BigCommerce Launches Catalyst Storefront Technology: Revolutionizing Ecommerce Experiences for Swift Deployments

BigCommerce, a prominent player in the ecommerce industry listed on Nasdaq under BIGC, has introduced a game-changing advancement. They unveiled Catalyst, their cutting-edge storefront technology, aligning with their commitment to empower fast-growing B2C and B2B brands. This innovation, also a member of the esteemed MACH Alliance, promises to revolutionize the landscape of ecommerce experiences, particularly in terms of rapid deployments.

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Catalyst is meticulously designed to cater to the distinct needs of mid-market and enterprise-level B2C and B2B brands and retailers. It serves as a simplified starting point, allowing BigCommerce customers, ecommerce developers, and agency partners to construct online stores effortlessly using a composable architecture. Drawing from over 4,000 existing headless implementations, Catalyst amalgamates popular headless technologies and proven best practices into a reference storefront, aiming for Google Lighthouse scores of 100 out-of-the-box. This unparalleled user experience establishes an exceptionally high standard for shopper UX and conversion rates, positioning brands for success from the outset.

According to Brent Bellm, the CEO of BigCommerce, “Catalyst introduces BigCommerce’s reference composable architecture, equipping developers with the most preferred, highest performing technology, and brand users with the world’s best no/low-code Next.js visual editor.” He further adds, “This new reference architecture serves as a composable starter kit to help customers launch faster and with greater success. Our partners now have a simplified gateway to offer their clients a comprehensive ecommerce solution that easily unlocks the full potential of composability on the BigCommerce platform.”

An integral component of Catalyst is Makeswift, a composable page builder for websites built on the widely used Next.js framework. BigCommerce acquired Makeswift in the fourth quarter of 2023. Makeswift simplifies the visual administration of storefronts and content pages, accommodating content from DXP and CMS providers like Amplience, Contentful, Contentstack, Strapi, WordPress, as well as search-and-merch solutions such as Algolia and Bloomreach.

Alan Pledger, co-founder of Makeswift, emphasized, “Catalyst enables brands and retailers to create incredible customer experiences faster, and we’re looking forward to helping customers drastically reduce their time to market with this new set of tools.”

Makeswift, employed by BigCommerce for its own composable website, functions as a standalone no-code website builder for lightweight sites and blogs or as a part of a composable tech stack for more complex websites.

Guillermo Rauch, founder and CEO of Vercel, hailed Catalyst as the solution for empowering developers looking to quickly create incredible storefronts. He emphasized that Catalyst optimizes for flexibility, performance, and faster time to ship, aligning perfectly with Vercel’s vision of providing faster, more personalized shopping experiences.

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In the development of Catalyst, BigCommerce collaborated closely with agency partners specializing in composable commerce, including 10up, AmericanEagle.com, Apply Digital, EPAM, Huge, Mira Commerce, Orium, Space 48, VML, and ZaneRay. Everett Zufelt, vice president of product & partnerships at Orium, highlighted the significance of Catalyst in providing choice and flexibility to brands and retailers, enabling them to capitalize on innovations and meet evolving customer expectations.