Story of AMS - New age eCommerce

Think back on your last few online purchases, what do they have in common? Do you notice any similarities in the process, experience, and journey? You definitely did, due to the over-saturation of the eCommerce sector, which has not only flooded the web but also similar to a virus, they have all duplicated themselves almost identically. The unfortunate bystander and eventual victim of this ‘sea of sameness’ is you, the end user. Fortunately, in beautiful, sunny Amsterdam there is a revolutionary web development agency which is fighting in your corner everyday to break through the lackluster eCommerce environment that litters the internet today - and they’re doing it in style.

Story of AMS is an award-winning digital agency that specializes in the field of e-commerce and helps brands with strategy, design, development, and (video) content production, founded in 2016. At the moment, the team counts 30+ talents and works for clients like Signify, Intersport, Nestlé, Lucas Bols & Nike.

New Age eCommerce Rules

There’s been a big debate going on recently. What comes first, content or design? Should your content support and empower your design or vice versa? Over the past few years, Story of AMS have learned that to develop a standout eCommerce experience, content creation should lead, and design should follow. Simply put, a consumer doesn’t purchase products because a website happens to look good, but because they are convinced by the value proposition and content put before them.

While Story of AMS have found their side of the debate, another issue they’ve discovered is the issue of the ‘sea of sameness.’ Most eCommerce experiences nowadays are cut from the same cloth, and provide virtually identical experiences. To compete in today’s market, Story of AMS have made it their responsibility to set themselves apart from competition, by building unique, content-driven experiences for their clients.

eCommerce is about creating the easiest path to purchase for the consumer. From the beginning, Story of AMS not only want to understand the wishes of their clients but equally important the wishes of the customers of their clients.

Story of AMS has also revolutionized ‘data-driven design’ by teaming up with the Baymard Institute, an organisation that has conducted over 71,000+ Hours of UX Research. Baymard helps Story of AMS uncover what designs cause usability issues, how to create “State of the Art” user experiences, and measure how UX performance stacks up against other leading eCommerce sites.

Bringing it with Bols

When the pandemic hit, it changed most of people’s lives and a lot of business models. Bols, Dutch distiller and distributor of alcoholic beverages, had to think fast on their feet to innovate and keep up with the shift in the industry, as all revenue streams previously towards bars, restaurants, and the airline industry halted, towards a more consumer-based approach.

Coincidentally, Bols were also looking to expand to the United States, and approached Story of AMS to create a new customer journey and experience to adapt to the market shift.

The agency convinced Bols to move from an all-in-one suite mindset to a Shopify and Storyblok headless CMS migration where they could collaboratively cherry-pick the best technologies and services for flexibility to fit with their needs to scale globally. Thus began the journey of going from a static side website to a super-dynamic server-side CMS eCommerce system made for the future.

“We want to give our customers the best flexibility and set up, and that’s why with Storyblok’s CMS, it’s perfect for brands looking to manage their marketing activities and campaigns independently.” -Doeke Leeuwis, Founder & Technical Director at Story of AMS.

The feedback from Bols was that they were happy with Storyblok’s flexibility towards their content, which allowed them to produce content-rich storytelling on their products where they could not only sell just their products but also sell moments and experiences.

Guided selling with the Perfect Product Finder

eCommerce is predominantly a search-focused experience, resulting in low conversion rates. IDue to this, Story of AMS strongly believes in guided selling, which is all about helping your customers find the products they need. With the Perfect Product Finder, a Shopify app created by Story of AMS, you can transform any eCommerce website into a helpful, personalized, and conversational experience. Users of the app can create their own product quizzes, a sequence of questions, that help customers narrow down their wishes. Based on their answers, customers get suggested products that fit their needs.

Partner of the Month

Story of AMS is paving the way for the new, modern-age eCommerce experience, by changing the format, breaking the norms, and disrupting the rules of traditional consumer journeys. The company’s innovation and leadership in the sector make them Storyblok’s Partner of the Month for October, with Story’s of AMS’ very own Sam Van Hees joining our VP of Partners, Barry D’Arcy, on TheNextWeb Conference on September 30th & October 1st.