Creating a marketing platform that’s built to scale
StockX, is the ‘stock market for things’, which serves as an online marketplace facilitating a simple buying/selling experience of sneakers, streetwear, handbags, watches, and more. In 2018 we helped StockX launch a news site built on a flexible WordPress CMS platform that enabled their team to create rich product experiences in order to generate organic traffic. In the years of remarkable growth that followed, the site has continually evolved. In 2020 we launched a bold redesign with parallax animations and layered images that gives StockX ultimate control to define their brand.
- WordPress
- Web Development
- Design
- Admin Portal
The Challenge
Driven by fashion and streetwear culture, the StockX news site needs to quickly adapt to stay relevant. We were challenged to create a site that was flexible and could be easily updated by their team, but that was anything but a cookie-cutter blog. We used subtle parallax movement, layered images and animations to give the site a dynamic feel that flows seamlessly as you move down the page. There are multiple layout options with modular sections that overlap to instantly change the look of the site.
A Whole Lot of Meat (Content)
Nowhere is the design flexibility more important than the article pages. With over 25 modular components for everything from videos to quizzes, StockX can tell unique stories that fit their brand goals. We also added additional taxonomies to help organize the article content for users to search and filter content easily.
Instead of using the default WordPress search, we are using the search platform Algolia. As content is updated it automatically updates the search index for the blog. This allows for the blog content to be searched anywhere on stockx.com.
We successfully migrated over 9,000 articles, matching the new taxonomies and new format of the site, all without disrupting their normal business flow.
An International Approach
An additional challenge with the StockX news site was making it a seamless experience for their International readers. For starters, that meant making all the content available in over 10 languages. Our approach to localization was two-fold. Static copy, such as buttons and navigation, is pushed automatically from the WordPress CMS to Phrase, a language translation platform. The longer form text of the articles is first written in a master language and then translated into different language versions within the WordPress admin. This allows native writers to create culturally relevant articles complete with images and videos in the appropriate languages.
Beyond Translation
Getting SEO right was critical so that all the articles are searched and indexed properly internationally. Different sitemaps are automatically generated for each language. The different language versions of the articles have URLs written in the correct language for maximum SEO value. The articles also have hreflang tags which ensure the article matches the reader’s browser language. Attention to all of these seemingly small details allows the site to have a truly global reach with relevant content automatically appearing no matter where you are in the world.
How the Sausage is Made
 | We built 25+ custom content modules for the article pages to enable flexible, unique layouts with loads of functionality. |
 | The modules are fully responsive and display content in appropriate dimensions regardless of the user’s browser or device type. |
 | We also built a custom algorithm for related articles by creating filter variances to determine what can be considered related. |
 | We built the capability to search for and pull live data from stockx.com back to stockx.com/news. |
The Results
The StockX news site is a story of continuous innovation and improvement. The new design pushes the boundaries for what a blog can look like while the WordPress foundation makes it easy to update and drive traffic seamlessly to their e-commerce site. This was one of the most complex blogs we’ve ever built and without reading this, you’d never know it.
95%
increased blog views
80%
increased publishing cadence
9,000
articles migrated