketing. Every website comes with a tailor-made SEO package that helps ensure your websites rank decently on Google. You can also drive traffic with professional email marketing campaigns, and review how visitors interact with your client sites by tracking visits through their built-in analytics tools.
<h3 id="performance">Performance</h3>
So far, Editor X looks a bit like “Weapon X.” It’s got everything that’s been missing from Wix and gives designers and agencies a more customizable platform to build on. Why choose anything else?
One word: performance.
When testing the <a href="https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.editorx.com%2F">page speed</a> of <a href="https://www.editorx.com/">editorx.com</a>, the score is staggering 34 out of 100 – almost exactly the same as the Rotten Tomatoes score for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” That’s not good.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/nsje8VvBnPAjtAcOsfn-F19_BGM9JgOsUeJs4MOxkeNski7caip-zddZcI1bb1brGYdJlwChaywa25b1oTQ69St5e7LN_nL6mZAAK-4QP79S128N8e4orDa6JNhvT62ri_R6IX7iO4w1IAK4qg" alt="Editor-X Page Speed Screenshot" /><figcaption>https://www.editorx.com's Google Page Insights Score</figcaption></figure>
This is not a problem unique to Editor X, of course. All website builders since Dreamweaver have been plagued by the code bloat problem. In case you’re not familiar, code bloat is unnecessarily long or wasteful code that slows down websites. A lot.
When Squarespace pioneered code-free website building and attracted millions with its style and aesthetics, it seemed like everyone could build websites with no working knowledge of HTML and CSS. Over time, as it became more complex and conflated, the entire platform evolved into a page-loading nightmare.
If performance really matters, you might want to think twice about Editor X. 
<h3 id="conclusion">Conclusion </h3>
Editor X was conceived with designers in mind. And it tends to deliver with a richer, more complete set of tools and greater domain over the design experience. Even a small business or solopreneur that craves more control could get a lot of value out of Editor X. The problem lies with performance: if page speed and loads times are critical – and you have a larger, more expansive website – you might want an enterprise-worthy solution that can handle the demands of a content team.
Ready to try it out? Click <a href="https://users.editorx.com/signin?sendEmail=true&amp;view=sign-up&amp;originUrl=https:%2F%2Fwww.editorx.com&amp;loginCompName=Signup_H&amp;referralInfo=Editorx_Signup_H&amp;postLogin=https:%2F%2Fmanage.editorx.com%2Faccount%2Fsites&amp;overrideLocale=en&amp;forceRender=true">here</a>. 
<h3 id="about-editor-x">About Editor-X</h3>
<a href="https://www.editorx.com/">Editor X</a> is an advanced creation platform for designers and web professionals. The platform combines cutting edge responsive design with smooth drag and drop. Those that want to can add custom code and use a powerful CMS to build data-driven sites and complex web applications. Editor X offers an unparalleled range of integrated business solutions from a leading eCommerce infrastructure to professional marketing and SEO tools. Editor X is part of <a href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix.com Ltd</a>.
<h3 id="about-wix">About Wix</h3>
<a href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix</a> is leading the way with a cloud-based development platform for over 170 million registered users worldwide. Wix was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, artists and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor, Wix ADI, a highly curated App Market, Ascend by Wix and Corvid by Wix enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence.

Wix Introduces Editor X, Offers Designers Advanced Tools for Building Custom Websites

