“Right tool for the job”, it’s a phrase you’ll hear in any field. I mean, really, who wants to use the wrong tool for the job? The phrase can mean different things to different people, sometimes it means you’re using a new framework that is purpose-built for your task and sometimes it means using a tried and true method your team is familiar with and operates quickly with. It’s not always obvious to know when you’re using the right or wrong tool and explaining that to company leaders can be difficult, especially when budgets will be increased or a project will take longer.
When we look at blogging or even content management WordPress is a tool you’re going to hear recommended again and again. The WordPress team and plugin authors have done a fantastic job bringing WordPress from a simple blogging tool all the way into a full-blown CMS and even ecommerce platform. WordPress just doesn’t compare to a fit-for-purpose ecommerce platform like Shopify or Magento and for businesses looking to lead their market they need a tool that was designed with their goals in mind. If you’re using WordPress for a news site it’s the right tool for the job, for ecommerce, it’s the wrong tool.
Shopify is leading the way in ecommerce with tooling for content authors, business leaders and developers. Everyone is happy with what they can get out of Shopify when it comes to ecommerce. The platform’s API has led to incredible apps and enabled business intelligence and process to flourish. When it comes to editing the content sections of Shopify that’s where things can become difficult. Shopify excels at managing products, orders and customers but content pages just isn’t a high priority for them. Shopify is the right tool for ecommerce but the wrong tool for content sites.
An idea that is gaining popularity and growing incredibly quickly is the JAMstack. The JAM part stands for: JavaScript, APIs and Mark up, simply put it’s all about making sure you’re using the right tool for the job at all points in the development process. We can leverage Shopify’s API to empower a business’ ecommerce capability while using a headless CMS like Strapi or Contentful to manage content that stands out from the crowd and engages customers now and in the future. This isn’t a far off dream, it’s something happening in the world today.
Now that brands are wanting content to drive their messaging alongside powerful ecommerce platform integrations, we need a new “right tool for the job” and that’s something the JAMstack is here to do.
