The latest Neto by Maropost webinar revealed platform enhancements and upcoming features designed to boost merchant success through the critical holiday season and beyond.
Led by Kristyn Wallace (VP of Revenue, Australia and New Zealand), Tim Schulz (VP of Product, Commerce), and Aaron Shoemaker (Product Manager, Commerce), the session highlighted impressive performance improvements and exciting new capabilities.
Research shows the faster sites are, the more they sell: Stores that load in one second convert 3x higher than those that load in 5 seconds and 5x higher than sites loading in 10 seconds.
That's what makes Neto's latest performance update such a game changer. Some Neto customers have already experienced significantly faster storefronts since February:
The impact of these optimizations was evident in October 2024's results, which showed the highest average GMV per merchant in three years.
For next steps, Neto retailers were encouraged to convert images to WebP for even faster stores, monitor their marketing campaigns for higher overall conversion rates and observe SEO keyword rankings in the weeks ahead as some may see improvements.
The Maropost team shared additional performance- and conversion-driving updates to image delivery and checkout.
Neto now supports WebP images, delivering:
Several improvements to the checkout experience include:
The webinar also offered a preview of upcoming upgrades, including a modern, mobile-first checkout experience that targets conversion rates greater than 40% and features:
The team also shared plans for significant platform developments:
The Maropost team also offered a sneak peek at the all-new Commerce Cloud platform. Omnichannel and mobile-first, it's being built on a foundation of:
During the Q&A portion of the webinar, merchants raised questions about platform performance and upcoming features. Here's how the Maropost team responded.
Q: Does Neto automatically convert uploaded images to the WebP format?
While merchants currently need to convert and upload WebP images manually, we're developing an auto-convert feature we hope to launch in Q1. Given the significant performance benefits we've seen, we recommend converting images before the holiday season to maximize your store's speed and conversion potential.
Q: How is Neto addressing the recent Monday traffic surges?
We're taking proactive steps to optimize infrastructure scaling, particularly as we approach what's projected to be the busiest post-pandemic holiday shopping season. Our team is implementing enhanced monitoring and scaling protocols to ensure consistent performance during peak periods. The significant speed improvements we've already achieved across the platform are part of our ongoing commitment to reliable, high-performance service.
Q: Are there plans to update template elements like JavaScript libraries, particularly in the Skeletal template?
Yes – template modernization is critical to our new Storefront platform launching in Q1. This comprehensive update will address legacy elements and optimize performance across all template components.
Q: How is Neto improving its communication around platform performance?
We understand the critical nature of clear, proactive communication about platform stability. The substantial performance improvements we've achieved (with some merchants seeing up to 321% faster load times) reflect our commitment to delivering a superior platform experience. We're also enhancing our communication protocols to provide more detailed, timely updates about platform status and ongoing optimizations.
Beyond the "holiday ready" webinar, customers can learn more about these Neto releases and more by:
Tim Schulz adds, "We've received a ton of great feature requests. Many are now in our production queue. That's why we encourage all Neto customers to share their suggestions in the Maropost Idea Portal. Today's idea just might become tomorrow's hot new feature."