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<hr /> When I last spoke to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariano-gomide-de-faria-vtex/">Mariano Gomide de Faria</a>, it wasn't long after he published <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mariano-gomide-de-faria-vtex_for-all-the-reasons-explained-in-the-article-activity-7310313384015511552-APGm/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAABz8skQBu3yAX4WwKnVszlZSL3qGoPZCq6w">“The MACH Mirage”</a> on LinkedIn. It was a veritable shock to the system that pointedly criticized aspects of the composable movement – and, with specificity, the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-aims-to-evolve-enterprise-ai-architecture-with-new-end-user-leadership-model">MACH Alliance.</a> At the time, he announced that <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/vtex">VTEX</a> (the connected commerce platform he founded and steers as co-CEO) would be pausing its membership in the best-of-breed ecosystem, citing the drift of composability from operator control as a central grievance. Famously, both Mariano and MACH Alliance president <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen">Casper Rasmussen</a> met on “The Watson Weekend” retail program to hash out some of the issues in a town square forum. The debate was friendly, healthy, and focused squarely on the challenges of enterprise architecture – which is being transformed by the advent of AI across the composable stack. And that’s the big tuna. The crucial role of AI in digital commerce can’t be overstated, and this is precisely where Mariano felt the MACH Alliance could be more prolific in supporting its association – and the market at large – in the AI course corrections. In his mind, this required less a less rigid approach to the enshrined standards of MACH.“At the end of the day, we cannot close our eyes to the reinvention of SIs informed by a future where AI rules,” he said, pointing out how organizations like the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://nrf.com/">National Retail Federation</a> could also help to lead discussions that generate value. Since then, VTEX has been putting its nose to the grindstone and building its own ecosystem for agentic commerce. And the timing couldn’t be more apropos: During my many interviews and discussions at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-deep-dish-on-composable-6-tasty-takeaways-from-the-mach-alliances-2025-conference">“The Composable Conference”</a> in April (the annual MACH Alliance event), agentic commerce was already lighting the world on fire. The noise level has only increased over the last few months, and the push to adopt these capabilities is reaching a fever pitch. According to a recent <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2025/03/20/agentic-commerce-ecommerce-trends/">Digital Commerce 360 survey</a>, over 44% of e-commerce leaders are already seeing strong results from their AI investments, and a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://rierino.com/blog/agentic-commerce-with-ai-agents">study from Rierino</a> suggests that agentic frameworks are also paying off with a 6-10% increase in revenue and a big bump in order efficiency.Now, VTEX is shipping its automated agentic AI workforce – and other features – into prime time as part of an expansion of its enterprise-grade capabilities. Unveiled at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fvtex.com%2Fen-us%2Fvision%2F2025&amp;esheet=54310335&amp;newsitemid=20250819007039&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=VTEX+Vision+2025&amp;index=1&amp;md5=8e8045401ca4c78ebfc0f12961001495">VTEX Vision 2025</a>, its annual digital showcase, the company’s latest release includes new solutions tailored to B2B complexity and personalized omnichannel experiences. “Enterprise commerce doesn’t slow down in the face of complexity,” Mariano said. “It rewards those who turn it into leverage. With VTEX Vision 2025, we have expanded our infrastructure to meet rising demands, from B2B buyer personalization to seamless consumer retail experiences, all on one unified commerce platform built for growth.” <h3 id="capabilities-that-convert-and-scale-for-the-b2b-enterprise">Capabilities that convert and scale for the B2B enterprise</h3>In the pantheon of digital commerce, B2B operates with its own set of rules, requiring intuitive digital infrastructure that’s built to move high-volume transactions and manage the full complexity of modern procurement. VTEX’s B2B innovation reinforces a key truth that enterprise leaders know: Success requires infrastructure built around how corporate buyers manage procurement, not systems that restrict transactions. This is where VTEX has its edge, and its Vision for B2B is bringing core capabilities to support these requirements.What’s in the new release? Personalized catalogs, pricing, and payment methods per buyer, as well as advanced buyer organization management that includes branch structures, role-based access, budgeting, and policy control.Brands will also have access to buying policies and approval workflows that enforce custom procurement rules automatically, and rapid cart creation that leverages quick order tools by file and search term. There’s also SKU matrix and reorder tools for high-frequency purchasing and native punchout integrations to centralize procurement within enterprise systems.From a market validation perspective, Andy Hoar's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvtex.com%2Fen-us%2Fcampaign%2Fparadigm-b2b-report-2025%2F&amp;esheet=54310335&amp;newsitemid=20250819007039&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=B2B+Paradigm+2025&amp;index=2&amp;md5=9e2f7662e0ed2cad3ef71cd6af712a9d">B2B Paradigm 2025</a> report recognized VTEX with the most Gold medals across its Enterprise and Mid-Market categories, including key metrics like TCO and marketplace capabilities. <h3 id="the-next-level-of-omnichannel">The next level of omnichannel</h3>We’ve been talking about omnichannel for a long time, and how composable stacks help support these strategies. But for enterprise brands, true omnichannel is still a bit elusive. Why? Blame inventory silos, delayed delivery updates, and disconnected store operations (for starters), which block many organizations from operating at their full potential. VTEX closes these gaps by strengthening the “operational backbone” needed to move with speed, accuracy, and complete fulfillment control. AI is helping to power these features in VTEX. This includes AI Semantic Search, which delivers relevant results by interpreting shopper intent through natural language. There’s also AI Product Recommendations that help drive conversions with personalized, behavior-based suggestions.With VTEX, Distributed Inventory is unified and made available across every channel, covering B2C, B2B, marketplaces, and stores. Multi-seller Carts also merge 1P, 3P, and in-store items into one seamless checkout experience, making the entire lifecycle faster and easier.VTEX’s Delivery Promise is also a powerful fixture, helping shoppers find products that are located near them and can be delivered quickly. There’s also Cross-Channel Fulfillment, where newly simplified BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store), ship from store, and simplified returns can lead to operational cost reductions and improved inventory accuracy.<h3 id="agentic-commerce:-the-enterprise-ai-workforce">Agentic commerce: The enterprise AI workforce</h3>For the unindoctrinated, agentic commerce is the application of autonomous AI agents that work independently within a digital commerce system. They’re bestowed with “agency,” meaning they can make decisions, execute tasks, and adapt to context across both frontend and backend workflows. Agentic commerce isn’t just recommending things. It’s effectively running parts of your business with autonomy, tapping more adaptive AI and intelligent automation capabilities that can execute on their behalf. The explosive gains in productivity are making agentic commerce incredibly popular as brands and enterprises look to move faster across channels.Enterprise commerce is entering a new operational era, and VTEX is helping to lead that shift with agentic AI built that can effectively streamline critical workflows and accelerate enterprise performance across the globe. To kick off its roadmap to a fully agentic commerce platform, VTEX is launching three AI agents that are engineered around precision, speed, and adaptability. As the company stated, it’s the beginning of a new standard where digital infrastructure operates as intelligently as the enterprises it serves.“As VTEX advances toward a fully agentic commerce platform, we continue to transform cost centers into engines of growth with measurable impact,” Mariano said. “Our first wave of AI agents marks a critical step, compressing complex workflows and unlocking new value for global brands. Flexibility, transparency, and real-time adaptability will define the next generation of enterprise leaders. Anything else will be left behind.”Some cool capabilities are rolling out, starting with VTEX’s Customer Service Agent, a fully autonomous support agent that works across WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, and more. Brands like UNICEF and Cencosud are currently using it, which, according to VTEX, has already resolved 92% of tickets without human input – and cut AHT from hours to minutes. Impressive results to be sure.Forthcoming is a Visual Editor Agent, which promises some powerful experience-level capabilities with no developer support required. Teams will be able to instantly respond to change by updating a storefront using a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/figma">Figma</a> file or natural language.Finally, VTEX’s Data Insights Agent is all about powering productivity and observability across channels. The agent receives priority access to real-time omnichannel performance data in plain language, without the need for static dashboards or SQL queries.<h3 id="why-it-matters-">Why it matters </h3>“There's no survival without passing through this chaotic moment,” Mariano said. We were discussing the embedded challenges with navigating legacy systems and how many companies are still modernizing from old IBM mainframes. That might sound a little arcane, but we’ve come a long way on the frontier of interoperability. The MACH Alliance has played a huge role in shaping that, but we’re in yet another chaos moment – one where AI is rendering our roadmaps almost useless. Brands are having to react to change instantly, and commerce is going to need the scale and automation of agentic AI to win customers across channels. To its credit, the MACH Alliance is putting greater emphasis on the AI horizon, manifesting in more end-user representation at the top of the organization. Recently, Casper Rasmussen announced that he will be stepping down as president, and the Alliance will begin shifting to an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-aims-to-evolve-enterprise-ai-architecture-with-new-end-user-leadership-model">end-user leadership model</a> to support enterprise AI architecture. Will this help mend some of the fences with VTEX? Does it address the core issues surrounding operator control with the composable system? Probably not. There's a rhyme to MACH's reason, and maintaining fierce standards is part of that language. But we’ll see how things unfold. One thing is certain: Mariano will continue his quest for greater flexibility in a market that’s being utterly transformed by AI. “History proves that the highest risk position we can take now would be not assuming any risk,” he told me. “And that serves for NRF, that serves for the MACH Alliance, that serves for any association.”Institutional disagreements aside, VTEX is clearly pushing to innovate on its own terms with agentic commerce, and this could power its already strong collection of 3,400 active storefronts across 43 countries with less friction, greater productivity, and an even nimbler posture. Based on its measurable successes with real customers using its preliminary agents, VTEX is making real headway toward its vision of an autonomous platform that powers the future of digital commerce for B2B and B2C models. They certainly have the chops and market credentials to lead the way, with more than 2,400 brands trusting its technology to unify omnichannel sales, intelligent order management, data pipelines, retail media, enterprise-grade security, and more.It’s early days, so it will be interesting to see how VTEX's pricing models evolve surrounding its agent services. But for buyers with complex requirements and global fulfillment demands, the promise of agentic commerce could be a game changer – with the right platform to build on.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-vtex?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on VTEX? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.44%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/cms-kickoff-2026-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">CMS Kickoff 2026</a></h4>January 13-14, 2026 – St. Petersburg, FloridaMeet industry leaders at our fourth annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">so secure your tickets today.</a>

