When was the last time you thought about storytelling? Perhaps while binge-watching your favorite streaming series or when you were inspired by a shopfront’s window dressing? While browsing your and other websites?
Most business buyers prefer to research purchase options online, as do many shoppers. No wonder online retail sales in the U.S. rose by 32.4% in 2020—an impressive gain of $105 billion.
For B2B and B2C businesses, text-heavy websites are no longer adequate in attracting shoppers. Instead, engaging visual media—spin images, videos, 3D models, augmented reality—are becoming a must for conveying eye-catching details and differentiators about products or services.
Recently, Cloudinary’s Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution was named a leader of the top 15 global vendors in the DAM Vendor Selection Matrix™ produced by Research in Action GmbH, excelling in strategy, execution, price versus value, and breadth. The matrix also awarded Cloudinary an outstanding recommendation index of 98%.
Headless is not a buzzword anymore. In fact, the concept of headless architecture is gaining momentum due to the flexibility it offers for composing new experiences and for tackling the undue complexity of an ever-evolving technology stack. That’s because while the evolution of the martech landscape has enabled disruptive, digital innovations, the approach of buying point solutions for solving specific challenges can expose companies to the complicated nature of new technologies, systems, and platforms.
Every year in early February, after closing our fiscal year, we discuss the year that was during our monthly All Hands meeting. This year we reflected on a year unlike any other.
It was a year in which the unimaginable became our shared reality. Together, as a global collective, with our families, customers and partners, we Zoomed and pushed and pulled together in ways we had not had to do before.
As online interactions multiply exponentially, visual media has become the most significant venue for delivering the benefits of what used to be in-person contacts. With this in mind, companies have completely shifted their digital strategies for consumer experiences, taking a media-first approach in how they interact and engage.
While COVID has affected most businesses, it has been particularly hard on those that sell products for the physical ‘brick and mortar’ world. One company that literally fits that bill is our Australian customer James Hardie, the largest global manufacturer of fibre cement products used in both domestic and commercial construction. These are materials that its buyers ideally want to see up close, in detail. When customers have questions, they expect personal service.
How many vendor solutions do you rely on for a superior user experience for your e-commerce site? How many tools do you use to manage the site? What services are used to manage media files, email marketing, digital ads, customer service, text messages, and the search feature?
You’ve likely heard of the increasingly popular catchphrase headless architecture in technical or marketing discussions vis-a-vis building a martech stack for headless e-commerce. You might also understand the headless concept of open APIs and their benefits. However, as impressed as you might be by the architecture’s advantages, you hesitate to look into the related applications for adoption because they require more expertise to manage than the standard ones in an all-in-one e-commerce platform.
Babolat, headquartered in Lyon, France, is the oldest international brand specializing in racquet sports. It’s tennis, badminton, and padel equipment are used by many of the world’s best players and sports enthusiasts. Since the invention of natural gut strings for racquets in 1875, Babolat continued its long-standing tradition of innovation in support of players and the game by continuously adding racquet-sport equipment to its product portfolio.