paris-tuzun

When it comes to SEO, there are a number of tools that can help improve your website’s performance. And that’s the problem: you often need multiple resources to manage a comprehensive SEO strategy, and few platforms offer complete solution with the right mix of features.
While Siteimprove has built a strong reputation around their industry-leading <a href="https://siteimprove.com/en-us/accessibility/">accessibility scanning and monitoring solution</a>, their SEO platform boasts some powerful enterprise features for enhancing search while simplifying the overall management.
We took a fresh look at Siteimprove SEO to see what gives it an edge – and how their all-in-one platform can help power your search and Digital Presence Optimization (DPO) strategies.
<h3 id="the-impact-of-covid-19-on-seo">The Impact of COVID-19 on SEO</h3>
The Coronavirus pandemic has unquestionably changed the way we live. But it’s also dramatically elevated the value of SEO.
With more people working from home, streaming video content, and ordering goods online, internet usage has increased exponentially. While businesses have begun to reopen in most places, the effects of COVID-19 have had a profound and lasting impact on digital experience.
From events to food service to hospitality, almost every industry has been forced to transform their operations. As businesses continue to become more reliant on digital strategies, SEO is playing an even bigger role for driving leads and competing online.
<h3 id="seo-made-simple">SEO Made Simple</h3>
Digital professionals already know how challenging it is to manage a successful SEO strategy. With dozens of tools flooding the already overloaded <a href="https://chiefmartec.com/2020/04/marketing-technology-landscape-2020-martech-5000/">MarTech landscape</a> – from analytics to keyword research to linking – the choices can feel overwhelming.
Siteimprove SEO helps cut through this complexity by combining the most essential tools in one place and integrating their capabilities. This makes the SEO job less cumbersome while providing more actionable insight and value.
We’ve already mentioned Siteimprove’s best-of-breed accessibility platform. These features go hand-in-hand with SEO, as accessibility is built on structured website tagging and labeling. Search engines love these components, so fixing your accessibility means improving your SEO. It’s relatively easy to add Siteimprove’s accessibility scanning and monitoring to help flag ADA compliance violations.
<h3 id="an-all-in-one-platform-for-optimizing-search">An All-in-One Platform for Optimizing Search</h3>
While no platform can bring everything together in one place, Siteimprove gets pretty close. Here are some key features worth noting:
On-Page Diagnostics 
Siteimprove incorporates 66 unique SEO checks, including scans for missing meta descriptions, spelling mistakes, broken links, poor readability, and links to unsafe domains. Based on all the checkpoints, it then calculates your SEO score, measured on a scale of 0-100.
There are four separate categories: Technical, Content, User Experience, and Mobile Standards. Each category gets its own score with their total making up the overall score. The scoring system allows users to easily identify what needs to be improved and where they should direct their efforts. This makes managing and understanding your SEO much easier. The following ranges give an indication of how your website is doing:
- Red: 0-49 (poor)
- Orange: 50-89 (average)
- Green: 90-100 (good)
A score of 90+ will place your website in the top 5% of all websites, according to Google’s performance metrics. Making your score higher will improve your SEO, user engagement, and user experience – thus increasing conversions.
Keyword insights 
The Keyword insights feature allows for advanced keyword discovery and monitoring. Through a direct integration of <a href="https://search.google.com/search-console/about">Google’s Search console</a>, Siteimprove SEO helps you learn how Google’s search engine sees your website and which queries make your website appear in search results. With Keyword Insights, you can identify keywords that drive traffic to your website and see their search volume, estimated traffic, competition level, and even a specific keyword’s potential ranked from low to high.
Search Engine Analytics 
With Siteimprove, you can see where your visitors are coming from and how engaged they are with your content. Search Engine Analytics provides statistics on visitors from search engine referrals, their county, and even the devices they use. With all the data at your fingertips, you can enhance your digital strategies and focus your campaigns based on incredibly useful metrics.
Backlink checks 
Backlinks are hyperlinks that live on other websites that lead back to your website. Backlinks are an important part of any SEO strategy, as search engines use backlinks as an indicator of your domain authority (essentially how popular or important your website is). With backlink checks and analysis, you can see which sites are publishing links back to you, and identify links that boost your ranking or even put it at risk.
Duplicate Content Finder 
Duplicate content is a problem almost every web or content manager faces. Google and other search engines work hard to index pages with distinct information, and duplicated blocks of content can be seen as manipulating SEO to win more traffic. Even if duplicate content includes things like printer-only versions of pages, the search engines can’t always tell which version to display. Consequently, your page may rank lower or even be excluded from search results. While canonical tags can be used to combat this, it’s good to avoid the problem in the first place.
With Siteimprove, you can search and identify duplicate content, compare the percentage of similarity between pages, and provide page view statistics. Armed with this data, you can take action to remove or properly tag your duplicate content and improve your rankings.
Content Optimization 
With Siteimprove, you can map specific keywords to where they should appear in your content. You can even get recommendations on how to optimize your overall content for keywords.
Accessibility 
As we already mentioned, Siteimprove is well-regarded for their accessibility solutions. But improving your SEO can help support your overall accessibility – and adding Siteimprove’s scanning and monitoring tools can help give you a clean bill of health around violations.
Siteimprove’s scanning and monitoring tools check your website for a range of accessibility issues and compile scoring based on WCAG 2.0 ratings for A, AA, or AAA standards. If you have a big site, you can use automated accessibility checks to simultaneously test hundreds of pages. You can then generate actionable reports that allow you to remediate any issues and track your improvements for regulatory or governance requirements.
<a href="https://siteimprove.com/en-us/accessibility/">Click here</a>  to learn more about Siteimprove’s accessibility solutions.
<h3 id="integration-with-cms-platforms">Integration with CMS Platforms</h3>
Siteimprove works seamlessly with most content management systems. It offers a set of pre-built plugins for specific platforms, as well as integrations developed in collaboration with CMS vendors. There are also a number of community plugins that have been developed and supported by third parties. Siteimprove does feature an <a href="https://api.siteimprove.com/v2/documentation">API spec with complete documentation</a> for building custom integrations.
<h3 id="pricing">Pricing</h3>
Along with their suite of SEO tools, Siteimprove offers multiple enterprise products through a subscription-based model. While they don’t offer pricing on their website, you can contact their sales team to develop a custom quote around your organization’s needs and goals.
You can also get a free demo of the software <a href="https://siteimprove.com/en-us/request-a-demo/">https://siteimprove.com/en-us/request-a-demo/</a>
<h3 id="about-siteimprove">About Siteimprove</h3>
Siteimprove offers the world's most comprehensive cloud-based Digital Presence Optimization (DPO) software. The Siteimprove Intelligence Platform provides eye-opening insights that empower more than 7,500 teams to create higher quality content, drive better traffic, measure digital performance, and work towards regulatory compliance—all from one place. We are also proud to offer best-in-class technical support, academy courses, services, and technology integrations.

Siteimprove SEO Provides All-In-One Capabilities for Enhancing Search Performance

Shopify Inc. has announced the release of Shop, a first-of-its-kind mobile shopping app designed to create a more intuitive online shopping experience from product discovery to package delivery.
We are setting out to reimagine the online shopping experience for customers — to provide them greater convenience, transparency, and personalization. As a result of social distancing and stay-at-home measures, customers have become more reliant on online ordering than ever before as it becomes more challenging to stay connected to the brands they love.
Designed to bridge the gaps in online shopping, Shop offers users the ability to easily discover local businesses, receive relevant product recommendations from their favorite brands, check out effortlessly, and track all of their online orders. We’ve brought together our expertise in commerce and proven features from Shop Pay, a one-click accelerated checkout, and Arrive, an app to track online orders, to make purchasing and order tracking frictionless for shoppers. To date, Shop Pay has processed over $8 billion in sales, while Arrive has been used by 16 million shoppers to track their ecommerce orders.
In a world of increasing physical separation, we want to help businesses deepen their connection with their customers and, over time, understand what they want to continue to build trust and loyalty.
“Shopify has focused the last decade on solving complex problems for entrepreneurs by making commerce seamless and accessible,” said Carl Rivera, General Manager of Shop. “Now, we want to do the same for customers. We set out to solve the common pain points in the customer’s shopping journey today, while developing specific features, like local business discovery, that will be relevant today and in the future.”
Shop’s features include:
<ul>
<li>Local filters: Shop’s users can locate nearby merchants to support local businesses. The app identifies businesses currently offering shipping, pick-up, and highlights return policies.</li>
<li>Seamless payment and checkout: Through Shop Pay, shoppers have fast and easy checkout across all brands on the app.</li>
<li>Transparent tracking: With the innovative technology of Arrive, all order and tracking information is stored in one convenient place. Tracking shows the status of each package and provides real-time updates.</li>
<li>Customized recommendations: Through personalized recommendations, like new releases and deals from the brands shoppers love, Shop ensures merchants’ customers consistently rediscover the storefronts of their favorite brands, as well as new brands.</li>
</ul>
The iOS and Android app are available to <a href="https://shop.app/" rel="noreferrer noopener">download</a> in the app store today. For more information, please visit <a href="http://shopify.com/shop" rel="noreferrer noopener">shopify.com/shop</a>.
About Shopify
Shopify is a leading global commerce company, providing trusted tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business of any size. Shopify makes commerce better for everyone with a platform and services that are engineered for reliability, while delivering a better shopping experience for consumers everywhere. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify powers over one million businesses in more than 175 countries and is trusted by brands such as Allbirds, Gymshark, PepsiCo, Staples and many more. For more information, visit www.shopify.com.