VTEX Expands Enterprise Capabilities with Agentic Commerce, B2B Orchestration, and Omnichannel Power

matt-garrepy

What's the story with CMS in 2023? Ask <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank">Storyblok</a>.
The headless CMS vendor just published a compelling set of <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-cms-2023-global" target="_blank">reports</a> about the current state of CMS, reflecting respondents' opinions across 7 countries.
The studies offer interesting data on the most popular content management systems, the pain points and features driving users to new systems, and how organizations plan to change and improve their CMS.
Storyblok published "The State of CMS 2023" global report in February, featuring survey data from 1,639 respondents. Last week, it offered <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-cms-2023-united-states" target="_blank">a focused US edition</a> reflecting the opinions of 624 respondents. Both samples shed light on various topics, including how users leverage their CMS, which teams represent the largest portion of users, and whether they anticipate using their CMS in the future.
<h2>Monoliths are still winning the popularity contest</h2>
Based on Storyblok's research, platforms like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-cloud-adds-new-headless-cms-capabilities-updates-to-commerce-integration/">Adobe</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wordpress-keeps-classical-editor-alive-acquires-frontity-to-expand-headless-capabilities/">WordPress</a>, and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reviews/webflow-review-hybrid-website-builder-and-cms-bridges-the-design-code-chasm/">Webflow</a> remain the leading CMS choices among respondents. It's worth noting that while WordPress continues to own the largest market share as an open source CMS, other vendors like Adobe are considered DXPs – which include CMS as part of their stack. 
In the research, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless</a> accounted for 36% of CMSes. Headless architecture is still a much newer application of content management, and Storyblok hypothesized that lower adoption rates might be due to a lack of knowledge – particularly in the US.
Storyblok also noted that there had been a marginal increase in the percentage of those surveyed using a headless CMS and a marginal decrease in those using a monolithic CMS since its previous <a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-content-management" target="_blank">2022 State of CMS</a> report.
Other data pointed to US respondents as being more receptive to trying a new CMS for proof of concept – suggesting that headless adoption rates might change if they received more exposure to headless concepts. 
Also worth noting: users seem to be "keeping the faith" in their current CMS. Accoring to the research, 87% percent of respondents believe their current system will be effective in the coming years.
<h2>Omnichannel is driving a multi-CMS model</h2>
In the U.S. data, 42% of respondents reported utilizing more than one CMS, indicating that one system might not meet the needs of different departments or functions within a company. However, 44% said they utilized only one CMS – nearly an even split. 
Of those utilizing only one CMS, most respondents indicated two to three teams within their organization are using the same CMS, with marketing and sales dominating that usage.
Because there was a strong quotient of organizations using more than one CMS, the study's analysis contends that one CMS cannot satisfy the needs of each department, and functionality might be limited with a monolithic approach.
Respondents to the study said their CMS is used most prolifically for websites, mobile apps, and eCommerce. In a change from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/storybloks-cms-report-shows-enterprises-are-still-scared-of-omnichannel-content-experiences/">last year’s study</a>, the third most listed reason for organizations to use more than one CMS was to satisfy the need for omnichannel content – a decisive indication that additional multimedia channels are gaining importance in traditional marketing strategies.
<h2>Customers using headless CMS reported satisfaction</h2>
Those surveyed who had switched to a headless CMS overwhelmingly reported satisfaction with their choice. The leading reason: headless CMS is “time-saving." Increased ROI and traffic were also listed as top reasons (among others).
While monolithic platforms may still have the upper hand, headless is clearly gaining ground. The need for omnichannel content has also crept up as the role of marketing to consumers continues to shift. With headless CMSes promising great opportunity in this space, it’s something to watch before the next State of CMS drops.
"The State of the CMS 2023" reports offer relevant and revealing data about the trends in the CMS market – and are well worth a read. You can download them at the links below:
<a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-cms-2023-global" target="_blank">The State of the CMS 2023 Report</a>
<a href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-cms-2023-united-states" target="_blank">The State of the CMS 2023: United States Report</a>
<h2>About Storyblok</h2>
Storyblok is a next-generation headless content management system revolutionizing how storytelling scales. With an API-first approach, it helps users create and scale content to any digital channel. Features like the visual editor and digital asset manager mean content creators can work independently. The power of headless’s best-of-breed approach also means that developers can build a perfectly customized tech stack, all protected by Storyblok’s ISO 27001 security certification. Add the benefit of Storyblok’s advanced collaboration suite, and all these teams can come together to work together directly within the CMS. In a constantly changing world with more user experience demands than ever before, brands such as Netflix, T-Mobile, and MindValley trust Storyblok to provide secure, personalized experiences to their users.

Storyblok Publishes Reports on the State of CMS in 2023, Reveals Insights on US and Global Markets

cms-critic-staff

Storyblok State of CMS 2023 graphic and logo

Let's be honest: there's nothing quite like Awards Season. Just ask Moira Rose.
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<div class="tenor-gif-embed"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/moira-rose-schitts-creek-awards-favorite-season-gif-16223893">Moira Rose Schitts Creek GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/moira+rose-gifs">Moira Rose GIFs</a></div>
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And it's not because of the glitz, the glamour, or even the drama (although last year's Oscars did deliver the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/entertainment/oscars-crisis-will-smith/index.html" target="_blank">slap heard 'round the world</a>).
No, we love Awards Season because it's a celebration. An opportunity to cheer for the things we love. From film to music, actors to performers. Heck, even our favorite technologies.
Each year, CMS Critic is proud to feature our People's Choice Awards: a unique, one-of-a-kind platform for celebrating our industry. Since 2012, the People's Choice Awards have provided an opportunity for you – our community of digital professionals and stack fanatics – to tell us which platforms you love the most.
The People's Choice Awards are always fun and engaging, and the results never fail to surprise us. We put the power in your hands to nominate and vote, so it reflects your community participation. No matter how you feel about the outcomes, this is a win for every platform involved and your passionate users and fans.
This year, we had record participation from around the globe for both the nominations and final voting, and we're thrilled to share the winners you selected!
<h2>And the Oscar goes to...</h2>
But first, a quick reminder about the contest and how it worked:
<ul>
<li>In <a href="/nominate-your-favorite-platforms-for-the-2022-cms-critic-peoples-choice-awards/">December 2022</a>, we invited readers to nominate platforms across a set of categories on our website.</li>
<li>Nominations closed at the end of January.</li>
<li>The top five nominees (in the case of a few ties, the top six) were selected for voting in each category.</li>
<li>General voting began in early February and closed on February 20.</li>
<li>Participants could vote only once, and companies that offered incentives of any kind were disqualified.</li>
</ul>
And that's it! Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2022 People’s Choice Award winners:
<h4>Best Enterprise CMS: Contensis</h4>
<a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/contensis-logo.jpg" alt="Contensis Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best DXP: Adobe Experience Cloud</h4>
<a href="https://business.adobe.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/adobe-edited.jpg" alt="Adobe Experience Cloud Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Free CMS: Joomla!</h4>
<a href="https://www.joomla.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/joomla-edited.png" alt="Joomla! Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Flat File CMS: Statamic</h4>
<a href="https://statamic.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/statamic-edited.jpg" alt="Statamic Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Open Source CMS: Umbraco</h4>
<a href="https://umbraco.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrRdPATQsqJ5M2tqVIMIHVlkjBnO2Cl29dGTXI9dhb9_BNa9pqdulIhoCK40QAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:120px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/umbraco-edited.png" alt="Umbraco Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best ECM (Enterprise Content Management): Microsoft SharePoint</h4>
<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/sharepoint-edited.png" alt="Microsoft SharePoint Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best E-Commerce Solution: Shopify</h4>
<a href="https://www.shopify.com/free-trial?term=shopify&amp;adid=565872334073&amp;campaignid=15436644439&amp;branded_enterprise=1&amp;BOID=brand&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrQTcMx9LwHQNvRFM6fN3NdS4GIn0wcvVgK3LdPDmBWiVFRhMOA64HxoCZEQQAvD_BwE&amp;cmadid=516586854;cmadvertiserid=10730501;cmcampaignid=26990768;cmplacementid=324494812;cmcreativeid=163722649;cmsiteid=5500011" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/shopify-edited.png" alt="Shopify Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Headless Commerce Solution: commercetools</h4>
<a href="https://commercetools.com/resources/booklet/microservices?utm_source=Paid%20Search&amp;utm_medium=Google%20Search&amp;utm_content=microservices-bookle-CA&amp;utm_campaign=MACH&amp;utm_term=commercetools&amp;utm_campaign=MACH%20retargeting%20AMER&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=9131799125&amp;hsa_cam=19415290532&amp;hsa_grp=145609670540&amp;hsa_ad=643141341485&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=aud-1945381266863:kwd-366236213007&amp;hsa_kw=commercetools&amp;hsa_mt=p&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrbE7RUL47caWM3RyFkC6b649F5PR5Z6DHNnToZTeBOWkTjGjxOL6IBoCGAMQAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/commercetools-edited.png" alt="Commercetools Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Headless CMS: Contentful </h4>
<a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:260px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/contentful-edited.jpg" alt="Contentful Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Website Builder: YOOtheme</h4>
<a href="https://yootheme.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/yootheme-edited.png" alt="YOOtheme Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Static Site Generator: Next.js</h4>
<a href="https://nextjs.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/next-js-edited.png" alt="Next.js Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Composable System: Uniform</h4>
<a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/uniform-edited.jpg" alt="Uniform Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Digital Experience Composition (DXC): Occtoo</h4>
<a href="https://www.occtoo.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/occtoo-edited.png" alt="Occtoo Logo" /></a>
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Congratulations to our People's Choice Winners!</h2>
There you have it, folks! Thank you again for participating in our Awards this year, and always, we welcome your feedback and your votes for next season!

