In this article, we’ll cover everything about the Magento eCommerce platform and Magento development. You’ll also be equipped with tips and resources to build a successful online store.
So, let’s get started.
Understanding eCommerce Platforms
What Is An eCommerce Platform?
The software application that enables the two parties – seller & buyer – to play their roles is called an eCommerce platform.
In simpler terms, it is an application that allows the sellers to display, promote and sell their products, as well as the buyers to search, discover, shop, and checkout.
What Are the Most Popular eCommerce Platforms?
The 4 most popular eCommerce platforms are
- Magento (magento.com)
- Shopify (www.shopify.com)
- BigCommerce (www.bigcommerce.com)
- WooCommerce (woocommerce.com)
Introduction to Magento
Magento is one of the leading eCommerce platforms across the globe with a $100 Billion gross merchandise value. Reports state that more than 250,000 active eCommerce stores are running on Magento as of June 2021 and Magento owns more than 12% of the total eCommerce stores.
With its limitless built-in features, flexibility, and personalization options Magento is turning out to be the most preferred platform by eCommerce businesses.
Other added benefits of using Magento are:
- It helps in offering a seamless shopping experience for online shoppers.
- It has a user-friendly interface contributing to a short learning curve.
An Overview of the Magento eCommerce Platform
History of Magento:
Magento was officially started in 2007. In the first years of existence, the platform won the “Best of Open Source Software Awards” and “SourceForge Community Choice Awards” several times.
In May 2018 it was announced that Adobe would acquire Magento to integrate it with the Adobe Experience Cloud, the Enterprise CMS platform. The acquisition was finalized on June 19.
2 Versions of Magento Platform offered to Users
Magento offers two distinct platforms:
- Magento Open Source (Magento Community Edition)
- Magento Commerce (Magento Enterprise Edition) or as a platform-as-a-service (Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition).
Magento Open Source (Magento Community Edition):
Magento Open Source is an open-source eCommerce platform in which Magento developers can implement the core files, and extend functionalities by including new plug-in modules.
The first public beta version was released in 2007. Today it has been improved, developed, and customized to offer a complete basic eCommerce platform for free.
Magento Commerce / Adobe Commerce
Magento Commerce is a platform-as-a-service for eCommerce. Magento Commerce was rebranded to Adobe Commerce to integrate the acquired Magento’s teams – sales, marketing, and product – within the Adobe Experience Cloud business unit.
Magento Commerce (On-Premises)
Magento Commerce (On-Premises) or Magento Enterprise Edition is an enhanced version of Magento Open Source and holds the same core files.
It is designed to cater to large businesses that need constant technical assistance with installation, configuration, usage, and troubleshooting. Magento Enterprise Edition has many advanced features and functions compared to the free Open Source version.
Who are Magento partners? How can they help?
Solution Partners
Magento Solution Partners are development agencies that specialize in eCommerce delivery. These solution partners have extensive knowledge and experience in the implementation, maintenance, and upgradation of Magento eCommerce websites.
Magento Solution partners also offer customized solutions and extensions developed by them to enhance the experience of the Magento Commerce platform.
Technology Partners
Magento Technology Partners are partner organizations that help merchants and eCommerce business owners improve their websites.
They offer services under more than 20 categories which include,
- Marketing automation
- Payments
- Content management
- Shipping
- Tax
- Hosting
- Performance
9 Reasons why you need a Magento development partner
Depending on the size of your eCommerce store and the number of products, the need for expert assistance and guidance increases. Having an expert Magento development partner by your side can leverage your growth.
- You get fresh perspectives on designs and user experience for your store.
- Developers have access to advanced tools and the latest technologies
- You can cut unnecessary rework costs and time wastage.
- Access to experts to gain marketing insights
- Backup of a strong development and maintenance team
- Easy upgradation and integration of functionalities
- Experienced Magento development agency offers measurable results
- Easy to scale or expand business in the future
- Professionals handle everything
Magento Compared to Other eCommerce Platforms
When compared to other eCommerce platforms Magento meets almost all requirements of different types of businesses. Be it a small or large store with minimal products or large inventories, Magento is the best eCommerce platform.
