SaaS stands for Software-as-a-Service. It is a model in which the software is hosted on the cloud. The user receives a license to use the software on a subscription fee format, meaning that they don’t have to purchase the software and install it on their system. You can access the software through any web browser or an app. The pricing varies based on the level of service opted for, the number of users, etc., and can be paid monthly or annually.

Some of the most common SaaS apps that we use daily are the email programs that we access through a browser, such as Gmail and Office 365 (Outlook).

Advantages of SaaS

Traditionally software companies have all sold their software as products. Customers used to purchase the software for a one-time fee and load it onto their systems. The responsibility to meet and maintain the hardware requirements rested on the customer. In instances where hardware had to be upgraded, customers had to purchase a newer version of the software that pairs with the new hardware. All this has changed with SaaS. Below we list a few advantages and disadvantages of the SaaS model.

Flexibility: The fact that you can access the software from any device connected to the internet makes it fully flexible compared to the traditional model. You don’t have any location restrictions in SaaS. You can access the software from anywhere in the world and continue to do your work without any hiccups. 

Scalability: SaaS models are highly scalable. At each stage of your business, you can access just the required, right amount of features and go all out when you decide to scale up. You do not have to worry about purchasing new hardware, servers and upgrading networks, etc. All you have to do is opt for the next tier of features and services depending on the number of users who require access to the software.

No upgrades required: With SaaS, upgrades to the software are automatically available to the customers. It means that you are continuously working on the latest version of the software. The cost and effort associated with this kind of service are much lower than the traditional model, where you have to buy new versions whenever there is a software upgrade happening. 

Less time required to get started: In SaaS, the software does not have to be installed and configured and is immediately ready to use. It is a much faster and low-cost entry option for businesses compared to the time and effort required to develop your software, maintain and upgrade it. 

Cost savings: Most of the SaaS companies provide tiered packages depending on your business requirements. Moreover, the application is hosted on a shared multi-tenant space. This reduces the license cost, making it more affordable compared to the traditional model. Security and safety of data: SaaS service providers follow strict security protocols and undergo thorough security audits to ensure that the customers data is safe and secure at all times. They usually invest more in security, maintenance and back-up technology compared to small businesses.

Disadvantages of SaaS

Reduced control: You have better control when the software and programs are hosted on-premise rather than on the cloud. Moreover, since SaaS solutions are delivered through the web, you need to ensure 24×7 access to the internet. Otherwise, you may lose access to your software or data, which can be detrimental and costly.

Slower speed: SaaS solutions may run at slower speeds than on-premise applications, which might affect the performance of your online store for example.  Concerns about data security: When you opt for a SaaS model, you are giving a third-party service provider access to sensitive data. You should check on identity and access management clauses before you sign up with the service provider.

SaaS Platforms in eCommerce

If you are looking to expand your brick-and-mortar retail store and establish a presence online, then the first question that you will encounter is which eCommerce platform to adopt. The software you choose will determine the scalability of your business, the features it has, and how well you manage your online store – its marketing, sales, and other operations. When it comes to eCommerce platforms, there are two routes available for merchants. One is Open Source and the other is SaaS platforms. 

Open-Source eCommerce platforms are highly flexible – you can modify almost all aspects of the code. They are most suited for large enterprises that have unique requirements and a large IT team who can design and maintain their store. Within open-source, you have cloud solutions and on-premise solutions. With on-premise solutions, the platform updates and patches require manual implementation. You will also be fully responsible for the security of your store and will have to spend on additional applications and integrations to make your store fully functional. 

SaaS eCommerce platforms are cloud-hosted and remove the complexities associated with open-source platforms. Hosting, technology updates, security, etc., are taken care of by the service provider. They are easy to use and reduce your time-to-market considerably. BigCommerce, Shopify, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Magento Commerce are all SaaS platforms.

If you are looking to develop an eCommerce site on a SaaS platform, connect with us at info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

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How do you develop a mailing list?

The best and most effective way is to start capturing email addresses on your website. If you want your prospects to share their email addresses with you, then there should be a compelling offer for them to do so. A discount for their first order, notifications and special offers on new products are some of the baits eCommerce stores use to get customers to sign up.

If you have a physical store you can collect email addresses at the store. Today most point of sale (POS) systems allow you to collect email addresses at checkout. A discount on next purchase or a loyalty program often encourage a customer to share their mailing address.

