Storyblok have announced the findings from its Enterprise eCommerce Leader Report: EMEA 2023. The report examines data from 3,583 eCommerce companies in the EMEA regions that have 100+ employees and revenue above $10 million.
The data reveals that the top five monolithic CMSs perform poorly in Google Lighthouse speed and performance scores. Websites built on these CMSs achieving a maximum average performance score of 34.6. Google defines a score of below 50 as ‘poor’, between 50-89 as ‘needs improvement’ and above 90 as ‘good’. Low scores have a negative impact on responsiveness and visual stability, which makes websites more difficult to use and decreases conversion rates.
Research Summary
- WordPress, Salesforce, and Drupal are the most common CMSs in that order. Lower revenue organisations tend to use WordPress, while those on the upper-end prefer Salesforce.
- Higher revenue brackets tend to use more than one CMS. However, they generate similar Lighthouse scores to those with a single CMS. This suggests that monolithic CMSs are not versatile enough for larger enterprises and fail to scale.
- The top 5 most popular monolithic CMSs perform poorly when it comes to Lighthouse speed scores and Lighthouse performance scores. They range from only 14 to 32.6. The result is slow loading times, reaching as high as 13.3 seconds time to interactive.
Notable report findings:
- Adding content in a second language significantly increases the growth rate of traffic: adding 1 to 3 extra languages can lead to up to a 26% growth rate in a 3-month period and a 24% growth rate in a 6-month period. Storyblok suggest users may want to capitalize on this opportunity with powerful localisation and personalisation features.
- As traffic grows, eCommerce companies are more likely to use multiple CMSs, with the average monthly traffic of those using 1 CMS being 2,678,933 and those using 2 CMSs being 4,303,393. This leads to siloed content that presents obstacles for omnichannel marketing.
- The top 5 monolithic CMSs all perform poorly in terms of Time to Interactive, ranging from 9.5 to 13.3 seconds
- The most popular frontend technologies are: 1. React, 2. Vue, 3. Angular.
- The most common eCommerce platforms are: 1. Magento, 2. Salesforce Commerce Cloud, 3. Shopify.
Dominik Angerer, Co-Founder and CEO of Storyblok, said: “Monolithic CMSs prevent eCommerce companies from delivering and evolving the digital experiences customers deserve. Headless content management not only allows for dramatically increased speed and performance. It also opens up endless possibilities for the channels you can use to reach your customers.”
Enterprise Times: What this means for business.
Technology is an ever-changing field. While this may make staying up to date with trends important, it is not necessarily easy. This is especially true as businesses emerge into a post-pandemic world. According to the US International Trade Administration, the spike in B2C eCommerce that we saw when the pandemic hit isn’t going anywhere. On the contrary, it’s set to continue growing well into 2024. Traffic may be booming, but that doesn’t mean enterprises can ease up on their strategies. Inevitably, they will be competing with countless other companies looking to grow their share of the pie. That means having the most capable system will be key to get consumer attention and gaining revenue. If brands and retailers are not ready, there’s a very real chance of being left in the dust. All markets are extremely competitive with consumer tastes and attitudes changing rapidly.
The main analysis from Storyblok’s data is not surprising. Monolithic CMSs are obstacles to speed and omnichannel strategies. The reason this report focuses on monolithic systems is that they still have the majority share of the CMS market. Storyblok’s asserts that the technology is outdated. The company argues that traditional CMSs fail to create better content experiences across the increasing variety of digital channels. However, both Salesforce and Adobe have embraced the API-based, microservice development approach to their platforms. This will make the impending battle between the new kids on the block such as Storyblok and traditional vendors interesting. Essential front row seat viewing over the next year or two.