Every online business has its own set of business interests. When you look at them you’ll get a quick idea of what functionalities your business needs. Based on that you can compare Magento with other platforms to pick the best.
Further, you can classify the Magento competitors broadly into 2 categories.
Competitors for Magento Open Source
- WooCommerce
- WordPress
- Spree
- Volusion
- Joomla
- PrestaShop
- Shopify
- Squarespace
- OpenCart
- Salesforce
- Drupal
Competitors for Magento Enterprise edition
- BigCommerce
- Oracle Commerce
- Hybris
Magento vs. Shopify
| Magento |
Shopify |
| Magento occupies a 24.6% market share |
Shopify holds a 19.7% market share. |
| Magento is an open-source platform with the basic version completely free |
Shopify’s basic plan costs $29 per month. |
| It needs technical knowledge to build the store from scratch |
Can be setup without any technical knowledge |
| Free demo available |
Free trial time available |
| Magento is an eCommerce platform that suits every business need – small, mid & large |
Shopify is a robust platform that meets all the basic requirements of an eCommerce store |
| Offers extensive documentation, training & support to set up your store |
Free and paid templates are available making it easy to set up the store |
| PCI Certified & SSL Security support |
SSL Certificate & Level 1 PCI compliance |
| Offers a great number of apps & add-ons |
Comparatively less number of apps & add-ons |
| Magento incorporates inventory management |
Shopify also incorporates inventory management |
| Offers multilingual capabilities |
Doesn’t offer multilingual capabilities |
| Blogging functionalities via plugins |
Blogging functionality is an integrated feature |
| More flexibility & easily scalable |
Comparatively less flexible & scalable |
| Paid themes available from $1 |
Paid themes are expensive |
| Community support by other developers |
Has a 24/7 support center to help |
Magento 2
Magento 2 is the latest version of Magento. It has numerous new and improved features, functionalities, and developer tools compared to Magento 1. Magento 2’s architecture is quite different from all its previous versions.
After the release of Magento 2, Magento stopped its support for Magento 1. This has made the migration of stores from Magento 1 to Magento 2 the need of the hour.
Be it Magento 1 or Magento 2 versions, Magento always sees that it caters to all three levels of businesses – small business, mid-market, and enterprise.
Key Features of Magento 2
Over the years Magento has evolved. Its latest release Magento 2 has some exceptional features to stand out from the crowd. The features and functionalities are specifically introduced to boost user experience, improve usability, and leverage the scalability of the eCommerce store.
Using these eCommerce stores can make attain their sales and revenue goals on a shorter timeline. Few features to mention,
- Reliable and Secure
- Responsive and Beautiful User Interface
- Better Merchandising Options
- Enhanced Inventory Management
- Easy to Use Magento 2 Extension Toolkit
- Automated Marketing Tools
For more details on Magento 2 features and how it can help your business, Check out
Why You Must Consider Magento to be your B2B eCommerce Platform?
Magento eCommerce platform addresses all the unique needs of B2B businesses. You can seamlessly manage accounts, it is easy to set up and integrate with all ERP and CRM solutions of the business.
Other reasons why Magento is the best eCommerce platform are,
All in one platform:
- Magento enables businesses to manage all – B2C, B2B, and D2C – in one platform.
- It’s easy to integrate with existing systems and assign custom catalogs and price lists.
- Offers convenient purchasing options
Product recommendation:
- Has AI-driven product recommendations to support high conversions.
Also, product recommendation is made simple with B2B & B2C support and rich merchandizing rules.
Inventory management:
- Magento offers reliable inventory management and flexible fulfillment options.
- It allows store associates to complete orders from PoS, tablets, and PC.
- It manages operations easily. Buy online / Ship to home / pick up in-store.
- Magento’s real-time inventory data with sourcing algorithms expedite fulfillment.
Customization:
- Magento allows unlimited customization in functions and themes.
- It includes responsive themes, the best technologies, and access to global currencies and languages.