The next step is to get your active followers on social media to sign up and be a part of the mailing list. For example, if you are looking to get Instagram users to connect with you, an attractive bio on Instagram with a link to your website is the most obvious step forward. You can also create an email sign-up landing page on your website and promote it on Instagram with the ‘Swipe Up’ feature. Social media contests that require people to enter email to participate are yet another way to build your mailing list.

What works best in email marketing?

Email marketing programs help build customer relationships that will lead to sales over the next few months or years. Here are a few tips on what works best in email marketing.

1. Once a customer signs up, the most obvious thing to do is send out a welcome email. Try combining this with a discount and you have a very good chance they will visit your site for a repeat purchase.
2. Identify relevant occasions to shoot out emails that resonate with your customers. A birthday wish with an exclusive offer is very effective, or if the holiday season is around the corner you can send an email with gift ideas for various age groups. Customers are more likely to respond to emails that offer some value – it need not be a price off at all times. You can even put together some relevant information that your customers will find interesting and helpful.
3. The subject line in the email can increase the open rates, so make sure to spend some time crafting lines that are catchy and offer some value.
4. Simple designs with concise text and high quality, relevant images work best.
5. Every email should have a strong call to action. It could be to visit the website for more details, download a report or connect with the sales team for more information.

How can emails be used to drive traffic to the website?

Cross-promotions – Emails can be an effective tool to cross-promote products in your store. Most stores send out product recommendations based on a customer’s past purchases. Information on new product launches and pre-bookings all fall under this category of emails.

Cart abandonment emails – Studies show that the average cart abandonment rate across all industries is ~70% percent. eCommerce store owners are struggling to get these customers to return and complete their purchases. Reminder emails help to gently nudge the customers to visit the site and complete the purchase. eCommerce store owners can automate these emails and send them out within an hour of cart abandonment to maximize response rate.

Stock replenishment emails – This is often used in consumer perishable goods where there is a repeat purchase often. Emails are sent out to customers reminding them to replenish their stocks depending on the shelf life of the product. For example, Amazon has the popular “Subscribe and Save” model. Once a customer signs up for this facility he/she does not have to reorder the product. The product is shipped automatically to the customer based on the timeline they chose.

Emails designed to collect feedback – These emails help build a relationship with the customer. They are used to get the customers to leave a positive review of your product on your website or social media platforms. These emails are also an opportunity to address the complaints and grievances of customers if they have had a bad experience with your product or the purchase experience.

If conceptualized and executed well, these emails can improve customer experience and help boost your conversion rates.

Popular email marketing platforms for eCommerce

Here are some of the popular email marketing providers platform providers.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a platform dedicated to email marketing and SMS. It’s a must-have tool for eCommerce stores looking to grow their business. Klaviyo comes with an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder. This feature makes it easy-to-use even for a first-time user. It also comes built-in with a provision to A/B test your emails with different content, subject lines, offers and timings. Today over 50,000+ businesses rely on Klaviyo for their email marketing efforts.

MailChimp

MailChimp is one of the very first names in the email marketing space – over 14 million customers are using MailChimp for their email marketing efforts. It is very popular with small and medium-sized businesses and boasts well-designed email templates and opt-in forms. It also integrates well with eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, etc.

SmartrMail

SmartrMail is an App designed exclusively for eCommerce businesses. The email composer is remarkably easy to use and enables you to develop and shoot out emails quickly. Welcome emails, Winback emails, Abandoned Cart emails – SmartrMail has templates for all these and much more, making it easy for you to shoot out emails automatically. It also comes with a host of tools and features that will help you drive sales and traffic to your website – integration with Facebook custom audiences and A/B testing are some of them.

Some other popular players are HubSpot, Constant Contact, and Active Campaign.

If you are looking to develop an eCommerce site, connect with us at info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

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1. Request for Quote

Price negotiations are a common practice in B2B business transactions. Customers often buy in bulk and expect a discount based on order quantity. The request for quote functionality replicates the offline price negotiation between customers and sellers in the online space. Customers can select the products they want to buy, mention the quantities, add them to the cart, and request a quote. The seller can then respond with the best pricing that will help them convert visitors into potential buyers. While this may not fully mirror the offline buyer-seller negotiation process, this feature allows sellers to respond to quote requests easily and facilitate an efficient negotiation process.