Let's Celebrate the Winners of the 2022 CMS Critic People’s Choice Awards

Myplanet is colonizing a new world – and it's called <a href="http://orium.com/?utm_source=PR&amp;utm_medium=news&amp;utm_campaign=A_Broad_Open_Press_Release____rename-cision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Orium</a>.
The composable commerce specialist recently announced that it is taking on a new moniker as it targets growth in the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">MACH</a> (Microservices, API, Cloud-first, Headless) sector. 
As its website now proclaims, Orium aspires to be the premier composable commerce consultancy and systems integrator for <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/omnichannel-retail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">omnichannel retail</a> – or "omniretail" – working with best-in-class technology partners to set strong composable commerce foundations that support how brands serve customers across channels.
The rebrand comes on the heels of an $11 million investment from <a href="https://www.orium.com/article-myplanet-secures-investment-funding-to-expand-its-composable-commerce-retail-consulting-in-north-america/?utm_source=PR&amp;utm_medium=news&amp;utm_campaign=A_Broad_Open_Press_Release____rename-cision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tercera announced last month</a>, and is part of the company’s accelerated growth plan and shifted focus on the rapidly evolving composable commerce space. 
<h2>From enterprise commerce to composable commerce</h2>
Founded in 2009, Myplanet has been a leading voice in enterprise commerce. In 2019, the company began specializing exclusively in composable commerce, customer data, and retail data platforms. Under the new Orium mantle, it plans to expand its offerings in these same areas and extend its partnerships with best-of-breed solutions providers – including <a href="https://commercetools.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commercetools</a> and <a href="https://www.elasticpath.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elastic Path.</a>
“We saw a paradigm shift coming – one that was rooted in the idea of change,” said CEO &amp; Founder Jason Cottrell. “So we took what was, at the time, a bit of a risk and made the shift to composable. It was the right decision, but that shift happened a lot faster than anyone could’ve predicted.”
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent need for retailers to overhaul their digital operations, the company transitioned the business “in a matter of about three months” according to Cottrell. “Our core values are the same, but in a few crucial ways, we’re not the same company we used to be. We’ve changed, the industry has changed, and our name needed to reflect that.”
<h2>Early members of the MACH Alliance</h2>
Orium (as Myplanet) was part of the first wave of <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MACH Alliance</a> members. This makes sense, as the company had already built one of the largest portfolios of composable commerce implementations in North America. 
With the success of its <a href="https://composable.com/composable-accelerator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Composable.com Accelerators</a> supporting award-winning work – and its team moving past 200 people – Orium sees continued opportunities for helping brands adopt MACH architectures and use them to engage customers more effectively. With the pace of industry growth accelerating, the new name will help usher in the next era of the business. 
“Our work is inherently dynamic. We’re always evolving,” says Cottrell. “The name Orium reflects the combination of innovation and implementation that’s at the heart of our work philosophy: we don’t just trade in ideas, we make them real.”
<h2>What's in a name? Understanding "Orium" as a brand</h2>
While Myplanet was natively intuitive, the word Orium is less so. In its press release, the company shed some light on the decision and provided some context for its meaning.
“We’ve talked about changing the name of the organization before, but the timing was never right,” says Leigh Bryant, Orium’s Director of Brand. “With the investment funding from Tercera and the changes we’ve seen in the last few years – both within our company and within the industry – the timing felt right to rebrand to something that reflects who we are today, and that can grow with us into the future.”
The name of the company is drawn from the suffix -orium, which means a place for a particular function. “An -orium is where things happen, and that’s how we view ourselves,” says Bryant. “We are where industry-leading technology partners and world-class clients come together to make things happen, pushing the boundaries of what the movement for composable commerce can be. As Orium, we bring the elements of a custom retail solution to life.” 
As the field of composable commerce continues to explode, Orium appears focused on meeting the demand.

Myplanet Rebrands to Orium After $11M Investment, Targets Growth in Composable Commerce

Image of Myplanet logo transforming to Orium logo

<a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storyblok</a>, a leading headless content management system (CMS), is back with another interesting study – this time, releasing its findings from a new survey of 208 retail and e-commerce professionals who directly manage enterprise CMS systems. 
The survey, released today, reveals the results of the latest digital retail trends happening around the Metaverse, CMS proliferation, and increasing website security attacks.
<h2>Content Management Systems Gone Wild</h2>
By now, we know that consumers use a combination of devices, platforms, and channels to access digital experiences – and the buyer's journey is becoming more non-linear. While mobile will likely continue to be a key orchestrator, brands are still motivated to understand these diverse channels so they can connect with audiences whenever, wherever, and however they choose. According to Storyblok's <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/storybloks-cms-report-shows-enterprises-are-still-scared-of-omnichannel-content-experiences/">previous research</a>, enterprises are still scared of investing in omnichannel experiences.
And yet...
Retailers' customer touchpoints have gone omnichannel, and the number of CMS systems deployed by enterprises is broadening as a result. 76 percent of enterprises surveyed have already deployed more than one CMS, and just over 10 percent have deployed five or more CMSs. Gone are the days when one monolithic CMS could handle it all. 
"Because of the increasing variety of channels that customers now use to interact with brands, retailers are having trouble delivering the experience that customers expect," said Dominik Angerer, CEO &amp; Co-founder of Storyblok. "Managing multiple CMSs adds another layer of management burden. Moving to a headless CMS architecture can help streamline channel management by replacing custom integrations with standard APIs." 
<h2>Metaverse E-commerce Experiences Are Increasing</h2>
While many brands are still discussing what the Metaverse even is, retailers and e-commerce companies are already taking action. 
Slightly more than 20 percent of retailers and e-commerce companies are already extending their CMS to display content into Metaverse environments to showcase their branded images and products. 
Enterprises are reporting that their CMS currently delivers content into alternative digital channels, including: 
<ul>
<li>16 percent into Virtual Reality environments </li>
<li>11 percent into Augmented Reality</li>
<li>17 percent to Smart Speakers</li>
</ul>
"These survey findings speak to the curiosity among consumers to try out interesting new digital environments, and the need for retailers and e-commerce sites to keep pace," said Thomas Peham, Storyblok's Vice President of Marketing. "A headless CMS architecture is by far the easiest way to deploy content to new channels as quickly as they arise, via simple APIs."
<h2>Cyber Hackers Find New Attack Vector</h2>
Malicious cyber attacks on retail enterprises have found a new point of entry: the Content Management System (CMS). 1 in 5 enterprises surveyed (20.6 percent) are seeing an increased number of attacks coming in via their CMS.
"As websites become more vital to business operations and host a wider variety of digital asset types, web-based attacks become critical vectors, and securing the CMS is now essential," said Sebastian Gierlinger, VP of Engineering at Storyblok. "In response to these risks, modern CMS architectures are often 'headless,' meaning that the back-end repository is not directly coupled to the front-end presentation layer, so if one end is attacked, the other end is not also compromised." 
Enterprises should also be verifying that their current CMS platform is certified to the latest ISO 27001 Information Security Management standard. In addition, the APIs used by the CMS platform should be protected with a <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/tls-1-2-to-become-the-minimum-for-all-aws-fips-endpoints/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TLS v1.2 (or higher)</a> encryption protocol. 
<h2>Survey Methodology </h2>
The findings above are from a survey of 781 US-based retail and e-commerce-related enterprises fielded on SurveyMonkey during August 2022, of which 208 respondents were further qualified as directly managing or working closely with the website Content Management System (CMS) at their company. The results cited in this document are based on the 208 qualified respondents and have a margin of error of +/-6% at a 90 percent confidence level. 
Additional results from the survey can be requested by contacting <a href="mailto:rich.mullikin@rocketscience.com">rich.mullikin@rocketscience.com</a>. 
<h2>About Storyblok</h2>
Storyblok, the content management system (CMS) category leader for 2022, empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across any digital channel. Storyblok enhances audience experiences with best-in-breed performance, optimized omnichannel storytelling, and robust personalization. Enable content teams to create and manage content intuitively and independently with drag-and-drop visual editing, custom collaboration workflows, and a world-class digital asset manager. Empower developers to build anything, integrate with everything, and publish everywhere with Storyblok's headless CMS architecture. Leading brands such as Adidas, T-Mobile, Harvard Business School, Renault, and Marc O'Polo use Storyblok to shape their digital storytelling. See why Storyblok was named the #1 CMS for 2022 by G2 at <a href="http://www.storyblok.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.storyblok.com</a> and follow Storyblok on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/storyblok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://www.twitter.com/storyblok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>.

