The Future of Content-First E-Commerce (with Umbraco Commerce)

Selling online has never been easier, but telling your story while you sell? That’s where the real challenge lies. 

Many businesses find themselves pulled in two directions: they want powerful e-commerce features to drive conversions, but they also need the freedom to showcase their brand, create engaging content, and connect with audiences on a deeper level. Too often, platforms force you to choose between one or the other. 

Umbraco Commerce changes that. It’s built to bring content and commerce together seamlessly, so you don’t have to compromise.
 

Why content matters in commerce 

Today’s online shoppers want more than just a smooth checkout. They want to understand the story behind a product, to feel inspired by a brand, and to connect with values that matter to them. In other words, they want more than a “Buy Now” button. 

Take a membership organisation for example. Beyond just selling event tickets or memberships, they need to tell the story of their mission, showcase member benefits, and build loyalty. Without strong content alongside commerce, the experience feels transactional instead of relational. 

That’s why content and commerce perform best when they work together.
 

Best practices for blending content and commerce 

Successful e-commerce is about more than having a shopping cart that works, it’s about combining storytelling and selling in a way that feels natural to the user. Some best practices include: 

• Lead with the story, not the sale: Great content builds trust and helps users connect emotionally before they’re ready to buy.
• Create seamless journeys: Don’t force people to jump between separate “content” and “store” sections, integrate them so context flows smoothly into conversion.
• Think beyond product pages: Blogs, guides, videos, and case studies can all support commerce by inspiring and informing purchase decisions.
• Optimise for speed and simplicity: However good your content is, checkout must still be frictionless, with clear steps, minimal fields, and multiple payment options.
• Design for flexibility: Content and commerce should be able to scale together, so your site can grow without re-platforming every time your needs change. 

When content and commerce complement each other, you don’t just sell more, you also build relationships that last. Tools like Umbraco Commerce help make this integration simpler, but the strategy is what sets successful sites apart.
 

Enter Umbraco Commerce 

For businesses already using Umbraco, Umbraco Commerce is the add-on that makes selling online as seamless as storytelling. Originally launched as Vendr and acquired by Umbraco HQ in 2023, it has rapidly evolved into a robust, flexible e-commerce solution designed to fit hand-in-glove with the CMS. 

With Umbraco Commerce, you can: 

• Manage products flexibly, from simple SKUs to complex bundles, variants, and categories.
• Offer smooth, secure checkout, with ready-to-go integrations for Stripe, PayPal, Klarna, Mollie and more.
• Streamline order management, with intuitive dashboards, colour-coded statuses, and smart search keep everything under control.
• Unlock insights, with built-in analytics show what’s working and where to optimise.
• Run promotions with ease - discounts, loyalty rewards, and gift cards are built-in.
• Go global, using multi-currency, multi-lingual, multi-tax, and even multi-store capabilities. 

It’s scalable too, equally suited to organisations just starting out with e-commerce and those already running complex operations.
 

Why choose Umbraco Commerce over the big names? 

Platforms like Shopify and Magento have earned their place. Shopify is ideal for quick setup with standardised templates, while Magento powers complex, enterprise-scale stores. But not every business fits neatly into those moulds. 

Umbraco Commerce offers something different: 

• Content without compromise: you’re not restricted to rigid product grids. You can tell your brand story with rich, bespoke content alongside your store.
• Direct integrations, no middleware: connect Umbraco Commerce straight into your systems via APIs, avoiding costly middleware.
• Scalable freedom: start small and scale when you’re ready, without having to re-platform. 

For organisations where brand storytelling is as important as the sale itself, Umbraco Commerce offers the best of both worlds.
 

Why this matters for you 

The digital landscape has shifted, and people expect experiences, not just transactions. That means your e-commerce site needs to do more than process orders, it has to sell seamlessly, tell your brand story in a way that builds trust, and give you the flexibility to adapt quickly as your organisation grows. At the same time, it needs to deliver real value without unnecessary complexity or hidden costs. 

Umbraco Commerce is designed with exactly that in mind. It gives you the freedom to combine storytelling with selling, to create experiences that feel both personal and powerful, and to scale with confidence as your ambitions evolve.
 

Final thoughts 

In 2025, successful e-commerce is about more than conversion funnels, it’s about combining the mechanics of selling with the art of storytelling. With Umbraco Commerce, you don’t have to compromise, you can have both, with beautifully integrated, fully flexible, and ready to scale with your ambitions. 

At Reading Room, we’ve helped brands of all sizes harness Umbraco Commerce to sell smarter, tell stronger stories, and deliver customer experiences that last. Reach out to our expert Umbraco team, to find out how Umbraco Commerce could take your e-commerce site to new heights.