Shopify Unveils Its Consumer App: Shop

cms-critic-staff

The most popular open-source headless content management system (CMS) <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=t5_FPcCTthEU0ymmYwQjMlFRUUpcDIxkDMaj-n8FfDcxPFAyPp_9LakdMWyMGO-h" rel="nofollow">Strapi</a> can now be deployed in less than two minutes on DigitalOcean. The company announced today that it has been listed on the <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=CKiPFiyUkEchztZjtKbXx6K9AjCb9BL9F24ABm8ezw1QIjXzl_S7VSrVcUazuUtjHoDmRsXsgJqAIWIPnrHzlRqh2LA5RHIW2BzKUaQYVXtYSsSQOC8aF6CM6jrkkvOz" rel="nofollow">DigitalOcean Marketplace</a> with a preconfigured one-click option.
<blockquote>Strapi’s  mission is to make content management and delivery as easy as possible  for developers and end-users,” said Pierre Burgy, co-founder and CEO of  Strapi. “Our availability on the DigitalOcean Marketplace enables users  to deploy Strapi with one-click, saving them time and deployment  headaches.”</blockquote>
Strapi works with all the JAMstack static site  generators like React, Vue.js, Next.js, Nuxt.js, Gatsby.js or Angular  supports both SQL and NoSQL databases and can be deployed anywhere:  Amazon Web Services (AWS), Netlify, Heroku, a dedicated or virtual  private server. The release of the <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=zp_N1CXQvF7NZGkv3G8p2ofk3RBDzkn-ORi4RELCgW2Z2hxWYZ3FeAaD_7wN5B7954MFXzfz0EAY4qTjz940q1GOd-f11kEB323kuUlLtD7PeAbCl5cG4aviH2hqNxNJZToKDxuJrNrhE8OLQnLRbyOhS7LwOvHfyKMPY1S7-1k=" rel="nofollow">platform.sh one-click deploy button</a> last week and DigitalOcean this week gives developers the option to  save time installing Strapi instances directly on their favorite cloud  platform in minutes.
“With this new ‘Strapi Marketplace app,’  developers can spin up Strapi instances easily and almost  instantaneously,” said Chris Sevilleja, founder, Scotch.io, and web  community manager at DigitalOcean. “With support for both REST and  GraphQL application programming interfaces (APIs), Strapi is a very good  option for the A in the JAMstack, a powerful backend that just works  with all JavaScript static site generators.”
On Thursday, March 12, Sevilleja will be hosting a <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=7lXANVhSHyzPu0FbqEDy63Qee8GAL2n6RWVgZtkhxUxOQOg7SfWl_SBPOP424czPdpRwoa6QzJHYE6OMBpBLSJ39oFg7PQYdXEHkvPaHM3Taeobu9l50RSGI39Es0sbqYNJZvFS2CN8r_vrnZONFEA==" rel="nofollow">webinar</a> discussing JAMstack best practices and ways to set up API layers by  running a headless CMS on DigitalOcean Droplets, featuring Strapi. To  create a Strapi Droplet go to: <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=Reg2XsTvoKgAV_9tgC8JTLGpB8xD9sdkQmoCOwYp5qQgfsTQ-hJ7-JEKz-ij5qDYTf3R145TQoUghIaJBvZH7zNkvDRFsa7ZkpyhMaEqjDPAtlDLAWhlEP0yQ5uBjem7upmh5x02YhyXlOlk9WSn0ZjAJ1b2wBkIZJJ5qZJAd28=" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/strapi</a>.

Headless CMS Strapi now available on the DigitalOcean Marketplace

<a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">Magnolia</a> today announces the launch of Magnolia 6.2, the latest version of its leading content management system (CMS), designed to manage connected experiences.
Along with a series of new features, Magnolia 6.2 provides a headless digital experience hub, which aims to take managing digital experiences in headless and omnichannel environments to the next level.
Within the hub, marketers can use Magnolia’s Visual Single-Page Apps Editor to re-use content across all channels and digital touchpoints, while maintaining autonomy for creating and editing all layouts and content. It also enables previewing of any experience before publishing.
Additional features mean users will be able to curate collections of content and data from external sources — with no programming required. Magnolia 6.2’s Multisource feature also allows for dynamic integration of multiple content repositories, whether on-premises or cloud, giving marketers a single access point to all available content and data that’s needed for greater personalization.
As an open platform, Magnolia 6.2 enables customers to choose the exact systems they need and helps them accelerate integration using Magnolia’s<a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/connectors.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener"> Connector Packs</a>. New connectors to Salesforce Marketing and Commerce Clouds, Marketo, Adobe Analytics and more enable marketers to get out-of-the-box integrations to industry leading marketing technologies.
Commenting on the launch of Magnolia 6.2, Tim Brown, CEO at Magnolia said: “Brands today are expected to deliver personalized customer experiences across a myriad of different touchpoints. But it’s not easy. So much of what’s available to marketers today is either split into silos, lacking in integrations or overly-reliant on IT and developer support. For all the talk of great digital experiences, too many CMS’ rely on cumbersome architectures that don’t put the end user first.
“That’s what we set out to change with Magnolia 6.2 and our new headless digital experience hub. Our latest update lets marketers assemble experiences, instead of just entering content. It brings together all available data and content for personalization, no matter where it lives. The result is a platform that takes digital experiences to the next level; providing a more powerful resource for marketers, less hard work for developers, and ultimately, a better digital experience for customers.”
To find out more about Magnolia 6.2, visit the <a href="https://blog.magnolia-cms.com/author/antti-hietala/magnolia-6.2-headless-for-marketers.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">release announcement</a>.