Storyblok Releases Results from Survey of US Retail Professionals; Reveals Trends in Headless CMS, Metaverse & VR E-commerce, and Website Security Attacks

MACH my words: Salesforce knows no bounds. 
Even as composable architectures become more of a fixture across enterprise stacks, Mark Benioff's monolith is promoting a seemingly decoupled offering.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reviews/salesforce-cms-review-evolving-a-crm-powerhouse-into-a-dxp-challenger/">Salesforce</a> is the latest mega platform to embrace MACH mania, announcing its new <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/products/commerce-cloud/headless-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Composable Storefront</a> – a fully-customizable, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">headless</a> digital storefront that lets online retailers make site changes with the speed and flexibility needed to increase sales, conversions, and basket size while helping to drive down costs.
With the announcement, Salesforce also introduced pre-built packages made ​​specifically for headless implementations and offered several use cases with commerce partners. This includes best-in-class integrations, pricing, and implementation accelerators from across the Salesforce ecosystem, all anchored by the Salesforce <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/products/commerce-cloud/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commerce Cloud</a>.
<h2>Expanding headless commerce capabilities</h2>
More than ever, retailers need adaptable and flexible commerce sites that can keep up with rapidly evolving customer preferences. Salesforce knows this. We all do. 
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">Headless commerce</a> has been a key gamechanger for making omnichannel a reality for retailers. It effectively separates the front end and back end of an e-commerce solution, enabling brands to quickly and affordably customize digital storefronts without disrupting the shopping experience. 
According to the latest <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salesforce State of Commerce Report</a>, retailers are investing in headless commerce in a big way to drive growth. 77% of commerce-focused organizations that have implemented headless architectures say that it gives them increased agility by allowing them to make changes to their storefront quickly, and 80% of businesses that don’t currently have headless commerce plan to implement it in the next two years. 
“With customers expecting both engaging and seamless e-commerce experiences, headless architecture can help online retailers build and implement site changes with speed and agility,” said Scot Gillespie, GM of Commerce Cloud. “Salesforce’s Composable Storefront is a secure, trusted platform that empowers users to leverage headless while accelerating time to market and reducing costs.”
<h2>Driving e-commerce growth with composable</h2>
With Salesforce Composable Storefront, Commerce Cloud customers can implement a headless commerce strategy without exposing themselves to a significant overhead or complex development issues. 
According to Salesforce, businesses can "supercharge" storefront performance and engagement with a fast, app-like site experience using its <a href="https://vuestorefront.io/pwa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">progressive web app (PWA)</a> technology, which decreases page load time and minimizes disruption for online shoppers. 
Composable Storefront can also speed time to value and reduce the total cost of ownership for headless commerce architecture with pre-packaged integrations, pricing, and accelerators in partnership with Commerce Cloud’s trusted ecosystem, which includes <a href="https://www.algolia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Algolia</a>, <a href="https://amplience.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amplience</a>, <a href="https://www.builder.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">builder.io</a>, <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contentful</a>, <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Contentstack</a>, <a href="https://constructor.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Constructor.io</a>, <a href="https://www.coveo.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coveo</a>, <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Magnolia</a>, <a href="https://osf.digital/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OSF Digital</a>, <a href="https://www.publicissapient.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Publicis Sapient</a>, <a href="https://tryzens.com/composable-storefront/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tryzens</a>, and <a href="https://www.64labs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">64Labs</a>.
Using these packages, merchants can easily build composable and engaging experiences with advanced search and content — helping reduce time spent on sourcing vendors, negotiating prices, and building custom integrations. They can also take control of the brand experience and drive differentiation by seamlessly incorporating functionality like AR, chatbots, and social media features to create rich shopping experiences. 
One of the other benefits of Composable Storefront is the ability to ship new features and updates daily with 60-second deployments. This helps eliminate risk, giving developers the freedom to iterate and add new features at any time — even during peak shopping periods. 
<h2>Changing the industry perspective and focusing on customers</h2>
Composable and headless are certainly all the rage. And for good reason: as more channels enter the mix, consumers are seeking the easiest paths to shop and purchase online – and brands want to be there at every step. Delivering an exceptional digital experience is key to converting interest into sales, and having a robust, integrated, and easy to manage platform to power ContentOps is essential to scaling the needs of a modern digital commerce program. 
While composable solutions may be complex to deploy and manage (<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">ask the MACH Alliance</a>), headless is becoming more of requirement for traditional digital experience platforms (DXPs) and agile CMSes. With Salesforce entering the game, it's a signal that some enterprises that are reliant on the platform can help simplify their growth into omnichannel strategies and leverage the capabilities of the Salesforce ecosystem, which includes Algolia, Amplience, builder.io.
Much of the demand for headless is being driven by industry trends and consumer behavior. According to the Salesforce <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State of Commerce Report</a>, the top three sectors most likely to adopt headless in the coming years are health and beauty, food and beverage, and communications and media – all of which rely on multi-channel strategies. '
<h2>Tuning into the voice of the customer</h2>
In its announcement, Salesforce offered these quotes from customers that are leveraging the Composable Storefront solution: 
“It’s important to Newell that every one of our brands has the flexibility to tell their story and seamlessly connect with customers without interruption,” said Doug Robinson, Director of Solution Architecture for Newell. “Working with the Composable Storefront allows us to focus on the consumer, providing a best-in-class experience.”
“Salesforce will help to transform the customer experience as we seek new world-class systems that will be cloud-first,” said Simon Gregg, Senior Vice President of E-commerce for grocery retailer <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2022/06/09/salesforce-asda-grocery-news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Asda</a>. “Salesforce’s technology is perfectly aligned to deliver our vision of a true and exciting omnichannel experience that will set us apart in the UK retail sector.”
<div class="main-content">
<h2 id="about-salesforce">About Salesforce</h2>
<a href="https://www.salesforce.com/">Salesforce</a> is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Founded in 1999, Salesforce enables companies of every size and industry to take advantage of powerful technologies—cloud, mobile, social, internet of things, artificial intelligence, voice, and blockchain—to create a 360-degree view of their customers.
</div>

Salesforce Unveils Composable Storefront, a Digital Commerce Solution to Help Retailers Go Headless Fast

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When compared to mammoth rivals like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> can feel... well, less interesting. 
OK, so maybe it's not as visible as its social brethren, and the stats codify this. According to a recent <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/pinterest-statistics-for-business/" target="_blank">article</a>, the image-sharing app – popular for posting recipes, home decor, and more – ranks fourteenth on a list of the world's most used social media platforms. 
Fourteenth. That seems like quite a few rungs down the social ladder. But shockingly, Pinterest's <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/463353/pinterest-global-mau/#:~:text=How%20many%20users%20does%20Pinterest,million%20international%20monthly%20active%20users." target="_blank">431 million active global users</a> still puts it ahead of Twitter.
Take that, Elon Musk.
Along with posting "pins" of paint chips and curtain fabrics, shopping is one of the top activities for Pinterest users, and the platform's expansive community has emerged as a channel for e-Commerce. Given the number of users browsing boards and perusing products and services, it makes sense that sellers might be interested in connecting their storefronts to Pinterest to peddle their wares. 
Now, <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/introducing-pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">WooCommerce</a> is giving its merchants a way to turn their product catalogs into shoppable "pins" on Pinterest, making it easier to build audiences and drive more sales. Whatever a seller might be offering – from fashion to apparel to appliances – this new feature will allow each product listing to become a shoppable pin on the platform, just like this:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/04/pinterest-product-tags-975x1024.webp" alt="Pinterest product tags" />
The companies recently <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/introducing-pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">announced</a> a strategic partnership that's designed to simplify the connection via a new integration, which will be available to WooCommerce merchants in the <a href="https://woocommerce.com/products/pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">Products section</a> of the company's website. 
"By partnering together, we provide the best integrated Pinterest shopping experience possible for WooCommerce merchants to be on the cutting edge of social commerce," said Aleksandra Bettin, VP of Business Development at WooCommerce. "WooCommerce is highly invested in our merchants' success. Merchants need the right options to reach the right audiences – this integration with Pinterest helps them do that."
<h2>Using Pinterest to drive more traffic to WooCommerce stores</h2>
The category of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-commerce.asp#:~:text=What%20Is%20Social%20Commerce%3F,retweets%2C%20likes%2C%20and%20shares." target="_blank">social commerce</a> is booming, and brands are looking for new ways to reach their audiences. While all social media platforms can help amplify traffic (both paid and organic), Pinterest has introduced some innovative features to help augment SEO. This includes a new visual search tool that makes finding customers on the platform even easier. Likewise, using pins, boards, and collections on Pinterest can drive organic traffic to a WooCommerce site. This combination gives merchants more power when it comes to expanding their reach. 
According to Pinterest's statistics, a whopping <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/audience/" target="_blank">97% of the top searches on Pinterest are unbranded</a>. That means Pinterest shoppers haven't made up their minds about specific products or brands – and they're open to learning and exploring. This is an opportunity that both WooCommerce and Pinterest have keyed in on, and are now simplifying the connection points to convert a shopper's interest into a real brand purchase. 
<h2>How to use the WooCommerce Pinterest extension </h2>
Adding the Pinterest integration to a WooCommerce store is very simple. It starts by installing the <a href="https://woocommerce.com/products/pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">Pinterest for WooCommerce extension</a>, which will upload an entire WooCommerce product catalog to Pinterest. From there, shoppable pins will appear in people's feeds as they search and browse. The extension also logs when customers interact with products on Pinterest so users can track their best-selling or most saved items. 
While some WooCommerce merchants might have already manually uploaded their catalogs to Pinterest, the company recommends switching to the new extension instead. It's the easiest and most efficient way to keep your products current on Pinterest since it automatically updates details like pricing and product availability. 
The Pinterest for WooCommerce integration is currently available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Japan will gain access later this year. 
<h2>About WooCommerce</h2>
<a href="https://woocommerce.com/" target="_blank">WooCommerce</a> is the leading open-source e-commerce platform, powering 28% of the top million online stores (BuiltWith). Built on <a href="https://wordpress.com/" target="_blank">WordPress</a>, it empowers anyone, anywhere, to sell anything with truly unlimited extensibility, flexibility, and control over how they build and evolve their business. Founded in 2011 and acquired by Automattic in 2015, WooCommerce is a fully distributed company with employees based around the world.
<h2>About Pinterest</h2>
People around the world come to Pinterest for inspiration. It's a visual inspiration platform where people find inspiring creators, shop new products, and seek out ideas to take offline. People have saved more than 330 billion Pins across a range of interests, from creating a home office, cooking a new recipe to finding your next vacation spot. Headquartered in San Francisco, Pinterest launched in 2010 and has more than 400 million monthly active users. Available on iOS and Android and at pinterest.com.