- It also offers thousands of themes and extensions for the best commerce experience.
Promotion:
- Its modern drag-and-drop tools help you create instant compelling designs and content for a better shopping experience.
- Magento’s easy-to-use interface allows one to create content and personalize it to specific customer segments.
- Easy updating of the site’s pages and content help in promotion activities.
Data analysis:
- Magento provides businesses with centralized data, defined metrics, and deeper business insights.
5 Magento Development Mistakes That You Must Avoid
Magento being the leading eCommerce platform no wonder there are so many companies offering Magento development services.
But not many of them are truly experts in Magento. Thus, as a business owner, you need to be cautious of the possible pitfalls.
Thus, to give you a heads up here are the 5 most common mistakes that happen during Magento development.
- Failing to conduct proper research on your needs, target audience, development company, and pretty much everything connected with your business.
- Using outdated tools, programming languages, and front-end frameworks is a waste of time and money.
- Choosing an incorrect architecture among the plenty of open-source architectural frameworks.
- Not using responsive design is a major setback for your business as customers use various devices to access the sites.
- Using the wrong software that limits the scalability of the website.
To learn how to avoid the common mistakes happen during magento development
7 Questions to ask yourself when building a Magento B2B eCommerce Store
- What will the ideal B2B eCommerce operations of my business look like daily?
- What is the list of B2B eCommerce features that my business will need?
- What integrations my business would need?
- What is the level of customization my B2B eCommerce store requires?
- Is Magento eCommerce the best platform to manage my team?
- What will be the cost of building and operating my store on the Magento eCommerce platform?
- How long will it take to build my dream Magento eCommerce store?
Click here.
Google Analytics & Magento
If you own a website then use Google Analytics is a must. Google Analytics was developed to understand a website’s traffic and use it in favor. By integrating Google Analytics with your Magento 2 store you get an opportunity to optimize your website’s growth, performance, and reach.
By tracking the traffic to your website you can manage your products better and make your customers spend more time on your website. Google Analytics covers everything you need when it comes to traffic tracking.
For step-by-step guidance to integrate Google Analytics with your Magento store.
Best Practices for Magento Security
Below is the list of practices to maximize the safety and security of your Magento eCommerce store.
- Don’t miss to install the SSL Certificate on your eCommerce Store website
- Always go for the latest version of Magento
- Utilize strong passwords for your account
- Make sure to use the Magento Scan Tool to often scan your online store.
- Make use of the Magento reCAPTCHA
- Take backup for your website regularly
- It’s always advisable to employ a unique URL for your admin dashboard
Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2
The task of Migration may be simple or complex depending on the size of the store, data, categories, integration, etc. Based on the process the steps for migration can vary from time to time. However, here are 5 crucial steps that you can’t miss for a successful migration.
- Review of the current store: Checking existing extensions and analyzing the current store attributes.
- Capacity planning: Prepping the store with additional functionalities and features for the future.
- Building & testing: Magento 2 installation, setting up, and running various tests to check its performance.
- Migration: Starting the migration of all data and integrations to the new Magento 2 store.
- Taking store to live: Once everything is migrated, the store is set, tested for errors, and the store is taken live.
Again, these are the basic steps in the process. There might be a few issues or unexpected errors to resolve while migration. In accordance with that, the steps may be altered.
How much does Magento migration cost?
Magento migration can cost somewhere from $5000 to $50000 depending on the number of transfer hours, functionalities, customization, complexity, and more.
The major part of costs includes
- Magento license fees
- Theme cost
- Third-party extensions
- Service charges
To get a more detailed idea of Magento migration and cost, Read more
Wrapping up
In conclusion, Magento is a great eCommerce platform for all small, mid-level, and enterprise eCommerce stores.
Building your new Magento store or upgrading the existing one, Magento 2 is the best option.
If you need any help with creating a Magento store, its migration, integration, or if you’re looking for an expert consultation, our experts are always here to help you.
TheCommerceShop offers end-to-end Magento services under one roof. If you have any questions feel free to Contact us – we’re happy to answer them!
