Ecommerce cloud CMS: Putting an ecommerce CMS in the cloud

Speed and agility can take you from being ‘the hunted’ to being ‘the hunter’. Cheetahs and panthers, for example, are among the most agile in the animal kingdom. Their speed and agility help them zig when their prey zags and can make the difference between going hungry or having enough food to last the week.

In the business world, speed and agility are just as crucial and, in the most extreme cases, can also mean the difference between life and death for a brand. So how can businesses achieve that speed and agility? Many have achieved it by moving their operations to the cloud.

Retail brands have enjoyed tremendous growth via ecommerce over the last few years, and the cloud has played a huge role in that growth. But there is still room for improvement, for example, by combining content and commerce with the help of an ecommerce CMS. But what happens when you put an ecommerce CMS in the cloud? Here’s all you need to know about an ecommerce cloud CMS.

An ecommerce cloud CMS is an ecommerce CMS that is hosted in the cloud. It combines the features of an ecommerce CMS with the functionality of a cloud CMS. An ecommerce CMS manages the content for an ecommerce website, including everything from product pages and descriptions to promotions and marketing campaigns.

Omnichannel shopping has become the expectation for many customers as they browse the web on multiple devices. They want to buy their favorite products there as well. Brands need to find new ways to enhance that shopping experience, and an ecommerce CMS can help.

A cloud CMS is a content management system that can be accessed without downloading any software. Complete with all its features and content assets, it is located in the cloud, replacing on-premises solutions. With a cloud-based CMS, you don’t need to worry about hosting; instead, you can leverage the managed services provided by the vendor.

An ecommerce cloud CMS allows brands to create and manage all of their commerce content while maintaining the security, scalability, and flexibility benefits of a cloud-based system.

Brands yet to leverage the benefits of the cloud might wonder why they should consider adopting a cloud-first strategy. Here are a few reasons why:

Legacy on-premises infrastructure has become outdated as many companies have embraced digital transformation. Hosting critical software systems like an ecommerce CMS in the cloud enables brands to keep up with the competition, future-proof their business, and publish content at scale.

Cloud-based systems enable your business to be more adaptable. Moving to the cloud is almost a requirement for modern enterprises to cope with rising customer expectations and changes in market conditions.

To learn more about the benefits of a cloud CMS, check out 21 reasons to switch to a cloud-based CMS solution.

Some of the key features you need to look for when considering an ecommerce cloud CMS include:

The main selling point of any ecommerce cloud CMS is that it is cloud-based. With hosting in the cloud, you can leverage the various benefits it offers for speed to market, security, collaboration, scalability, and more.

An ecommerce cloud CMS sits at the heart of the MarTech stack, so it should integrate smoothly with other tools, such as the commerce platform and CRM.

A headless CMS can be beneficial for many businesses. It separates the frontend presentation layer from the backend to allow for management flexibility and content delivery to multiple channels. However, non-technical users shouldn’t suffer when going headless, so marketer-friendly features are a must. A hybrid-headless CMS doesn’t force you to choose between headless and traditional content management. Instead, it gives you a choice between the two on a project-by-project basis.

Content authors need easy-to-use features such as WYSIWYG editing and content previews in a visual interface that gives them the same functionality as a traditional CMS, allowing them to be productive without depending on developers.

Enterprise-level security features such as multi-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO) are crucial to ensure no one gets unauthorized access to the CMS.

Hosting an ecommerce CMS in the cloud enables businesses to tap into several benefits of both an ecommerce CMS and a cloud CMS. A few of them are:

Brands can go to market faster with an ecommerce cloud CMS. Developers don’t need to worry about managing infrastructure. Instead, they can focus on building new frontend experiences for different channels. At the same time, marketers can create engaging campaigns that convert more customers.

With an ecommerce cloud CMS, brands can improve their customers’ shopping experience. Fast omnichannel shopping is possible thanks to a headless architecture, making the customer happier and more connected.

The cloud enables businesses to scale resources up and down to meet demand. Brands don’t need to be overwhelmed when a surge of traffic hits their website because their on-premises servers can’t handle it. Instead, they can make adjustments as required.

Typically, implementing on-premises systems takes a long time compared to cloud deployments. Speed is crucial to a modern enterprise, and a cloud-based ecommerce CMS can be set up in days rather than months like an on-premises CMS.

The startup costs for a cloud ecommerce CMS are lower than an on-premises platform. There is no need to invest in expensive hardware to get up and running. In most cases, a subscription fee covers all costs.

A cloud-based ecommerce CMS gives companies the advantages of speed and adaptability. This is true for both B2C businesses and B2B organizations. When you add a headless architecture, easy integrations, and user-friendly content authoring tools, the sky’s the limit for creating ecommerce experiences that convert.

Magnolia’s digital experience platform provides all of those features. With Magnolia, you can create better commerce experiences using our hybrid-headless CMS and its features.

Content authors benefit from a visual interface with WYSIWYG editing and other user-friendly features. Developers can leverage the frontend-agnostic system and our Headless Accelerator to build digital experiences for any shopping channel.

We can deploy Magnolia in the cloud as PaaS or SaaS. You also have the option to host it yourself if you prefer your existing IaaS.

Learn more about what an ecommerce cloud CMS like Magnolia can do for your ecommerce experiences: More Success in B2B E-commerce.