Introducing Stencil from Bigcommerce – Frontend & Theme Development Framework
29 Feb 2016
The world of eCommerce will continue to grow through 2018. According to Forrester Research, eCommerce sales may reach the figure of $414 billion in 2018. On a similar note, eMarketer predicts a figure of $491.5 billion for the same.
This growth is both a blessing and a challenge for retail businesses who want to ride the waves of online selling. As competition heats up, merchants must focus on building world-class eCommerce solutions and experiences not just for consumers but also for enterprises. The rising demand for online retail can make it difficult for new businesses to keep up. This makes it all the more essential for retailers to have the right eCommerce platform and storefront design that can keep customers happy and engaged.
Bigcommerce, is one of the leading eCommerce platforms out there. Powering some of world’s biggest brands like Martha Stewart, Toyota and Payless ShoeSource, it has quickly gained popularity due Bigcommerce design services and its robust framework. As a part of continuously improving the platform, it has recently announced ‘Stencil’.
What is Stencil?
Stencil by Bigcommerce provides a novel approach in designing front-end and theme development on the Bigcommerce platform. With Stencil acting as the theming engine, you can create flexible, attractive and powerful storefronts. In addition, merchants get access to multiple variations of each theme and can customize their store’s look and feel, minus the hassle of coding.
Stencil by Bigcommerce
Here some of the major components and features of Bigcommerce Stencil:
- Stencil Framework & Developer Toolkit: This toolkit empowers developers to create and iterate themes locally, along with complete access to the necessary benefits but without causing an impact on the business’s already live storefront.
- Theme Marketplaces: External, 3rd party marketplaces allow developers to distribute themes to numerous sellers. The Bigcommerce Stencil themes will be available in Bigcommerce Marketplace for partners in 2017. This gives designers and their agencies enough time to set up a profitable business model on the basis of theme creation and conversion on Stencil.
- Theme Editor: The theme editor is a browser-based, graphical tool that helps businesses quickly customize the look and feel of their themes and their store’s function, without any coding. The theme developer’s configuration preferences determine what aspects of the theme can the merchants customize and the range of choices they have.
- Storefront Customization: Retailers/Businesses get themes, apply them to online storefronts and customize them based on their needs. This helps them create a rich user experience that echoes their brand identity and makes it simple for their customers to locate and buy the products required.
The design of a retail business’s site has a direct and significant impact on its revenue. By announcing Stencil, Bigcommerce has further emphasized the importance of design and user experience. Enterprises need to understand that both these elements greatly influence customer behavior and how they navigate an online store. When the ultimate goal is to convert site visitors to paying customers, Stencil will definitely make the process easier for merchants.
Are you facing issues in keeping your customers engaged? Or are you planning to redesign your eCommerce store? Rishabh Software is Bigcommerce Solutions Partner, helping many small & medium enterprises to implement Bigcommerce and design beautiful storefronts.
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