WooCommerce and Pinterest Announce Partnership, Offer New Integration for Connecting with Shoppers

Woocommerce and Pinterest logos together on a dark background

It would be impossible to cover any news this month without acknowledging <a href="https://www.economist.com/ukraine-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the crisis in Ukraine</a>. 
As many CMS and DXP vendors rely on the incredible talent and resources of the people in this region, the events of the last few weeks have hit especially close to home. Even as we publish our February recap, things continue to unfold – and our hearts go out to the people of this magnificent country.
Of course, this tragedy is evolving just as many countries are emerging from the worst of the <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/when-will-the-covid-19-pandemic-end" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Covid-19 pandemic</a>, with many businesses poised for a return to normalcy (what that looks like still remains to be seen). Still, the lasting impact of the omnichannel revolution is being felt across all digital transformation strategies, giving way to more headless, composable, API-driven solutions as companies plan for a more digital future.
When it comes to movers and shakers, 2022 is starting much the same way as 2021: with big investments.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-reaches-2-2-billion-valuation-following-175-million-investment-from-goldman-sachs/">Bloomreach</a>, a leading content and search platform focused on commerce, announced a $175 million round of funding – exploding its valuation to $2.2 billion. <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/elastic-path-secures-60m-in-funding-for-composable-commerce-growth/">Elastic Path</a> also made waves by securing $60 million in financing to grow its composable commerce solutions. We also saw <a href="https://www.pymnts.com/acquisitions/2022/ecommerce-platform-bigcommerce-acquires-software-firm-b2b-ninja/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BigCommerce</a> purchase B2B Ninja, an e-commerce platform, in an effort to energize quoting and other commerce services in their ecosystem. (Hint: we have more investment news below...)
As always, we try to recap some of the news you might have missed this month. There's a lot happening across our industry, and on a brighter note, we'll be announcing the winners of the CMS Critic Awards next week – both the People's Choice and Editor's Choice categories. We had a lot of great engagement over the last month across our social channels, and we're looking forward to sharing the results. 
<h2>Twilio Segment releases its 2022 CDP Report, finds CDPs booming as businesses look beyond cookies</h2>
We're all asking the same question: what happens to data in a post-cookie world?
Segment – a leading customer data platform (CDP) purchased by Twilio<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/twilio-acquires-segment-for-3-2b-adds-market-leading-cdp-for-building-data-driven-apps/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> in November of 2020</a> – is helping to shed some light on that query with the release of its third annual <a href="https://segment.com/the-cdp-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Customer Data Platform Report </a>(CDP).
Based on anonymized platform usage data of Segment's 25,000+ customers between 11/1/2020 to 11/1/2021, the report finds aggressive adoption of CDPs over the past year as businesses build digital-first customer engagement strategies and reduce their reliance on third-party data. 
Covid-19 shifted consumer behavior on a number of levels. In response, organizations changed how they interacted with their customers. As more digital engagements ensued, so too did the amount of data being generated. This spurred an explosive demand for CDP layers, particularly as it related to the broader CMS and DXP ecosystems.
Along with the unimaginable growth in data, the volume of API calls has also skyrocketed. <a href="https://www.postman.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Postman</a> – a leading application platform for API testing – conducted a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/postman-releases-2021-state-of-the-api-report-shows-global-trend-towards-api-first-digital-era/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> last year that showed the world is moving to an "API-first era" as integrations and endpoints expand exponentially. As an example, the API calls through Segment have been growing steadily year-over-year since 2017, but 2020-2021 was an inflection point – with API calls in their system reaching over 1 trillion per month. 
Another reason CDP popularity has rapidly exploded is the impending "death" of third-party data. With increasing privacy regulations and the shift to a cookieless future across apps and browsers, businesses are embracing first-party data as a focal point. 
Segment's findings validate that customer data has become an integral part of how organizations are powering their digital experiences. The report also lists 2021's fastest-growing apps. For more details, you can access the full report at: <a href="https://segment.com/the-cdp-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://segment.com/the-cdp-report</a>.
<h2>Headless commerce provider fabric announces $140 Million Series C funding led by SoftBank</h2>
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fabric</a>, the fast-growing headless commerce platform, announced the closing of a Series C funding round of $140M led by Softbank, with participation from Forerunner Ventures, Glynn Capital, and existing investors Redpoint Ventures Norwest Ventures, and Stripes. 
This latest round of funding closes a mere 219 days after its Series B – and now positions fabric's value at approximately $1.5B.
"Retailers need to meet modern consumers wherever they are – whether online, offline, mobile, social, or any future entry point. This means merchants of all sizes, and especially mid-market and enterprise, need the right commerce platform to keep pace with evolving trends," said Robert Kaplan, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers. "We believe that fabric has built the industry's best API-first modular commerce platform and accompanying commerce applications to give merchants unrivaled power and flexibility, all in a manner that reduces the pain of migrating over from legacy, outdated commerce platforms."
Funds from the Series C round will be utilized for accelerating product development largely through automation and intelligence and geographic expansion. 
<h2>Netlify announces Netlify Graph: A faster way for teams to develop web apps with APIs</h2>
Netlify, a Git-powered static site generator and headless CMS that's all the rage in the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Jamstack</a> community, has <a href="https://www.netlify.com/blog/announcing-netlify-graph-a-faster-way-for-teams-to-develop-web-apps-with-apis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced Netlify Graph:</a> a GraphQL-powered experience designed to help developers build interactive and connected web applications faster.
The shift to API-first development has created an ecosystem where apps are modular and reusable. While the API-first approach is developer-friendly, it has also introduced new complexities such as discovering, securing, learning, and governing APIs. Netlify's Graph is designed to make this experience easier for developers, allowing them to use APIs without writing undifferentiated glue code, learning every API's unique structure, or composing endless amounts of endpoints to get data from various APIs into your app.
Netlify Graph is in public beta and available globally. It starts with a catalog that includes some of the most frequently requested APIs that development teams use, such as GitHub, Stripe, and Salesforce. The company plans to add more in the coming months. The Netlify Graph beta is available to all Netlify users and can be accessed from your <a href="https://app.netlify.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netlify team dashboard</a>. Once logged in, simply select "Graph" from your Netlify site dashboard menu.
To learn more, head over to the <a href="https://github.com/netlify/labs/tree/main/features/graph/documentation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netlify Graph docs.</a>
<h2>BigCommerce acquires B2B Ninja to make online selling easier for B2B merchants</h2>
<a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/?utm_source=Business+Wire&amp;utm_medium=press+release&amp;utm_campaign=BigCommerce+Invests+in+Becoming+World%E2%80%99s+Most+Powerful+B2B+Ecommerce+Platform+with+Acquisition+of+B2B+Ninja" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BigCommerce</a>, a leading cloud e-commerce platform, <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/press/releases/bigcommerce-invests-in-becoming-worlds-most-powerful-b2b-ecommerce-platform-with-acquisition-of-b2b-ninja/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the acquisition of <a href="https://www.b2bninja.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">B2B Ninja</a> (formerly Quote Ninja) – an enterprise software solution that provides leading business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce capabilities for merchants of all sizes.
<a href="https://www.forrester.com/playbook/The+B2B+eCommerce+Playbook+For+2018/-/E-PLA370" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Forrester</a>, U.S. B2B e-commerce transactions are expected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2023. This is creating a groundswell of opportunity for e-commerce platform providers to deliver focused solutions to this segment of the market. A longtime BigCommerce partner, B2B Ninja brings its best-in-class quoting solution to help streamline transactions by delivering powerful e-commerce functionality to B2B merchants.
"B2B Ninja is an excellent addition to our already strong B2B capabilities," said Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce. "Complementing our recent launch of B2B Edition, this is the next big step in providing a platform that is easier to use and faster than legacy B2B solutions and more flexible and powerful than other SaaS platforms. We continue to invest in ways that make BigCommerce the best platform for merchants of all sizes regardless of who or where their customers are or where merchants are selling."
B2B Ninja is available to any BigCommerce merchant on any plan to enhance the customer experience and easily manage quotes online.