2. Quick order option

In B2B purchases, customers often buy multiple SKUs at a time. They are clear about what they want to buy, and very often, it’s a repeat purchase. In such cases, the Quick Order functionality allows the customers to instantly add multiple products into their cart by entering the SKU numbers in one place and proceed to checkout. You don’t have to search for products, shortlist them and add them to the cart independently. It helps save time and makes the ordering process very easy.

Quick Order Form for OroCommerce, Quick Order Pad from 3dCart and Magento2 Quick Order from MagePlaza are a few examples.

3. Minimum Order Quantity and Value

In B2B business, customers have to order a minimum quantity to qualify for discounts or wholesale pricing. B2B sites should also offer this feature so that sellers can set minimum order quantity for each product on their catalog. Some businesses extend this to the order value also. They insist on a minimum total order value to fulfill a purchase. It helps sell low-cost items in bulk as it’s not feasible to sell them individually or in small quantities.

4. Customer-Specific Catalog and Pricing

Customized catalogs are a common practice in B2B businesses. The ‘One Price for all’ strategy followed by B2C players doesn’t work well in the B2B scenario. Sellers have to work out customized pricing based on customers, the products they buy, their order value and how often they purchase from you. It means that the site should have a customer login and each customer gets directed to a customized page that serves the customer-specific catalog and pricing worked out for him. B2B platforms provide the feature to form customer groups and assign different catalogs and pricing to each customer group.

5. Search Tools

B2B sites very often have product SKUs running into hundreds of thousands. Searching for the product you need from this exhaustive list can be time-consuming and tedious. So, it is essential to provide search functionality on the site that will enable customers to search for products with minimum effort. Most of the eCommerce platforms have search and filter options that enhance the search functionality. For example, assume that you are selling musical instruments on your site. In the filter options you can set the first filter based on the category, say, string instruments. You can then further narrow down the search with other filters like Type of instrument – Guitar, Cello, etc. and then Brand, Size, Model, etc. It allows the customer to zero in on the available products in a few seconds without browsing all the pages.

There are also third-party integrations that allow for infinite filters. They also come equipped with advanced search functionalities. For example, they can suggest products as soon as you start entering your query in the search bar. These search or filtering apps are available in the marketplace of each eCommerce platform.

6. Access Restriction Options

In B2B commerce sellers often have to respond to tenders floated by companies and compete with other players to get the order. In such a case, it is critical not to divulge your pricing to competitors. There are also instances where the seller uses the same site to sell to B2B and B2C customers. Here the pricing for the customer groups will be different, with the B2B customer being offered special discounts for bulk orders. In such scenarios access restriction option becomes critical. This feature allows you to display different information to different customers. You can keep the information confidential from unauthorized visitors by building functionality that requires customers to register before accessing the various product and pricing details. You can also set different pathways for your B2B and B2C customers, so that correct information is served based on customer groups.

7. Self-service account management tools

A customized page and dashboard that displays all information that may be of interest to a customer are vital for the success of a B2B site. Information regarding the products they usually purchase, the availability, change in price, lead time for delivery, new products added, previous order details, order status, delivery details, etc. all need to be available upfront to facilitate quick decisions. The Self-service account management tools address this need to a large extent. Customers can create an account, log in and have access to all the information in one place. It will ensure transparency and the visibility a customer demands in business transactions.

8. Sales Rep tools

While B2B businesses have understood the importance of online sales and are setting up shops, they still rely heavily on their sales representatives interacting with customers, closing sales, and getting orders. The Sales Rep tools are plug-ins developed especially for B2B sites for this purpose. They help the sales team to serve customers more effectively. This empowers the sales representatives to manage sales, identify and push the products customers are interested in and place orders on their behalf through the B2B eCommerce site. It also streamlines order processing, reinforces customer relationships and makes the sales force more efficient.

If you are looking to develop a B2B eCommerce site, connect with us at info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

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What is A/B Testing

Every page in an eCommerce site has a built-in action. We say that the page is a success when customers take that desired action. These actions are not always about the purchase. For example, on a landing page, the desired action would be to click on the ‘Request a Demo’ button. In other pages, it might be seeing the embedded video, signing up for a newsletter, or even more straightforward – just proceed to the logical next page and action. Merchants resort to A/B testing to increase the conversion rate of these actions. It is about optimizing the page to get the most out of the existing traffic. So how do you do A/B testing?