Magnolia announces new 6.2 release, with first ever headless digital experience hub

Contentful, the global leader in headless content management, today announced its App Framework — the new standard for companies to build a best-in-class digital experience stack, as opposed to buying a monolithic suite. This approach has been validated by Gartner, which found a <a href="https://blogs.gartner.com/benjamin-bloom/2019/12/20/360-review-integrated-suite/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">28-point preference for a stack</a> over an integrated suite. Brands that assemble their own stacks maximize flexibility and agility to deliver digital experiences across channels while leveraging their existing investments.
The App Framework builds on Contentful’s market-leading extensibility, which champions the “modern tech stack,” an approach to assembling a group of best-in-class services, seamlessly integrated with open APIs. This approach also enables brands to evolve their tech stacks to incorporate new tools. Thousands of brands are moving from legacy suites to modern platform architectures.
“We’re in a new era of digital experiences, where customers expect unique brand experiences across an increasing number of channels,” said Steve Sloan, CEO of Contentful. “Brands can’t keep up with this demand using monolithic, legacy CMS suites. Contentful’s App Framework enables businesses to build connected experiences with scalable apps on a unified content platform.”
When customers connect their growing portfolio of digital experience services such as optimization, analytics, collaboration, translation, and deployment and delivery to Contentful’s content platform, they make more of both content and technology investments. That’s because the App Framework lets businesses scale services programmatically, instead of one-off integrations that are hard to maintain and upgrade. This gives Contentful customers and its partner ecosystem more agility and flexibility, while strengthening governance for customers’ global content operations.
“We are happy to team up with Contentful on our quest to enable our customers to create seamless commerce experiences,” says Dirk Weckerlei, Global Head of Partner Management at Commercetools. “Our microservices approach, combined with Contentful’s API-first App Framework, enables brands such as Bang &amp; Olufsen to unify content across all their channels.”
A set of new API endpoints, libraries and blueprints make up the App Framework. These tools are designed to help developers quickly build custom apps and integrate existing services. Developing apps is made easier because customers can use the open source code to build integrations and deliver digital experiences faster. Plus, more than a dozen independent software vendors, including Optimizely, Netlify and Commercetools, now offer apps on Contentful to help customers to apply these services across their entire organization in just a few clicks.
The number of companies using this technology is growing rapidly — Contentful has the largest technology and <a href="https://www.contentful.com/partners/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">solutions partner</a> ecosystem among headless CMS providers. In addition to <a href="https://www.contentful.com/ecosystem/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">technology partners</a> including leading third-party SaaS companies, Contentful partners with top global agencies such as EPAM, AKQA and Publicis Sapient. With the App Framework, tech partners can more easily connect their services with the Contentful platform and equip customers with new capabilities; meanwhile, solution partners can build richer digital experiences for brands by creating custom apps to service or resell to their clients.
“Global brands like Bang &amp; Olufsen need to maintain a luxury digital experience across numerous channels, which is only possible with a content platform that’s extensible and modular,” said Om Singh, Head of Engineering, Nordic at Publicis Sapient. “We confidently recommend Contentful to our clients because we know it will easily integrate with commerce solutions, digital displays or any future customer touchpoint.”

