5 Common Magento Development Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
With so many eCommerce approaches, finding the right solution for your business is difficult.
This is especially true when it comes to Magento development. As numerous companies are offering their services for this platform, there are bound to be some duds.
It’s simple logic, really; if you see something that seems too good to be true, it probably is!
Unless you have experience working with Magento or you have a friend that does, the best way to avoid the pitfalls of this platform and other eCommerce solutions is by doing your research first.
This blog post will cover five common Magento development mistakes made during Magento development, tips for avoiding them, and general advice on how to hire a reliable developer who will meet your needs and your budget.
Magento Development Mistake #1: Failing to Do Proper Research
Before you even think about contacting a developer, you want to make sure that you are familiar with the needs of the platform. This includes
- Knowing what type of eCommerce solution is best for your business
- The features that you want
- The types of audiences you want to reach
In other words, you need to have done some research and know what you’re looking for before you even begin to look for a developer to hire.
The best thing you can do is create a spreadsheet with the following information:
- What eCommerce solution do you need (SaaS, On-Premise, Hybrid, etc.)?
- What features are you looking for specifically in your eCommerce solution?
- What target audience you want to reach?
- What is the budget for your project?
Magento Development Mistake #2: Using Outdated Tools
Ensure that the development team you hire uses the latest version of the tools. It applies to everything from the programming language to the front-end framework.
If your developer is still working with outdated tools, the best case scenario is that you’ll have to invest in an upgrade soon. The worst-case scenario is that your site will break completely once support for the tools ends completely.
While this is something that affects all software and programming languages, it’s especially important when dealing with open-source solutions like Magento.
Since many merchants host their eCommerce solutions on their own servers, there is no central authority that can force upgrades across the board. That is you’ll have to rely on the developers you hire to update their work appropriately.
Magento Development Mistake #3: Incorrect Architecture
When it comes to eCommerce solutions, you’ll often hear the term “architecture” come up. It refers to how the various parts of the system are organized and connected.
It’s also important when it comes to scalability, something that’s incredibly important for eCommerce platforms. If your system is not architected correctly, adding new features, growing your business, and scaling to meet the demand will be extremely difficult.
Fortunately, there are plenty of open-source architectural frameworks out there that can help you get off on the right foot. These include things like
- Magento’s MVC architecture
- Ruby on Rails
- Laravel
- Symfony
If you’re unsure of the best architectural framework for your eCommerce solution, make sure that the developer you hire understands the advantages of each framework and can help you choose the right one for your business.
Magento Development Mistake #4: Not Using Responsive Design
With more and more people browsing the web from their phones, it’s important to ensure that your eCommerce solution is responsive – the images and text should scale to the screen size of the device used to browse your site.
This is important for a few reasons, the biggest being that you won’t lose customers due to a bad user experience. Unfortunately, many eCommerce platforms are not inherently responsive, including Magento.
Many developers don’t even consider this when creating a new site, so you may have to hire someone to make the necessary design changes. If your budget does not allow for this, you may want to consider a different eCommerce platform.
Magento Development Mistake #5: Using the Wrong Software
As we mentioned above, ensuring that the eCommerce solution you choose is inherently responsive is important. It’s also important to ensure it’s built with the right programming language.
This is especially true if you want to scale your business internationally because the programming language you use will greatly impact how quickly and easily this can be accomplished.
If you’re choosing between open-source eCommerce solutions, it’s important to consider the programming language. While many eCommerce solutions are open-source (like Magento), there are even more proprietary ones.
If you choose a proprietary eCommerce solution, you will have a harder time expanding internationally because you’ll have to hire a different developer in each country.
With an open-source solution, you can hire a single developer to translate your site into each language you want to offer.
Summary
Above are the top five common Magento development mistakes made during Magento development and points to check while hiring a Magento developer.
Do your research first, avoid using outdated tools, make sure your eCommerce solution has an appropriate architecture, and use the right programming language to ensure smooth international expansion.
Finally, make sure that your eCommerce solution is inherently responsive to ensure a positive user experience across all devices.