You identify a variable that you want to test. You modify this variable and create a variation of the same page. It is then presented to half of your site visitors to test the effectiveness of the modification. 

The variable you are testing could be the content, design, or even functionality. For example, you can test two different headlines to see which one generates more interest and hence clicks. You can test two different design layouts for a product page and check which one engages the customers more. You can even try out different colors for the action buttons to see what is working, etc.

It is an iterative process and needs to be done continuously for best results.

Benefits of A/B Testing

A/B testing is based on data and not on gut feel or intuition. It allows you to make small, incremental improvements to your site without going in for a major rehaul. By opting for this method, you reduce your risk significantly.

Even a minor improvement in your webpage can push up your conversion rates. It could be something as simple as changing the fonts to make the page more readable or repositioning your call-to-action button to the top of the page. These minor improvements that you discover through this process will help reduce bounce rates, increase conversion rates, improve user engagement and ultimately customer satisfaction.

Few examples of A/B Testing

You can test any asset. However, we have listed below some of the most common areas where people adopt A/B testing.

• Content Phrasing: The content you use on your site convinces your customer about your products and prompts him/her to take action. Right from the headline, the product description, the testimonials that you add, etc., all can be tested to arrive at the most effective content that will increase sales.
• Page layouts: Do you have one static header image, or do you use carousels with multiple messages? How does the product information flow? Should all the information be showcased in the top half of the page? Where do you place the ‘Free Shipping’ information so that it is displayed prominently? How much space do you allocate to ‘Special Offers’. You can play around with different page layouts to address these questions and test each one of them to figure out what works best for you.
• Imagery: In eCommerce, images are heroes. High-quality product images make people want to buy your product. Some of the customers even prefer to see the photographs of actual customers using your product. It can be more relatable and convincing. So what kind of images work well in your category can be figured out using A/B Testing.
• Navigation: Should you design your menu to run across your page on top, or should it be a dropdown? Which option provides better navigation? What will take the customer faster to the checkout page? These questions can also get answered through A/B Testing.

What we have given above is not an exhaustive list. With A/B Testing, you can test anything related to site design. From Calls-to-action – what content to use, the colors that will make it stand out, to the placement of buttons, you can test anything. eCommerce merchants test promotional offers, the best time to air the promotions, the price of products, etc., based on the test results.                

How to run an A/B Test

• Take the existing web page and identify the elements that can be improved and will positively impact your traffic and conversion rates. 
• Make a second version of the webpage with the improvement that you want to bring about. It could be something as simple as changing the headline, repositioning the promotional offer, or even a complete redesign of the page layout.
• The next step is to serve the original version to half of your site visitors and the modified version to the other half. 
• You can now start measuring visitor engagement, collecting relevant data, and analyzing the results. It will help identify the version that is performing better.
• The ideal period to run the test is at least two weeks.
• You need to keep in mind that you need a steady stream of traffic to generate enough data to make meaningful conclusions.

Magento and A/B Testing

There are multiple third-party extensions available in Magento Marketplace that enable A/B testing. Some of the popular extensions are listed below.

A/B Testing by Amasty: Amasty allows you to run multiple A/B tests simultaneously for different product parameters. You also receive real-time information about page visits, conversions, and conversion rate changes that help you make quick decisions and actions.

Optimizely, GoTop – A/B Test, and Blue Acorn Convert Experiments are few other popular extensions on Magento.

Other popular A/B testing tools include Google Analytics, Unbounce, etc.

In Magento, you can even do advanced A/B testing that requires dynamic changes to the store configuration. For example, pricing and shipping charges are sensitive points that impact conversion rates. The Best Worlds extension allows you to test different pricing and shipping offers for each visitor to understand the perfect combination that will drive maximum sales. It also leverages Magento’s multi-website architecture and advanced configuration structure to make A/B Testing possible only on particular stores or extensions.

If you want to know more about A/B Testing for your Magento eCommerce store, connect with us at info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

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What are self-hosted platforms?

Self-hosted platforms are open source applications that need to get hosted independently. It means that you design and develop your store on one of the open-source platforms and then choose a hosting service that best fits your requirements. It is almost like finding a good location and buying space there to set up your eCommerce site. You not only own the space but also have the freedom to create whatever you want and maintain it the way you want. Though it sounds liberating, this option has its disadvantages. Before we get into that, let us look at some examples of self-hosted platforms.

