Last week we handed over the first IC 2.0 sites to our initial group of ABA member stores, and they are hard at work populating their new sites with content. While working on their new sites, these stores have been providing our developers and support staff with invaluable feedback and suggestions.
As a result of their insights, the IndieCommerce development team and our project partners from Lullabot have pushed out some excellent new features and improvements. As each of these is completed by the development team, they then undergo extensive testing prior to the new code being merged back into each store’s 2.0 website.
Each of these code changes makes the new IndieCommerce 2.0 platform a better business tool for our members and a better experience for their online customers. As these first bookstores progress on building out their new IC 2.0 websites, the volume of requested changes to code should begin to taper off as the new platform evolves.
We’ll begin to move more stores over to 2.0 as the volume of code changes decreases. We expect to move an increased number of stores to 2.0 in mid-September and accelerate through the end of October 2022. We will pause in November and December for the holiday shopping season, and then resume migrating stores at the start of January 2023.
It’s really exciting to see how user feedback from stores is directly impacting improvements to the new platform. By starting with less complex stores and using that data to improve in real time, we can pass on these benefits to every store and all stores can experience an even more improved 2.0.
When can your store begin the transition to IndieCommerce 2.0?
As mentioned above, there’s a lot going on right now. We want to support these new stores as they make their move. We cannot currently give specific onboarding dates, but we are transitioning stores to 2.0 as quickly as we can. Over the coming weeks, the IndieCommerce team will be reaching out to stores who have completed and submitted the IndieCommerce 2.0 Onboarding Request Form. As the IndieCommerce team works through that list, we are prioritizing the following store types for transition to 2.0:
- Stores that are currently on the IndieLite platform
- Stores that are currently on IndieCommerce that do not need advanced features
- Stores not currently hosted on IndieCommerce or IndieLite that do not need advanced features
Stores that need advanced IndieCommerce features such as: exporting their in-store inventory into their website via POS (LSI), Selling custom products on their website, or POS integration with their IndieCommerce website, for those websites we will begin moving to 2.0 in the first quarter of 2023.
If your store fits one of the three criteria mentioned above, we strongly encourage you to complete and submit the onboarding form. It lets our team know that they should reach out to your store as slots for IC 2.0 sites become available.
If you have questions, please email staff@bookweb.org