Contentful launches App Framework under new CEO

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

<a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUeS0h4DJ623Zdp12Z8IUD4NRrOE19deqmmvxd5LSqfP-2BCBl-2Fm6mlVCZeuUGmOuaSKaj3w8pVOMfpjQivDrGHEOwWLvbzzfAlJbPGpFNGTNmaKwBluWvqYlE6-2FplUoTgs-2FViyLKNFkmRC0LF0l5b7pFcFLG51bR1kozc6G-2FsBGTv4NiFXmFETZZeGSzOCvKPf72zUvulPmBvzXmypgH1NUiZ5t2QeF-2BQTBxL6n7zbEutI6ZG4_mdytbyizDIdVO1JQUbUtCUfTtSkZ3al2-2FoZcynX0Ktn6hOE7IfOACcFjaA4gaM87CLaIV8D-2F4R3bXVK-2F39GQKZa7LoEedhOhatWDdO5RiK8RFpGGroK7F-2FcLFKwui72-2Bhe7QUr-2FZk1iSABX-2BEw1CJwLz3PJ4d-2BqQcHNBkHMS9C5RWqZ3kUIFZIzdmxs-2F-2FdErWZYOxBgdLNaGgR-2Bd6bTQhdy1nJgXWqeGKyRh3K8hqqgJU49ZORB9N0JvCg1xZH-2FutfMcPgFa0fqMN7lY6wdX-2B-2FU7Plpf6-2F6dQpk4jVCBkbE0iIeSVEsQpcZRzjLJ9MhGcKqIKM7o-2FHK9EAqTkvc-2FwgUxD4qcSEa5KfyM2iBCH-2BA-3D" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">Nuxeo</a>,  the leading cloud-native Content Services Platform (CSP), today  announced 2019 revenue and growth figures that reflect the company’s  ongoing success in the fast-growing Content Services market, where Nuxeo  continues to outpace its competitors.
In 2019, Nuxeo's revenues grew by 32 percent, with Q4 revenue growing  46 percent year-on-year, making the company one of the fastest-growing  vendors in the Content Services and Enterprise Content Management (ECM)  market. 2019 continued a well-established trend of rapid growth for  Nuxeo and the company has achieved a sustained 40 percent compounded  annual growth rate (CAGR) since taking investment from Goldman Sachs and  Kennet Partners in 2016. In fact, the company has more than tripled  revenues over the last four years.
In addition, customers are deploying the Nuxeo Platform via the cloud  at an accelerating pace, as evidenced by a 63 percent increase in the  company cloud revenues in 2019. Nuxeo Cloud now represents 32 percent of  the company’s total recurring revenue.
“We have a sustained, strong track record of success in the Content  Services market,” said Eric Barroca, CEO of Nuxeo. "The results and  milestones we achieved in 2019 illustrate that we’re meeting the complex  information management challenges of global enterprises. We anticipate  another strong year in 2020 as more enterprises continue to embrace the  Nuxeo Platform to address a variety of different business needs, from  modernizing large-scale legacy ECM systems for leading financial  institutions to helping fashion and apparel companies to accelerate  their digital supply chains and bring new products to market much more  quickly.”
2019 was a year of innovation for Nuxeo as the company launched two  new cloud services and delivered numerous new platform features. In  July, the company introduced <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUV-2FnaGUdJN1Rf8R29HcZZ-2FLaKI1HaEL79nRXBLCPPHDlVkU6cCupg1XSG-2FTNb6IGyjk76MeNaub5EJU7-2Fppm2KxxbTcwhW6ZmCriXMxF0TQOPhNhF-2FocCNUBPIb5QHDUoQ-3D-3Drj0g_mdytbyizDIdVO1JQUbUtCUfTtSkZ3al2-2FoZcynX0Ktn6hOE7IfOACcFjaA4gaM87CLaIV8D-2F4R3bXVK-2F39GQKZa7LoEedhOhatWDdO5RiK8RFpGGroK7F-2FcLFKwui72-2Bhe7QUr-2FZk1iSABX-2BEw1CJwLz3PJ4d-2BqQcHNBkHMS9C5RWqZ3kUIFZIzdmxs-2F-2FdErHeBXKi5EyIv5zoAJNpK1UcpT26kzgX6Nh-2FgY0BuomuNlKlA8r5MpOlYGF9YSs4mA20o0aTa0kurAQLZjbdRNb1ZJlX3FTBoVuFwBjw8-2Bbyts1jRTLFPM3HZWO-2BY66aphMFy469xU2VRsEWEv-2BmqrlO93zrsgzNlVqawRLzrDiL4-3D" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">Nuxeo Insight</a> and became the first CSP vendor to release a fully-trainable artificial  intelligence (AI) offering for content. In November, the company  launched its Nuxeo Transformation service, a fully-elastic cloud service  for rendering and transforming content and digital assets at extreme  scale.
“We are focusing on delivering breakthrough technology to our  customers,” explained Barroca, “Our Nuxeo Insight service is the most  advanced, trainable AI engine in the Content Services market today. It  enables our customers to build custom AI models using their own content  and data to deliver real, quantifiable business results, like  recognizing talent and products, identifying characters and other  intellectual property, and intelligently classifying documents and  content -- all at an unprecedented scale and with exceptional accuracy.”

Cloud Deployments Drive Rapid Growth of Nuxeo in 2019

eZ Systems, the digital experience company, announced today it has  acquired an e-commerce software from silver.solutions, the e-commerce  solution provider specializing in delivering B2B e-commerce  solutions. This deal strengthens eZ Systems’ offering, covering the  full spectrum of modern digital experiences, enabling it to accelerate  the development of new e-commerce capabilities.
“From the outset, silver.solutions developed its commerce technology  on top of eZ Platform and Symfony so it was a natural choice for us to  make this acquisition,” says Bertrand Maugain, co-CEO and CCO at eZ  Systems. “Unlike some of our  competitors, we are not adding a new disjointed technology to our  portfolio but building upon the solid and compact foundation that eZ  Platform offers.” He adds, “As we have evolved from being a pure CMS  provider to become a true DXP vendor – where content,  commerce, personalization, interoperability and extensibility are key  elements – so has the need for us to be able to respond to changing  market conditions in a fast and agile manner.”
A long-time partner of eZ, silver.solutions originally developed its  commerce technology as an extra layer on top of eZ’s earlier technology.  Since 2017, silver.solutions developed an e-commerce solution embracing  eZ Platform v2 and in  2018 partnered with eZ Systems to engineer and offer its e-commerce  capability as part of the eZ solution under the eZ Commerce name. As of  today numerous customers have benefited from the synergies of having  both technologies work seamlessly and flawlessly  together.
“We at silver.solutions are delighted about the acquisition as eZ  Systems has the engineering resource and vision to develop the core  product further. This enables us to concentrate on developing B2B  e-commerce add-ons and adapt the software  to meet specific customer requests. silver.solutions will continue  offering its existing e-commerce solution silver.eShop. Thus we can  offer two solutions to our customers depending on their requirements and  strategy,” says Ania Hentz, CEO, silver.solutions.
Roland Benedetti Chief Product Officer at eZ Systems added:  “Increasingly, Enterprises need to enable their customers to transact  online in a smooth, secure and easy way, e-commerce has become a core  part of what Digital Experience Platforms  need to offer. Integrating an e-commerce solution as a core part of our  platform, we can extend the set of capabilities our platform offers. In  particular, we can now provide strong integration capabilities with  business back-ends such as ERP and CRM systems  like MS Dynamics, SAP or others.”
silver.solutions’ team will support eZ during the transition period  and eZ will ramp-up resources dedicated to the development of more  e-commerce capabilities and will accelerate investment in the  development of the software.  As a strong  partner and experienced e-commerce experts, silver.solutions will  continue to develop innovative B2B e-commerce solutions and their  successful business as a full-service provider.

eZ Extends the Capabilities of itsDigital Experience Platform (DXP) with Advanced and B2B Commerce Capabilities for Digital Experiences