You can do self-hosting on-premise or on the cloud. In the on-premise option, your eCommerce store gets hosted on servers within the organization’s premises or where its data is stored. The other option is to host it on the cloud by signing up with a web hosting provider that supports eCommerce, like A2 Hosting, Cloudways, Dreamhost and FastComet. Most of them have preferences when it comes to eCommerce platforms. For example, A2 Hosting is an OpenCart and Magento hosting solution, while Cloudways supports various eCommerce platforms, including Magento, WooCommerce, OpenCart, and Prestashop. So the choice of hosting provider will depend on your eCommerce platform. Regarding the pricing, these web hosting providers charge a monthly fee or bill you on the server usage.

Now that we know more about self-hosting, let us look closer at some of the leading self-hosted platforms.

Examples of Self-hosted platforms

Here are just a few examples of Self Hosted Platforms:

• Magento 2
• WooCommerce
• OpenCart
• PrestaShop

What are SaaS eCommerce platforms?

With SaaS platforms your eCommerce store runs on a SaaS provider’s hosted server. It is not available on-premise, and you do not maintain it yourself. You access your eCommerce store in your browser and pay a monthly fee based on the plan or service you have opted for. The platform provider is fully responsible for the security, performance, and maintenance of your eCommerce store. These platforms come built-in with all features required to run your store successfully.

Examples of SaaS eCommerce platforms

Here are just some of the leading SaaS eCommerce platforms:

• BigCommerce
• Shopify,
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• 3dcart

Magento has also recently launched Adobe Commerce Cloud. This latest version is 100% cloud-based and comes integrated with the Adobe tools such as Adobe Experience Manager, Analytics Cloud, Marketing Cloud, etc.

A comparison of Hosted and Self-Hosted Platforms

Setting up your eCommerce store

Setting up your eCommerce store on self-hosted sites can be expensive and time-consuming. If you do not have the required technical knowledge, you will need to hire a skilled developer well-versed with your platform to set it up for you. A SaaS eCommerce platform is the best option for those who do not have the time or workforce to set up and manage their store.

Customization and functionalities

Open source platforms are highly flexible and customizable as per your requirements. You have better control over your store and can change anything you want about the design and features at any time. But the reason why people prefer hosted over self-hosted platforms is that they come with powerful built-in functionalities and features. You also have access to thousands of pre-approved themes and plugins on hosted platforms. However, there are limitations to customizing these features to suit your requirements which can limit your creativity to some extent.

Scalability

Scalability is crucial in an eCommerce business. As you grow, you should be able to scale your eCommerce store to take on more customers, process more orders, etc. SaaS eCommerce platforms are more scalable compared to self-hosted platforms. They can automatically handle peak periods and sudden surges in traffic. With self-hosted systems, you will need to undertake site improvements and manage the site continuously to accommodate the growing traffic and ensure no outages. It might also require significant investments at regular intervals.

Technical Support

A disadvantage of the self-hosted platforms is that you do not have access to centralized support systems when your store runs into a problem. You will need to turn to the developer community, resources, and documentation available on the various forums and find a solution. When it comes to technical support, hosted services have a clear advantage over their self-hosted counterparts. You will have access to a support team 24/7 who will take care of any issues for you.

Data Security

Security remains the biggest concern for all eCommerce merchants. Your shop should be adept at handling highly-sensitive customer data and payment information. Data breaches are common in the eCommerce industry and can seriously damage your brand. PCI Compliance is one way to ensure that your site is safe.
All businesses that transact online and accept payment from customers need to be compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). There are various levels of PCI compliance depending on the size of your business. One of the advantages of SaaS platforms is that they fully manage your site’s security for you. All the big SaaS eCommerce platforms are Level 1 PCI DSS compliant which means that you do not have to invest extra time and money into making your site secure. The solution provider will keep track of all the rules and regulations, do regular on-site compliance assessments, and ensure your site stays secure.
In self-hosted platforms, your site’s security becomes your responsibility. You will need to keep a watch for the latest security updates and patches, and you will need to deploy them yourself.

Conclusion

The choice of hosted or self-hosted will influence the future of your retail business as it grows. While it is possible to migrate between the two, this can be expensive and challenging.