CMS Monthly Recap: Big Investment News, Segment Releases 2022 CDP Report, Netlify Graph Launches and More

Image of Alpine village on lake in Europe with text of Monthly Recap overlayed

Talk about a sonic "bloom."
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomreach</a>, a leading content and search platform focused on commerce, just made some big noise by <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en/news/2022/bloomreach-valuation-soars-to-usd2.2-billion-following-usd175-million-investment-led-by-goldman-sachs-asset-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcing</a> a $175 million round of funding, skyrocketing the company's valuation to a whopping $2.2 billion. 
The investment – which follows a massive <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/26/bloomreach-raises-150m-on-900m-valuation-and-acquires-exponea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$150 million funding round</a> in January 2021 – was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management ("Goldman Saalamogordochs"), with participation from existing Bloomreach investors Bain Capital Ventures and Sixth Street Growth. 
The size of these two infusions demonstrates some serious confidence from the street. With heavy-hitters like Goldman Sachs piling on the cash, it's clear that investors see continued opportunities in digital commerce transformation, particularly at the enterprise level. Bloomreach has made a series of smart investments along the way, giving them the heft to challenge one of the biggest e-commerce brands on the planet.
<h2>Arming brands against Amazon with personalized e-commerce</h2>
When it comes to e-commerce – or any commerce for that matter – it's impossible to ignore "The Amazon Effect." 
In the 25 years since Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com from a garage in suburban Seattle, it has grown to become the top e-commerce platform in the world. Each month, <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/amazon-statistics/#10-fascinating-amazon-statistics-sellers-need-to-know-in-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 197 million people</a> around the globe visit Amazon.com. That's more than the entire population of Russia.
Worldwide e-commerce sales <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/worldwide-ecommerce-continues-double-digit-growth-following-pandemic-push-online" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are expected</a> to reach $7.4 trillion by 2025. According to <a href="https://www.ibm.com/industries/retail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBM's U.S. Retail Index</a> data, COVID-19 has accelerated retail trends by nearly five years. E-commerce sales <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/871/online-shopping/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were skyrocketing</a> before the pandemic, and Amazon was already monopolizing most of the air in the digital room. As contactless delivery became essential during COVID lockdowns, Amazon moved into its pole position as the uncontested leader in digital customer experiences. 
<a href="https://www.mdm.com/news/operations/amazon-business-says-company-reached-25-billion-in-2020-sales/">Amazon's grasp over the e-commerce world</a> is viewed as an existential threat to many global brands. Even giants like Walmart, Apple, and Macy’s are struggling to compete with the digital heavyweight. But according to Bloomreach, brands now have a weapon to fight Amazon – giving retailers, distributors, and manufacturers a platform for delivering highly relevant and personalized digital experiences with speed and scalability.
<h2>Moving away from monolithic</h2>
According to Raj De Datta, CEO of Bloomreach, the key to competing is the move from monolithic e-commerce platforms to microservices-based architectures that empower not just the web, but all digital touchpoints. That way, enterprises can have more control over the customer experience by making it highly personalized and innovating quickly.
"It starts in the early days of the web, with Amazon and eBay, when e-commerce was in its infancy. Twenty years later, e-commerce is exactly where we would expect a 20-year-old to be — just getting started," said De Datta. "Indeed, at Bloomreach, we believe that if the first 20 years of e-commerce have been about standing up the store or simply transacting online, then the next twenty years are about standing out from the crowd, or differentiating in the face of increased digital competition and rising consumer expectation. "
<h2>Growing its Commerce Experience Cloud</h2>
Following its latest round of funding, Bloomreach plans to invest in the development of cutting-edge personalization use cases powered by its entire <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commerce Experience Cloud</a>, showcasing the differentiated power of its combined product suite. In addition, Bloomreach will invest in expanding its go-to-market teams to accelerate business growth worldwide.
Currently, Bloomreach's DXP for Commerce helps keep customers engaged, increases revenue per visit, and drives customer loyalty. The company says that the solution integrates with leading commerce platforms to form a complete e-commerce solution. Bloomreach further enhances its commerce offerings with AI-powered search, intelligent merchandising, and highly agile content management, which are fast becoming essential tools for shaping modern e-commerce experiences. 
Additionally, <a href="https://www.bloomreach.com/en/products/bloomreach-experience" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomreach Experience (brX)</a> currently drives over $200 billion in digital commerce experiences across many of the world's largest online retailers, brands, distributors, and B2B manufacturers – representing 25% of retail e-commerce in the U.S. and U.K. With Bloomreach Experience, organizations can access rich features, all powered by an API-first headless architecture. This makes it easier for brands to connect Bloomreach with their existing commerce platform and frontend technologies and avoid many of the rigors of re-platforming everything.
In 2021, Bloomreach <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-acquires-exponea-secures-150m-investment-to-power-e-commerce-saas-expansion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired Exponea</a>, a Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP), with the goal of integrating its market-leading e-commerce capabilities with Exponea's best-in-class customer data (CDP) and marketing automation capabilities. With this combination, Bloomreach appears well-poised to accelerate the creation, personalization, and optimization of powerful commerce experiences.
<h2>About Bloomreach</h2>
Bloomreach is the world’s #1 Commerce Experience Cloud, empowering brands to deliver customer journeys so personalized, they feel like magic. It offers a suite of products that drive true personalization and digital commerce growth, including: Discovery, offering AI-driven search and merchandising; Content, offering a headless CMS; and Engagement, offering a leading CDP and marketing automation solutions. Together, these solutions combine the power of unified customer and product data with the speed and scale of AI-optimization, enabling revenue-driving digital commerce experiences that convert on any channel and every journey. Bloomreach serves over 850 global brands including Albertsons, Bosch, Puma, FC Bayern München, and Marks &amp; Spencer. For more information, visit <a href="https://bit.ly/2EfrSOZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomreach.com</a>.

Bloomreach Reaches $2.2 Billion Valuation Following $175 Million Investment from Goldman Sachs

Image of rocket flying with people on top of it, next to text that reads "$175 million investment"

Forks up! We've got one more slice of news as we leave November in the rearview.
Along with the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., it was a month full of "stuffing" at the CMS and DXP table. We shared the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/postman-releases-2021-state-of-the-api-report-shows-global-trend-towards-api-first-digital-era/" target="_blank">Postman "State of the API" report</a>, which further cemented the global trend towards an API-first digital era. We also covered <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/kontent-by-kentico-aims-to-take-enterprise-headless-cms-to-a-new-level/" target="_blank">Kontent by Kentico's continued efforts to transform headless CMS</a> for the enterprise through committed innovation.
From a mergers and acquisitions perspective, November was a bit cooler than in previous months. But there was one piece of news to dish about: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/commercetools-acquires-frontastic-adds-composable-frontend-capabilities-to-headless-commerce/" target="_blank">commercetools devoured Frontastic</a>, adding composable frontend capabilities to its headless commerce offering. We'll be following the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank">headless commerce</a> sector throughout 2022 as we expect to see more consolidation, investment, and expansion – particularly as Omicron reinforces the focus on digital transformation.
Finally, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-cms-for-kubernetes-now-available-with-contract-pricing-in-aws-marketplace-for-containers-anywhere/" target="_blank">Solodev launched its CMS for Kubernetes with contract pricing</a> options in the AWS Marketplace. Announced at <a href="https://reinvent.awsevents.com/" target="_blank">AWS re:Invent</a>, this heralds a new era of container offerings, allowing users to deploy in-cloud or on-premises in almost any environment. Solodev was the only CMS in the mix to offer the new capability.
Enough on the leftovers. Here are a few more tidbits to chew on:
 