With  revolutionary technologies such as virtual reality and augmented  reality becoming more widely adopted by the education and business  communities across the world, the need for dedicated content management  systems to facilitate content creation for AR and VR is more urgent than  ever. And while many have introduced systems for either AR or  VR devices, the experienced team behind Fectar has become one of the  first in the world to launch a full, cross platform solution along with  accompanying app.
Trialled  in the Netherlands throughout 2019, the innovative no-coding cross  platform publishing solution has been readily adopted by schools,  universities and business users, with hundreds signing up in just three  months.. Now available to educational institutions and other  organisations worldwide, the cloud-based Fectar Studio platform enables  content creators to publish interactive AR and VR presentations to  Android and iOS smart phones and tablets, as well as to VR devices  including Oculus GO and Oculus Quest. There are plans to introduce  compatibility with more devices such as the HTC Vive within the coming  months.
Fectar  Studio also differentiates itself from other content management systems  through improved features and functionality. While the recent trend has  been for CMS tools to offer content only, Fectar Studio provides users  with more options, such as the addition of buttons, hyperlinks,  questions, navigation, audio, and more to create engaging interactive 3D  AR/VR content.It also allows users to track how their creations are  being used with easy to access statistical data.
<blockquote>Eugène  Kuipers, CEO and Founder of Fectar says, “AR and VR just got easy.  Within just a few weeks of our initial launch in 2019, the level of  interest and adoption was astounding. Schools and business users alike  have been quick to embrace the incredible potential of augmented and  virtual reality and deploy Fectar Studio and our app to create and view  beautiful and engaging presentations using AR and VR.</blockquote>
<blockquote>“We’ve  already witnessed fantastic results, especially in the education field.  A number of our users reported double-digit increases in revenue and  reductions in training costs while simultaneously reaching a whole new  level of customer and student engagement. We really are at the start of a  new era of content creation, and we’re confident this is a true game  changer for the industry.”</blockquote>
While  virtual reality — a fully simulated experience — and augmented reality —  the art of overlaying simulation onto a real world environment — are  becoming increasingly utilized within the business and school setting,  these technologies are still very much in their early days, and many  apps that are being developed are designed exclusively for a single  platform or a single usage. This introduces a problem for businesses and  schools who want to engage with audiences who are using the  ever-growing selection of AR and VR devices available on the market.
A  further obstacle that has shown to be standing in the way of AR and VR  content success is the need for businesses and educational content  creators/publishers to utilise an in-house or outsourced development  team to change their content. Fectar directly addresses this concern  with a CMS, Fectar Studio, which can be managed without any technical  skills. Designed by a team of multiple award-winning developers,  creatives, and serial entrepreneurs, the simple system can be used  easily by anyone.
Fectar  Studio is already being widely adopted within the education, media and  design, manufacturing, retail, and real estate sectors, with many other  industries showing interest in the unique CMS and app. The Fectar team  is currently offering free weekly online courses for content creators  across all industries, providing them with the knowledge they need to  get started with the CMS.
Businesses  can now apply for a free 14 day trial of Fectar Studio through the  website. You can download the free Fectar app to view more than 100  different free use cases created by partners. Content creators can  register interest for becoming part of the global partner network.
To find out more about Fectar and Fectar Studio, visit <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=84Em28S1K9SvtzcUtu04EtgdLxQNvmAf9sBzq7iGlMU-3D_BJkGAKsGgbHh2-2BIfs195dXmFVeDYX-2FZKM9gkPeb7NkTBYdnfNsOBRhdLBhqDWMdaBX0NwYmdr73k2k6eieHVauB8oV3XC3u4omN-2BIaLS5xF-2FyfD9a-2FZzrDjkq9TfLB7S5z2HT43TqvpJjVUrjIESShPPQNwHlEB7pYK76FWcUwLn4E-2Bv30BI4lLfdYZzKckSpJfJZt4w6zr6qiQeqVG1olixpJuvjIYjohoJ-2BOY-2BRiKN5YKH-2BAtU-2FL-2B4eRxRVgcN225UBF2NaZ1Vu2MIVVgebbutMCJG4EVnNnSQtXQr5b-2BCU5bPGzUQ1aLaa4MsqVA4XZvCqiuraIWzHaA-2F5BwZGwbNEwAjR-2Bte0xYHgS2iDXU-3D" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">www.Fectar.com</a>

Cross Platform CMS for AR and VR ‘Game Changer’ for Future of Content

Drupal has recently released their version 8.8.0, which is a relatively minor update to their popular CMS. This update does not include any important security patches, which makes upgrading to this level more of a personal preference than a strict requirement for site owners. Their upcoming upgrade schedule includes both version 8.9.0 and 9.0.0 on June 3, 2020. The 8.9.0 will be their long-term support version (meaning no additional feature upgrades) for Drupal 8.x. Drupal 9.0.0 will obviously be a significant release, and we’ll have details on that as they come out.
Changes in Drupal 8.8.0
While this is a relatively minor upgrade, there are some nice changes that many webmasters will appreciate. The major updates are as follows:
<ul>
<li>Stable Media Library – This will allow you to easily access and use images, videos, documents, and other media throughout your site with just one upload. This can be accessed right from the library, making it easier than ever to manage your site’s media. Other CMSs have had similar features for some time, so it is good to see it added to Drupal.</li>
<li>Claro Administration Theme – A new administration theme, called ‘Claro’ has been added to Drupal core. It is still considered ‘beta experimental stability’ but appears to work quite nicely. The theme is more touch-friendly, and has an attractive overall layout. The other admin themes are still available, so give this one a try and see if it is something you like.</li>
<li>Improvements to Workspaces – Hierarchical workspaces can now be defined, and they can now work with Content Moderation. In addition, path alias changes can be staged on the system, which is convenient.</li>
<li>Support for Composer now Native – Composer has long been a popular with Drupal users, but has required third-party projects to set up. With this version there is native support for Composer.</li>
<li>Experimental Help Topics Module – Task-based help topics beta has been added to the Drupal system, which will allow the help system to operate better using modules rather than tasks.</li>
<li>Improvements to Migration – Updates to the migration system have been made that will allow handling of vocabulary language settings, term language information, localization, and more.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="how-to-upgrade-to-drupal-8-8-x">How to Upgrade to Drupal 8.8.X</h3>
Anyone running a lower version of Drupal can easily upgrade to version 8.8.X by running the update.php just as with previous updates. Those running version 8.7 need to be aware that security fixes will only be offered for that version until June 3rd, 2020 after which point they must upgrade (either to 8.8, 8.9 or 9.0). Long term support for Drupal 8.X will be provided only for 8.9.X, so those who don’t want to move to 9.0.0 when it is released will need to keep this support schedule in mind to avoid experiencing security issues.
Those who are still on Drupal 7 can also upgrade to version 8 using the normal process, which will bring them to the latest available version. Support for version 7 is going to end on November 2021, so webmasters still have some time to remain on that platform. From November 2021 to November 2024, there will be a vendor extended support program available for those who want to remain on the older system as long as possible.
For additional information, please click <a href="https://www.drupal.org/blog/drupal-8-8-0">HERE</a> to view the full release notes.

