American Booksellers Association

Lullabot and the American Booksellers Association (ABA) collaborated to modernize the IndieCommerce platform, empowering over 100 years of independent bookstore success into the digital age. The goal was to transition from IndieCommerce 1.0 to a 2.0 version that could compete with major e-commerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. The new system needed to provide ABA members with powerful online stores featuring improved performance, easy integration with external services, streamlined administration, enhanced accessibility, and full PCI compliance.

The requirements were extensive: simplify the onboarding process for bookstore owners, unify website maintenance to allow for seamless feature updates, and equip independent bookstores to compete with large web companies by offering comprehensive e-commerce functionalities.

The outcome was the creation of IndieCommerce 2.0, which significantly reduced onboarding time from months to weeks, thanks to a clear configuration task list, sensible defaults, and a shared promotion library. Maintenance headaches were alleviated by transitioning to a single product architecture that allowed automated testing and easy deployment of updates. Bookstores now have access to features such as simple checkout, wish lists, inventory status, integration with third-party services, gift cards, and more.

Moreover, leveraging ABA's book data system, bookstores can now offer a vast inventory of books without the need for physical stock, a unique selling point over other platforms. The admin user experience was meticulously refined through iterative testing, resulting in a dashboard that highlights daily operational functionalities, dynamic help on content forms, and a streamlined UX that enables bookstore owners to focus on sales and customer engagement rather than website management.