If you are looking to set up your eCommerce store on a cloud-based or self-hosted platform, let us know at info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

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The Magento story began with the Community Edition in 2007. Thousands of merchants all around the world used this edition to set up their eCommerce stores. 2009 saw the launch of the Magento Commerce version, followed by Magento Mobile in 2011. Soon after, eBay acquired Magento, and in 2015 Magento 2.0 was officially released. Then came the Magento Enterprise edition in 2016.

In 2018 Adobe made headlines with the acquisition of Magento Commerce. This partnership is a step in the right direction for Adobe as it will fill a gap in their current portfolio of products. Magento is a leader in the eCommerce space and they have been catering to both the B2C and B2B segments. Today over 25% of eCommerce stores run on Magento.

Magento after the Adobe acquisition

The first big announcement after the acquisition was the End of Life to Magento 1.0. Adobe announced that support for Magento 1.0 will cease after June 2020. Adobe is known to deliver end-to-end digital experiences and eCommerce developers and merchants were expecting to see big improvements in the Magento platform. In this blog, we will explore how Adobe has contributed to Magento development since the acquisition.

Currently, there are three versions of Magento available in the market.

1. The Open Source Platform is most suited for small businesses. It comes with limited functionalities and is available free of charge. 
2. Magento Commerce is the licensed version with enterprise level features. It has both on-premise and cloud versions.
3. Adobe Commerce Cloud is the latest version launched within a year of the acquisition. It is fully cloud-based and comes integrated with the Adobe tools such as Adobe Experience Manager, Analytics Cloud, Marketing Cloud etc.

The whole world is adopting the cloud in a big way and Magento, being a self-hosted solution, was losing out to cloud-based competitors such as Shopify and BigCommerce. It explains why Adobe is investing its time and resources in projecting Adobe Commerce Cloud as the future of Magento.

What is Adobe Commerce Cloud?

According to Magento, “Adobe Commerce Cloud is a new bundled offering that provides companies with a flexible and scalable end-to-end platform to manage, personalize, and optimize the commerce experience across every touchpoint and the entire customer journey.”

To simplify, Adobe Commerce Cloud is a fully managed, cloud-based solution built on the Magento platform. It has been completely revamped with analytics and personalization features and is integrated seamlessly with Adobe Experience Manager. Adobe markets it as an eCommerce digital experience platform.

How is Adobe Commerce Cloud different from other eCommerce platforms?

Integrated with Adobe Cloud Cluster

Adobe Commerce Cloud comes integrated with other Adobe Cloud clusters like Advertising Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Analytics Cloud. The personalization and management possibilities are endless with these integrations, making it a strong option for businesses across multiple industries.

Adobe Experience Manager: The powerful Content Management System

Adobe Experience Manager allows you to manage your marketing content and assets effectively. The flexible page building and template capabilities, site management, and workflow approvals enable you to deliver an exceptional digital experience.

Highly flexible

A major advantage of Magento Open Source is the ability to customize it to suit your requirements. Built on the Open Source System, Adobe Commerce Cloud is both customizable and scalable. You can differentiate your store from others with custom templates and functionalities. And you can sell in different countries and multiple languages with one cloud solution.

Data Analytics capabilities

One of the biggest differentiators of Adobe Commerce Cloud is that it comes integrated with Adobe Analytics. The built-in data analytics tools provide business owners with rich data that enables them to make informed business decisions and market their stores better. High-level AI is part of this suite and is used to track various business metrics and predict future trends.

Benefits of Adobe Commerce Cloud

• Supports all business models: B2B, B2C and hybrid
• Out-of-the-box features: Magento order management with multiple fulfillment options, Adobe Business intelligence and advanced analytics to identify the most profitable customers, Adobe’s PWA studio for creating and managing powerful PWAs, AI/ML-driven personalization are just a few of them. 
• Content personalization with Adobe Target. You can develop and deliver relevant content to customers. Target allows you to do A/B testing of campaigns, automate behavioral targeting and provide customers with accurate product recommendations, etc. 
• Frequent Innovations: With Adobe you can expect continuous innovation both on the design and technology front. All these innovations attempt to capture the customer’s attention and convert every interaction into a memorable experience.

How to develop and manage your store on Adobe Commerce Cloud?

Developing a store on the Adobe Commerce Cloud is not easy. You will need experienced developers well-versed in Magento technology to create, launch, and successfully maintain your store. Alternatively you can hire an Agency to manage the complexities of building the store, adding extensions and maintaining it.