Drupal 8.8.0 Released

michael-levanduski

Elastic Path, the leading provider of headless commerce solutions, today announced it has acquired fellow commerce technology leader Moltin to create the industry’s only commerce platform that enables every business leader to quickly and easily leverage microservices to gain a competitive advantage in the market.
This acquisition comes as global demand grows for extensible, flexible, and scalable enterprise commerce solutions and bolsters Elastic Path’s mission to empower businesses to transform every customer interaction, across B2C, B2B, B2B2C, and B2B2B use cases, into unique and engaging digital commerce experiences. Through easy-to-use business user tools, a comprehensive library of ready-to-use commerce experiences, and the ability to extend commerce functionality with ease, Elastic Path can now help brands, manufacturers, and retailers deliver digital customer journeys that are fully tailored to their businesses.
<blockquote>“Our customers want secure, battle-tested solutions that provide the flexibility to cover every commerce experience possible, ranging from websites and retail stores to mobile apps, chatbots, VR and IoT,” said Harry Chemko, co-founder and CEO at Elastic Path. “We have been committed to leading the charge in commerce innovation since our founding, and with the talent and technology Moltin brings to the table, Elastic Path enables every business to deploy revolutionary commerce experiences faster, easier and at greater scale than any other solution in the market.”</blockquote>
Elastic Path pioneered the “headless” approach to digital commerce nearly a decade ago as a way for companies to gain more flexibility as compared to legacy commerce platforms. As businesses strive to differentiate themselves in increasingly crowded markets by delivering unique commerce experiences, a microservices-based architecture has proven to be unmatched in terms of the flexibility it offers.
In a commerce environment, a microservices-based architecture leverages decoupled services that are easy to update or replace based on the needs of a particular touchpoint, such as a complex B2B website, mobile app, or physical kiosk, allowing a business to be more agile in its approach. To date, however, microservices have been out of reach for most businesses given the technical sophistication required. By acquiring Moltin, Elastic Path has created the only solution that makes it fast and easy for every business leader to unleash the power of microservices.
Elastic Path has redefined its new and improved Elastic Path Commerce Cloud platform around five key tenets:
<ul>
<li>Easy-to-use business user tooling: Maximize the monetization of digital initiatives with intuitive and robust business user tooling, which provides all the necessary commerce capabilities to launch and iterate on personalized and contextually relevant experiences in real-time.  </li>
<li>Comprehensive library of pre-built and ready-to-use commerce experiences: Launch new revenue channels on demand using the most comprehensive library of ready-to-use commerce experiences including multiple website experiences, a progressive web application (PWA), Alexa Voice Assistant, Facebook chatbot, social login, self-checkout for retail stores, Zendesk customer service, magic mirror, augmented reality, self-checkout for pop-up events, IoT, embeddable cart and checkout buy button, and more.  </li>
<li>Future-proof extensibility: Set up and update integrations with any third-party solution quickly and easily. There is no tangled web of customized plugins that locks businesses in and stifles innovation.  </li>
<li>Choreographed microservices: Deliver digital experiences that are fully tailored to business requirements with the most flexible headless microservices architecture that can be consumed modularly. Combined with Elastic Path’s Cortex API Orchestration layer, Elastic Path provides businesses with the agility and control needed to deliver fitfor-purpose experiences across any digital channel. </li>
<li>Enterprise-grade scalability: Grow confidently by leveraging the expertise Elastic Path has gained from supporting unmatched scale and mission-critical digital commerce for more than 300 of the world’s leading brands, manufacturers, and retailers, including Intuit and T-Mobile.</li>
</ul>
Elastic Path is now the only commerce platform to provide secure, enterprise-grade deployment options across multi-tenant SaaS, single-tenant SaaS, private cloud, and on premise. The advantages of the new unified platform are available to customers immediately.
All of Moltin’s global employees have joined Elastic Path, including engineering, customer support, sales, marketing, and operations. Elastic Path has also maintained Moltin’s U.S. and U.K. offices in Boston and Newcastle. With complementary development and customer support operations locations, Elastic Path has expanded its time zone coverage for current and future customers operating globally.
To learn more about how Elastic Path can empower your business to accelerate digital innovation, visit Elastic Path booth #1453 at NRF or go to <a href="https://www.elasticpath.com/">ElasticPath.com</a>.