<h2>MACH Alliance announces eight newly certified companies as Global Membership nears 50</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/mach-alliance-new-members.jpeg" alt="MACH Alliance new members logos" />
The <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3366290-1&amp;h=2364601792&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.machalliance.org%2F&amp;a=MACH+Alliance" target="_blank">MACH Alliance</a>, a group of independent tech companies dedicated to advocating for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems, announced that it has certified eight new members in its ecosystem: 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.actindo.com/" target="_blank">Actindo AG</a>, a digital operations platform enabling efficient e-commerce</li>
<li><a href="https://www.appnovation.com/" target="_blank">Appnovation</a>, a global digital consultancy specializing in the design, development, and support of engaging experiences</li>
<li><a href="https://www.builder.io/" target="_blank">Builder.io</a>, a platform to visually create and optimize high-speed app and website experiences</li>
<li><a href="https://www.convictional.com/" target="_blank">Convictional</a>,  a supplier enablement platform for retailers and marketplaces</li>
<li><a href="https://www.fast.co/" target="_blank">Fast</a>, a one-click and headless checkout solution making it easier to buy and sell online.</li>
<li><a href="https://graphcms.com/" target="_blank">GraphCMS</a>, the GraphQL Content Federation System</li>
<li><a href="https://www.objectedge.com/" target="_blank">Object Edge</a>, a consultancy that builds digital experiences for enterprise B2B/B2C/D2C commerce and content</li>
<li><a href="https://www.storyblok.com/" target="_blank">Storyblok</a>, a fast-emerging headless content management system. You can check out <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/interview-headless-cms-storyblok-expands-partner-program-with-u-s-agency-campbell-ewald/" target="_blank">our interview with Barry D'Arcy</a>, VP of Partners at Storyblok.</li>
</ul>
The Alliance estimates that roughly 100,000 tech professionals around the globe are now involved with MACH. This is based on the headcounts of member companies and in-house tech teams of enterprises deploying MACH initiatives. 
The Alliance's growth comes as IT budgets are expected to rise faster in 2022 than they have in over a decade – and spending in support of flexible, composable business and IT initiatives will be prioritized as organizations struggle to be digitally agile and meet consumer demands.
"We've reached a moment of reckoning where digital leaders are realizing legacy technologies pose greater risk than reward, and the pandemic has made it more clear than ever that composable architecture is the way forward for the enterprise," said Sonja Keerl, MACH Alliance president. "Even big tech has started slowly moving in this direction, which is all the more reason why the Alliance upholds its high certification standards since MACH-washing has become increasingly common. The Alliance exists to help organizations weed through that noise and be their guide throughout their MACH journey."
MACH stands for Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless. The move towards MACH has accelerated in the past few years, leading to the start of the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank">MACH Alliance</a> in 2020. Founded by commercetools, Contentstack, EPAM Systems, Valtech, and 15 members at launch, the MACH Alliance is a non-profit cooperation focused on introducing a new, open, and best-of-breed enterprise technology ecosystem. 
Maintaining Exclusive Certification Standards
The MACH Alliance maintains the <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3366290-1&amp;h=2299048448&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmachalliance.org%2Finsights%2Fmach-certification-a-seal-of-confidence&amp;a=highest+standards" target="_blank">highest standards</a> in order for companies to become certified. The high bar provides enterprises with essentially an insurance policy that guarantees future-proof technology. Choosing a certified MACH vendor helps ensure the following:
<ul>
<li>Connectability: other applications connect easily through API</li>
<li>Scalability: cloud-native SaaS ensures seamless rolling upgrades that don't require human intervention</li>
<li>Swapability:  companies can easily add and replace software and make changes on the fly without disrupting front end UX/UI</li>
<li>Adaptability: the functionality of the software can be used with multiple front ends</li>
<li>Flexibility and Transparency: prevents vendor lock-in, allowing companies to stay in charge of their own technology and be able to respond to any situation</li>
</ul>
Gaining Investor Attention
MACH Alliance vendor members have accumulated more than $2.5 billion in funding, and the valuation of the category just by its vendors is estimated at over $20 billion.
The Alliance has played a key part in fueling this interest, with the group referred to by Forrester analyst Joe Cicman as being "...the bouncers controlling the velvet rope at the entrance of the Coolest Tech in Town Club." In his July write-up, "<a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3366290-1&amp;h=3090673364&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forrester.com%2Fblogs%2Fbuy-an-integrated-platform-not-a-box-of-rocks%2F&amp;a=Buy+An+Integrated+DXP+Platform%2C+Not+Just+A+Box+Of+Rocks" target="_blank">Buy An Integrated DXP Platform, Not Just A Box Of Rocks</a>," Cicman noted how the MACH Alliance enforces the definition of modern technology. He also reinforced the importance of composable set-ups, stating the only practical playbook today is one that is cloud-native.
Learn more at <a href="http://www.machalliance.org/" target="_blank">www.machalliance.org</a>.
<h2>GoDaddy data breach impacts over 1.2 million WordPress accounts</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/binary-g2d4825f8f_1280.jpg" alt="Hacker and binary numbers" />
Alas, there are WordPress woes in the land of GoDaddy...
In a statement released by <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609711/000160971121000122/gddyblogpostnov222021.htm" target="_blank">the Securities and Exchange Commission</a>, GoDaddy's Chief Information Security Officer Demetrius Comes said they discovered unauthorized third-party access to their managed WordPress hosting environment.
<div>Comes also stated that upon identifying this incident, they immediately blocked the unauthorized third party from their system. They have determined that beginning on September 6, 2021, the culprit used the vulnerability to gain access to the following customer information:</div>
<ul>
<li>Up to 1.2 million active and inactive Managed WordPress email addresses and customer numbers: The exposure of email addresses presents a risk of increased phishing attacks.</li>
<li>The original WordPress Admin password set at the time of provisioning: If those credentials were still in use, GoDaddy reset those passwords.</li>
<li>sFTP and database usernames and passwords for active customers</li>
<li>SSL private key for a subset of active customers: GoDaddy is in the process of issuing and installing new certificates for those affected.</li>
</ul>
<div>The investigation is ongoing and GoDaddy is contacting all impacted customers directly with specific details. If you're concerned, contact GoDaddy via their <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/help">help center</a>.</div>
 
<h2>WordPress 5.9 Release Date Gets Delayed to January 25, 2022</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/wordpress-59.jpg" alt="WordPress 5.9" />
Keeping up with WordPress version releases is a bit like playing pool with a rope. While Gutenberg gets new enhancements almost every two weeks, bigger releases are much less reliable. 
Case in point: the latest version of WordPress – 5.9 Beta – <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-9/" target="_blank">was scheduled for release</a> on November 16th. Apparently, that news was a bit premature, and the organization <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/17/wordpress-5-9-beta-1-delayed/" target="_blank">shifted the release to January 25, 2022</a>, to accommodate 5.9's new features.
Perhaps this is understandable given that WordPress is the most widely used open-source CMS on the planet. Maintaining standards is key, and even the most minor changes can impact users. That said, WordPress has a documented philosophy around development: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2010/04/20/deadlines-are-not-arbritrary-theyre-a/" target="_blank">deadlines are not arbitrary</a>. Schedules can shift if results demand it, but there's a clear focus on making commitments and sticking to timelines. 
Such is life. We hope to see 5.9 on January 25th.
What is included in WordPress 5.9?
According to WordPress, 5.9 is expected to be a ground-breaking release. It will introduce the next generation of themes with <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/06/introducing-twenty-twenty-two/" target="_blank">Twenty Twenty-Two</a> joining the party and over 30 theme blocks to build all parts of your site.
Here's a sneak peek video of 5.9:
<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XvEG9XWD4JI" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
 
<h2>commercetools Acquires Frontastic, adds composable frontend capabilities to headless commerce</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/commercetools_frontastic_featured.jpg" alt="Composite image of the commercetools and frontastic logos on a blended background" />
commercetools, a leading headless e-Commerce platform, recently <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/commercetools-acquires-frontastic-adds-composable-frontend-capabilities-to-headless-commerce/" target="_blank">announced</a> the acquisition of Frontastic, a composable frontend platform.
The purchase comes just a few months after commercetools announced a $140 million <a href="https://commercetools.com/press-releases/commercetools-secures-140m-series-c-funding-round-to-accelerate-global-growth" target="_blank">Series C funding round</a>. The company hopes it will broaden the reach of its game-changing commerce technology for creating differentiated user experiences.
"We've been partnering with the Frontastic team since the very beginning and see a huge market opportunity for their Composable Frontend Platform around the world," said Dirk Hoerig, CEO and Co-Founder of commercetools. "With this powerful combination, we're bringing the MACH (Microservices, API, Cloud, and Headless) movement to the mid-market as well as to digital business teams so that more companies can benefit from modern commerce experiences."
It's worth noting that commercetools was one of the earlier headless commerce platforms on the scene, helping to shape the modern standards for headless commerce. Their decoupled environment now enables a multitude of commerce capabilities across an ever-growing network of channels and endpoints. Like other platforms in the composable field, commercetools also embraces the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank">MACH principles</a> – providing a truly open, modular environment that enables businesses to embrace innovation and respond to change quickly.

CMS Monthly Recap: MACH Alliance Announces New Members, GoDaddy Data Breach, commercetools Acquires Frontastic, and More

Monthly Recap featured image with title text against a photo of a slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream

