User experience is imperative to any Shopify store. The way the customer navigates and interacts can greatly impact as to whether they decide to purchase, or look elsewhere. One of the key factors in the user journey is how fast the site loads. If a site has a slow site speed, chances are they will go to another site that is quicker, as busy shoppers do not have the time to sit and wait for load. Therefore, it is critical that Shopify Merchants maximise site speed.
Research has shown that the slower the site, the higher the bounce rate, as is shown with the below statistics gathered from Section.io:
The challenge for Shopify merchants lies in achieving this much needed speed, whilst building a store to be equipped for the changes and advancements that lie ahead in 2021 and beyond. Using tools that tap into the benefits of headless commerce can do this, but selecting the right one is a key decision to be made.
Who is Shogun?
Shogun is known for being one of the leading store building apps available for Shopify. During their 5 years of business, they have already achieved over 15,000 customers. Their app, Page Builder, allows Shopify merchants to easily drag and drop their pages to completely redesign the look of their store.
The ‘Headless Commerce’ approach adopted by Shogun is when the front and back ends of an ecommerce application are separated. This gives the merchant the freedom to build their store using any design they would like to, to make this personal and adaptable to their brand. Shogun have designed their latest product to do just that. Aptly named ‘Frontend’, this allows Shopify merchants the freedom to design the front of their store in any way they wish.
What is Shogun Frontend?
The main aspect of Frontend is that it can completely redesign the store to exactly how you would like this to look. It continues to use Shopify backend for PIM, logistics, financials, billing, etc. and then Shogun takes over the store front for the visual experience, so what the shopper sees. The impact of this is that it is guaranteed to change conversion rates and user experiences for the better. Using advanced web-app technology, known as ‘Progressive Web Apps’, features of the site are enhanced to create a personalised user experience.
In terms of Shopify, Frontend means that merchants no longer have to use the Shopify platform to manage the entire shopping experience. The headless approach means that merchants can now use the features of Frontend for the visual experience, with the help of the tools from Shopify, making a perfect combination of the two. So whilst Shopify takes care of the facilitation of the sales side, Frontend can focus on the design.
We asked Jake Silverman, the Partnerships Manager at Shogun, why they decided to create Frontend?
"With the trend in mobile ecommerce, we wanted to create a seamless shopping experience for brands. Speed and site performance are key. Shogun Frontend turns websites into a sub-second shopping experience using progressive web technology and giving brands better performance and better conversion rates."
What are the benefits of Shogun Frontend?
The key benefits of Shogun Frontend are:
- Frontend is incredibly easy to use. Shogun wanted to make it as simple as possible for merchants to be able to design themselves, without hiring experts to do this.
- Frontend improves site speed, and can make loading times for both desktop and mobile instant, which greatly enhances the user journey, giving them a positive view of the company from the offset.
- The store design is easy to navigate using the ‘Experience Manager’ mode. With this, merchants can design from the point of view of their customers, and pre-built page sections can be chosen so there is no need to invest in an experienced coder to re-do the site.
- The app comes complete with a Content Management System, which allows changes to be made from one single location. It also easily integrates with Shopify to ensure you can keep your previous ecommerce platform, so there is no need to start the site again from scratch.
Why does Shogun Frontend provide an advantage over other methods of going headless?
Frontend is a type of headless solution that is especially geared towards a mobile ecommerce experience. The use of Progressive Web Apps can turn any ecommerce store into a sub-second shopping experience with less than a 1 second page load time using PWA technology.
It is extremely flexible, and empowers the marketing and merchandising teams to build and edit pages visually within the Experience Manager. Currently, other headless CMS technologies are unable to do this, so it is the first of its kind.
What does the Blend team think about Shogun Frontend?
But don’t just take my word for it. I asked two of the pivotal members of the Blend team their thoughts on how Shogun Frontend will benefit Shopify merchants.
Peter Gardner, Blend COO
Q. ‘What initially excites you about Shogun Frontend and how do you think it can help our clients?
A. When first seeing Shogun Frontend I was extremely impressed with how this could help improve the user experience with super fast internal page to page navigation - it is lightning fast! After looking at some of the other features more closely, I can also see how awesome this is as an additional content management tool helping you further extend the standard content areas of Shopify and letting you create large quantities of unique, heavily designed static, collection and product pages.
Angelika Klimek, Blend Technical Developer
Q. Do you think Shogun Frontend will change the way you develop in the future?
A. Definitely! It will be a massive change in our development process. Shogun uses different technology than we are used to, and the results already are incredible. Currently all our code is stored on our local machines and on GitHub repositories and with Shogun we can continue to develop our design processes directly into Frontend. I am looking forward to starting developing in Shogun Frontend as I see this as a brilliant opportunity to improve our programming skills.
How to find out more about Shogun Frontend
Blend will shortly be releasing more details about our work with Shogun Frontend, but to get more information now, please register your interest using the form below:
Contact Shogun for a demo on the following link: https://getshogun.com/frontend/request-a-demo