Elastic Path Acquires Moltin

Check  the product out at the store. Buy it online. Have it delivered at the  doorstep of your home or office. The omni-channel retail experience is  becoming increasingly ubiquitous, and businesses are going all out to  develop smarter, more seamless engagement strategies for the  ‘post-digital’ world.
More  and more retailers are beginning to understand that merely having a  presence on multiple channels is no longer enough to woo new markets.  Brands are boosting omni-channel engagement by creating personalized,  on-demand content that enriches the customer journey across channels by  offering contextually relevant information and experiences.
In  fact, a powerful omni-channel strategy that delivers a unified brand  experience can unlock new markets and increase your customer base - and  that’s why it’s important to have a strong foundation in place from the  start. Here are 5 essentials that go into building a modern omni-channel  strategy.
<h3 id="data-management-for-consistency-and-convenience">Data Management: For Consistency and Convenience</h3>
Having  a single source of truth or a “golden record” of product information,  i.e., a consolidated, well-defined version of all data entities present  in an organizational ecosystem, is at the heart of effective data  management. This helps you create richer brand experiences by ensuring  that every customer touchpoint offers relevant and consistent  information for every product, thereby letting customers seamlessly move  from one channel to another in their buying journey.
<h3 id="unified-connected-systems-power-omnichannel">Unified, Connected Systems Power Omnichannel</h3>
Siloed  systems and disparate workflows are anathemas to any omni-channel  strategy. To create a seamless customer experience (CX), you’ll need to  deploy APIs to accelerate data transfers and smoothly integrate  mission-critical applications needed to improve your technology  landscape. This way real-time inventory can be synchronized between  physical/online stores with integrated customer data and dynamic  workflow engines. It further makes sure optimum omni-channel enablement  on customer touchpoints like IoT devices, point-of-sale, kiosks, and the  likes.
<h3 id="shared-workflows-help-everyone">Shared Workflows Help Everyone</h3>
It’s  hard to execute omnichannel retail if you don’t have shared workflows  between your stakeholders. Shared workflows make it easier for employees  and third parties to access product information that’s most relevant to their  role. For example, a digital marketer may not need to know the product’s  expiry date or it’s temperature threshold for spoilage, but a logistics  operator could very well find this information essential. Over the  years, several Product Information Management (PIM) solutions have made  it easier to accurately distribute relevant information throughout the  retail landscape. By storing this information in a master file, and  enabling access via API calls, PIM platforms act as a key enabler of any  omni-channel strategy and helps your stakeholders to effectively  contribute to enriching the customer experience.
<h3 id="product-attributes-and-rich-media-integration">Product Attributes and Rich Media Integration</h3>
The  importance of having product attributes assigned to each inventory unit  within your database simply cannot be understated. Not only do product  attributes offer your customers a richer, more relevant view of their  prospective purchases, they can also help nudge them along their buying  journey. Through videos, images and accurate product descriptions, it  can be made easier for warehousing and in-store staff to acquire better  product visibility, which helps them in creating a more compelling  retail experience for the buyer.
<h3 id="segmentation-and-targeting-are-essential">Segmentation and Targeting Are Essential</h3>
If  you aren’t using your customer data to create personalized and relevant  experiences for your customers, you’re not taking full advantage of  your analytics. According to a study by MarketingSherpa, <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Please-Dont-Unsubscribe-Why-Consumers-Email-Fatigue/1015219" rel="noreferrer">more than 20% of customers</a> opt-out of brand communications due to receiving irrelevant content.  This demonstrates how important it is to segment your target markets and  tailor unique content that is relevant to each section of customers  that engages with your brand. For example, millennials may like  receiving vibrant and contemporary content on their smartphones, while  specific, offer-based emails may appeal to an older audience.
<h2 id="to-summarize">To Summarize</h2>
A  good omni-channel strategy has the potential to exponentially grow your  customer base and revenues. The Harvard Business Review recently  conducted a study showing that <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/01/a-study-of-46000-shoppers-shows-that-omnichannel-retailing-works" rel="noreferrer">73% of shoppers used multiple retail channels.</a> This statistic supports a study by the Aberdeen Group, stating that retailers with a powerful omnichannel game retained <a href="https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2013/12/31/why-omnichannel-strategy-matters/" rel="noreferrer">over 89% of their customers</a> – which is staggering, to say the least.
To  truly master the omni-channel ecosystem, you’ll need to engage in active  experimentation. It’s not enough to just hit fire-and-forget on your  automation workflows - you’ll need to constantly tweak and re-engineer  product experiences on different channels to see what works best for  each of your target audiences.   
Based  on this article, consider how well your enterprise has executed  omni-channel and whether there are any glaring gaps that need to be  filled. Also, consider investing in a solid product information  management (PIM) and master data management (MDM) strategy that can help  you address all of the above without breaking a sweat. And remember, at  the end of the day, CX is what makes or breaks any omni-channel  strategy. That’s why it’s important to continually deliver new customer  experiences that aren’t confined to a single platform but can instead be  uniquely experienced across a plethora of touchpoints.

5 Key Factors That Go Into Building Unified Omni-Channel Experiences

dietmar-rietsch

<a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">Magnolia</a> today announces the opening of a new office in Shanghai,  confirming its long-standing commitment to China and Asia.
The  new office adds to Magnolia’s already well-established presence in  Asia, with two offices having previously opened in Singapore and  Vietnam. The company also has certified  partners serving customers in North Asia and India.
Through  the new Shanghai office, Magnolia looks to expand its offering of  content management and digital experience technologies to the rapidly  growing APAC market.
To coincide with the office opening, Magnolia has also launched its first <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/zh_CN/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">Chinese website</a> to meet the growing demands for best of breed enterprise  CMS platforms in the region.
<blockquote>Commenting  on the office opening, Don Lee, Managing Director, APAC at Magnolia  said, “Having recognised a need for intensive personalisation to provide  unparalleled,  unique experiences to customers, Chinese brands are now investing in  marketing technology designed to improve digital experiences.</blockquote>
<blockquote>“This  evolving market opens up major opportunities for Magnolia, with growing  demand for platforms and tools that can help businesses manage their  expanding marketing  ecosystems.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>He  added: “Our global business is growing rapidly, and we see huge  potential to drive further growth through this expansion into Shanghai.  And with an extremely attractive  talent pool in Shanghai, we’re looking forward to extending our  offering to the Greater Chinese markets.”</blockquote>
To find out more about Magnolia’s global offering, visit <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener">https://www.magnolia-cms.com/</a>

Magnolia expands in China with new Shanghai office

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