commercetools, a leading headless e-Commerce platform, recently announced the acquisition of Frontastic, a composable frontend platform. 
The purchase comes just a few months after commercetools announced a $140 million <a href="https://commercetools.com/press-releases/commercetools-secures-140m-series-c-funding-round-to-accelerate-global-growth" target="_blank">Series C funding round</a> – a plump investment, to be sure, and one that the company hopes will broaden the reach of its game-changing commerce technology for creating differentiated user experiences.
It's worth noting that commercetools was one of the earlier headless commerce platforms on the scene, helping to shape the modern standards for headless commerce. Their decoupled environment now enables a multitude of commerce capabilities across an ever-growing network of channels and endpoints. Like other platforms in the composable field, commercetools also embraces the <a href="https://machalliance.org/" target="_blank">MACH principles</a> – providing a truly open, modular environment that enables businesses to quickly embrace innovation and respond to change.  
"We've been partnering with the Frontastic team since the very beginning and see a huge market opportunity for their Composable Frontend Platform around the world," said Dirk Hoerig, CEO, and Co-Founder of commercetools. "With this powerful combination, we're bringing the MACH (Microservices, API, Cloud, and Headless) movement to the mid-market as well as to digital business teams so that more companies can benefit from modern commerce experiences."
commercetools has enjoyed a strong presence in Europe and North America, but their global aspirations are clear. Their expansion will undoubtedly be bolstered by their "Leader" position on <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4005295/magic-quadrant-for-digital-commerce" target="_blank">Gartner's 2021 Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce</a> – making this their second consecutive year in this coveted segment. 
<img style="max-width:487px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-commerce-2021-quadrant-graphic.png" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for digital commerce 2021 Quadrant" />
In a previous article, we featured commercetools as one of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank">our Top Headless Commerce Platforms</a>, so be sure to check that out.
<h3>What is Frontastic?</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/frontastic-header.png" alt="frontastic workflow" />
Based in Germany, Frontastic is a composable frontend platform for API-First e-Commerce and headless CMSes. It enables brands to build websites quickly and easily with headless capabilities by removing the complexity for developers – and giving business teams autonomy and flexibility. 
Frontastic combines four tools:
<ol>
<li>An API hub that includes standard integrations for commerce, content, search, and connectivity to any API.</li>
<li>Developer tooling that includes a CLI to manage components with a built-in workflow to go from development to testing to production.</li>
<li>Frontastic Studio, an easy-to-use interface that enables teams to manage pages, components, navigation, and layouts.</li>
<li>Frontend delivery via a Progressive Web App (PWA) – which provides great performance and an app-like user experience – and server-side rendering that ensures fast delivery and SEO-friendly pages.</li>
</ol>
While their combined capabilities have yet to be fully explored, the existing partnership between commercetools and Frontastic will likely enable a more efficient time to integration.
"We're excited to become part of the impressive commercetools growth story," said Thomas Gottheil, CEO, and Co-Founder at Frontastic. "We created Frontastic to help enterprises build the best shopping experiences – regardless of which commerce platform they use. By joining forces with commercetools, we can support even more brands on a global scale."
<h2>The impact of headless commerce and MACH architecture</h2>
As companies accelerated their digital transformation strategies throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the retail industry – hit hard by the shutdown of brick-and-mortar storefronts – drove the leap to digital commerce. To be sure, many organizations already had an integrated strategy for selling in both physical and online stores. However, in the throes of the pandemic, those online stores became their only channel, and they invested heavily in e-Commerce solutions that could amplify their capabilities and be quickly deployed.
You've probably heard the buzz around MACH and the evolution of composable architectures. If not, let's start with the basics: MACH is an acronym for Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. While the MACH architecture is a relatively new concept, it's quickly gaining popularity due to its modular nature – allowing businesses to compose the best tools to meet their exact business requirements and scale their experiences rapidly. 
The <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank">headless</a> approach has moved from niche to normal. While the "<a href="https://www.akana.com/blog/composable-architecture" target="_blank">composable architecture</a>" concept is much newer, it's also becoming more popular as digital transformation enters its next wave. And it makes sense: leading up to Covid, digital stacks were already becoming decoupled and less monolithic, all driven by the rise of the <a href="https://www.openapis.org/" target="_blank">open API</a>. Much of this investment in a composable enterprise is driven by the rise in composable commerce and its impact on the application landscape. 
Gartner predicts that by 2023, organizations that embrace composability will <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3986490/composable-commerce-must-be-adopted-for-the-future-of-ap" target="_blank">outpace the competition by 80%</a> in implementing new product features.
commercetools, which made the exclusive 2021 list of privately held "unicorn companies" worth over $1 billion, has experienced accelerated growth over the past year, with recent customer wins that include Alcon, Debenhams, Direct Wines, Express, LEGO, L.L. Bean, Screwfix, Volkswagen, and Zenni Optical. With the addition of the Frontastic composable frontend technology to the company's product portfolio, commercetools is building a broader set of commerce technology services to support global enterprises – and ultimately reinvent e-Commerce.
<h2>About Frontastic</h2>
Founded in 2017, Frontastic is a composable frontend platform that unites business and development teams to build amazing commerce sites on headless – fast. It connects to any API to unify tech landscapes and provides the necessary tools so commerce teams can focus on innovating new features. Within a short time, the company has successfully established itself as the new standard for commerce frontends, with its customers seeing up to 50% higher conversion rates and up to 50% faster time to market.
Find out more about Frontastic on <a href="http://www.frontastic.cloud/" target="_blank">www.frontastic.cloud</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/frontasticGmbH" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/frontastic-gmbh/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.

commercetools Acquires Frontastic, Adds Composable Frontend Capabilities to Headless Commerce

Composite image of the commercetools and frontastic logos on a blended background

Top Headless Commerce Platforms

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In the battle for digital domination, search reigns supreme – and brands are stepping up their search game.According to a survey by SearchNode, 68% of eCommerce industry leaders are improving their search functionality in 2021 and expanding the lens of their magnifying glasses. That plays directly into today's news that digital experience platform provider <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore</a> is acquiring San Mateo-based <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/">Reflektion,</a> an AI-powered digital search solution that understands and predicts patterns, context, and needs – so brands can convert more shoppers into buyers.The addition of Reflektion's technology will enable Sitecore to better engage, educate, and empower shoppers to make purchase decisions faster – increasing buyer confidence, long-term revenue, and overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.The acquisition – a continuation of Sitecore’s epic <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-embarks-on-1-2b-investment-plan-to-accelerate-growth/">$1.2 billion growth plan</a> – will help marketers solve the information overload that is characteristic of traditional search solutions, which can impede a customer's ability to find and select the products they're looking for.When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webfx.com/seo/statistics/#:~:text=When%20people%20go%20online%20to,search%20engine%20to%20guide%20them.">93% of all online experiences start with search</a>, it's fair to say that it's essential to the customer buying journey. Reflektion elevates the value of search by transforming it into a conversational, guided experience that provides more personal, accessible, and tailored answers for the customer. “Search is about more than just entering words into a box and hoping for the right results – it is the cornerstone of a digital experience," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/">Steve Tzikakis</a>, CEO, Sitecore. "With Reflektion, a brand can add various types of search including personalized search, preview search, conversational search, and voice search. This reduces customers’ effort and anxiety to find exactly what they need – with more convenience and speed – and leads to increased customer satisfaction with more conversions and revenue. Acquiring Reflektion reinforces Sitecore’s position as the leader in digital experience technologies that meets customers at the moment with more relevant, intuitive, and human experiences.”<h2>Elevating the E-commerce Experience with AI</h2>Reflektion brings an array of complementary commerce, AI, and personalization capabilities to Sitecore, which will further augment the DXP's acquisition of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/">Four51,</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/">Boxever</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-moosend-adds-ai-powered-email-marketing-automation/">Moosend</a>. Together, this nexus of data and deep learning technologies will allow Sitecore to seamlessly deliver intelligent, personalized, real-time information across channels.Four51’s API-first, headless e-commerce solution enables organizations to quickly and easily deliver engaging shopping experiences, helping them improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. Four51’s feature set complements their existing B2C commerce capabilities while the Customer Data Platform (CDP) Boxever enhances customer intelligence with AI-driven personalization tools – making it easy to capture, unify and activate customer data and deliver personalized experiences at scale.With a robust stack powering their growth across data and digital commerce, search presents an ideal channel for connecting and expanding Sitecore's breadth of capabilities – and Reflektion delivers on that vision.“Since its inception eight years ago, Reflektion has become recognized for its unique approach to search-product discovery technology," said Amar Chokhawala, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Reflektion. "Our technology uses AI to adjust each consumer’s digital experience, in the moment, based on diverse data from multiple channels. I am proud of the passionate team at Reflektion who has been successful in bringing our AI-first approach to many site-search deployments for large e-commerce and retailers’ websites. With Sitecore, the Reflektion team and customers will be able to continue to leverage the enhancement of digital experiences, leading to continued growth and results for all.”The acquisition is expected to close in September 2021.<h2>Ramping Up the Competition</h2>Sitecore fired a "shot heard 'round the DXP world" last January when it announced its ambitious $1.2 billion growth strategy – which brewed speculation amongst competitors and analysts alike.While the mature market player celebrated its fourth year in a row as a Leader on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a>, it fell slightly behind both Acquia and Episerver (now Optimizely). <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/01/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms-2021.png" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms-2021" /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/resources/forrester-wave-agile-cms-2021-report/">Forrester’s Q1 Wave Report for Agile CMSes</a> paints a similar picture. Since 2019, Sitecore has elevated its Strong Performer status, now straddling the fence of the Leaders circle with a wider market presence. But like the Gartner MQ, they are lagging behind Acquia and Optimizely.With the acquisition of Boxever, Four51, Moosend, and now Reflektion, Sitecore seems poised to pounce. As competition heats up at the highest level of the enterprise, CMS and DXP players are accelerating their investment in innovation – and buying up the missing pieces to their platform puzzle. With consumers relying more on AI-driven voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, the channel opportunities for search are expanding in dynamic ways. Sitecore's bid to stay top-of-mind and top-of-market will require more than acquisitions. But their stack is looking more like a vision – and that's what every platform is searching for.<h2>About Sitecore</h2>Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.<h2>About Reflektion</h2>Reflektion’s Digital Commerce Experience Platform for eCommerce and Retail listens to the behaviors of each individual shopper, utilizes <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence-ai/">Artificial Intelligence</a> to calculate their preferences and intent, and then responds to every moment-to-moment interaction by displaying the most relevant content and products in real-time and across the digital touchpoints that matter most—including preview and site search, product recommendations, category and <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/landing-page/">landing pages</a>, and email.Leading retail brands such as Skechers, Ulta, Reeds, Petco, Ascena and RiteAid rely on Reflektion’s platform.Founded by pioneers in Artificial Intelligence and awarded both the Best eCommerce Solution and Best Overall Business Technology Solution by SIIA in 2019, Reflektion combines individual shopper insights, product intelligence, and <a target="_blank" href="https://reflektion.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence-ai/">AI</a> to create more relevant and impactful eCommerce experiences.

Sitecore Acquires AI-Powered Search Platform Reflektion

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