The new Adobe Program targeted at Magento Partners and Developers

The Magento Community Engineering Program: During the pandemic many eCommerce businesses have cut down their spending and put new development work on hold. It has left solution providers with extra free resources in their technical and development teams. Adobe has launched an innovative program for its Magento Solution Partners with developer resources on the bench. This program is designed to help the Agencies hold onto their valuable engineering talents and at the same time enable them to contribute to the growth of the Magento platform. Adobe will engage them to work on new features currently on the Magento product road map and speed up deliveries. These will include new functionalities, feature updates, integrating Magento with other Adobe applications, and extending the B2B capabilities in Magento.

Adobe’s future plans for Magento

In the future a brand’s success will depend on how well its eCommerce platform is integrated with digital marketing and customer experience systems. Adobe Commerce Cloud is perfectly poised to take on this challenge. Adobe’s Magento platform has been designated a Leader in Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant report, based on the platform’s ability to deliver the most optimal solution for digital commerce. Adobe has an ambitious roadmap of activities and enhancements drawn out for Magento. All their plans revolve around improving the customer experience and supporting the digital transformation of businesses.

If you are looking to set up your eCommerce store on Adobe Commerce Cloud connect with us. info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570/ +1 877 787 2248

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What is Headless eCommerce?

While a customer does not interact with the back-end technology and structure of an eCommerce site, they have a huge impact on the overall site performance. To deliver an outstanding customer experience, businesses need to invest in engaging and informative content that is easy to find. So how do you maximize your front-end and back-end to provide a truly personalized shopping experience? The answer is Headless commerce.

Headless Commerce disconnects your website’s front-end content management system from the eCommerce back-end. So what connects them? APIs are used to tie them together and deliver data from the back-end to the screen or device used by the customer. For instance, when a customer makes a purchase and clicks the ‘Buy Now’ button, the front end sends an API call to the back-end to process the order and the back-end, in turn, uses an API to update the customer on the order status.

With Headless commerce, the developers are free to choose any theme or template available or design the front-end presentation layer from scratch so that it fits the business requirements. It gives better control over the look and feel of the platform and the user experience. You can make front-end changes much faster without making any updates to the back-end. It reduces dependence on IT and gives flexibility to deliver high-quality content.

Benefits of Headless commerce

Freedom to customize

Are you looking to drive engagement with customized and personalized content? Then Headless commerce is for you. With headless you can combine the flexibility of a content management system like WordPress with the features and functionalities of an eCommerce platform.

Higher speed

Development work is much faster with Headless commerce as the front-end and back-end teams can work in parallel. You can make changes to the front-end user interface design without tampering with the back-end codes. All these help reduce your time to market.

Highly scalable system

With Headless commerce, you can scale the front-end and back-end individually. If your site is witnessing a surge in traffic, you can scale up the front-end alone as it is de-linked from the back-end.

Headless commerce allows you to iterate faster and take your ideas to the market quickly. You can test marketing campaigns and landing pages without disturbing the back-end in any way. It helps you save time, cost and stay ahead of the competition.

Virtual Reality

Among the most innovative trends in eCommerce is the use of Virtual Reality to improve online shopping. Virtual Reality is a big boon for those who miss visiting a physical store, browsing through the racks, and trying on the products before making a purchase. With Virtual Reality retailers can put up a virtual store for customers to walk through, browse, and choose what they like. Lowe’s Holoroom is one of the leading players in the virtual showroom space.

With VR, you no longer have to present products as just 2D static images. You can view the products from various angles and see all the details that are missing in 2D images. You can try on a dress – not once but multiple times, and find the accessories that go with it before you make the final purchase decision.

Benefits of Virtual Reality in eCommerce

Real-life shopping experience

Customers don’t have to come to your shop – VR allows you to take your shop to your customers.

Improve customer engagement

The more time a customer spends on your site, the more likely they are to make a purchase. Studies show that with VR customer engagement increases by 66%.

Improve conversion rates

With Virtual Reality mobile conversions have gone up from a mere 3.5% to 11%. Today mobile phones come equipped with VR applications making it easy for retailers to target customers using their phones to make online purchases.

With social distancing becoming the norm, retailers are looking for ways to offer contactless shopping and Virtual Reality is a great tool for this.

Conversational Commerce

Studies show that over 83% of users contact businesses to find out more about products or services before they make a purchase. This means that a business needs to be present at multiple touchpoints to carry on a conversation with customers. That is where conversational commerce can help. In conversational commerce brands use messaging apps like WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook Messenger to talk to customers and enable shopping.

Online shoppers use these apps to connect with the company’s sales team and get more information regarding products. This real-time, two-way dialogue can play a crucial role in influencing the purchase decision and increasing conversion rates.

For conversational commerce, retailers are using chatbots and voice assistants to engage with customers. They can also use video calls to do face-to-face sales meetings, show products, create instant offers and close sales. They can even put an interactive shopping cart into the video so that the customers can purchase without having to leave the call and visit the online store.

Some of the start-ups that offer conversational commerce solutions are Conversable, Automat, Niki.ai, Mona, Kip, Satisfi, etc.

Benefits of Conversational Commerce

Generate more traffic

There are over 1.47 billion daily active users on Facebook alone and the numbers are similar on Instagram and other social channels. People on these social media are willing to make an online purchase through them, so an active presence there can open up new markets and audiences.

Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate

Using Conversational commerce you can send personalized messages through Facebook Messenger and other social media apps. Studies have shown that the open rates for these messages are very high compared to emailers. Also, it is a highly effective way to remind the customer about the product in the cart and engage with them meaningfully.

Offer a better shopping experience

One of the biggest complaints regarding online shopping is that it is impersonal. Conversational commerce brings a human touch by having a sales assistant guiding the customers through the whole purchase journey.

To learn more about how Sorcible can help you enhance your eCommerce store and increase sales please email info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

The post Technology trends in eCommerce – Headless commerce, Virtual Reality and Conversational Commerce appeared first on Sorcible.

With eCommerce booming, everyone wants to sell online. But setting up an eCommerce business is not easy. Identifying products, sourcing them, keeping track of inventory, warehousing and handling the logistics should all be taken care of. It deters many from taking the plunge into eCommerce. For many entrepreneurs dropshipping is a good option to start light and easy.

Dropshipping is an online business model that requires little investment. With dropshipping, you can start an eCommerce business without keeping products in stock. It works like this – when your store sells a product, you pass the purchase order to a reliable third-party supplier who then completes the order fulfillment process.

How does it work?

The first step is to identify reliable suppliers or manufacturers of the products you want to sell on your eCommerce site. With dropshipping you are buying products in bulk at wholesale prices but the inventory is maintained by the supplier at his warehouse. You are then free to add a margin, set a retail price for the product and list it on your store. While appearing very simple, this model has its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

• The entry barrier is low. You can start a dropshipping business with very little capital.
• It’s relatively easy to scale your business because you don’t have to rent warehousing capacity or hire people to manage the inventory.
• Allows you to enter new product categories without much risk.

Disadvantages

• Most often you do not have exclusive deals with suppliers, meaning that you will be competing with a lot of other resellers, including potentially the supplier itself. This results in very low margins.
• You cannot have a hands-off approach while running a dropshipping business. You will have a long list of suppliers to handle, process and forward orders to, as well as keep track of returns and be responsible for customer service.
• You have very little control over product quality and fulfillment process, both of which are critical in any eCommerce business.

Commerce Platforms most suitable for Dropshipping

Now that you have made up your mind to set up a dropshipping business, the next step is to choose a platform to build your eCommerce site. In the coming section we shall explore the various options available and identify the pros and cons of each of them so that it becomes easy for you to evaluate and choose one.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the most sought after options for dropshipping. It is incredibly easy to use and does not require any design and coding skills. The drag and drop functionality in Shopify allows you to configure and get started with your dropshipping store quickly.

The success of your store depends a lot on how well you can integrate it with third-party plugins that enable dropshipping. An advantage of Shopify is that it comes with pre-installed apps and plugins for dropshipping. With these apps you can get connected to thousands of dropshipping suppliers and manufacturers in a matter of minutes. Oberlo is a full-fledged marketplace developed by Shopify exclusively for its customers – a virtual warehouse that features millions of products from suppliers around the world. With Oberlo you can identify suppliers and products to sell and connect them to your store with just one click. Oberlo even allows you to choose products from AliExpress, Alibaba’s dropshipping service, import them into Oberlo and link them with your store. On receiving an order, Oberlo automatically sends out an order fulfillment request to the supplier.

The Shopify marketplace also has a large number of third-party plugins for dropshipping. These plugins enable you to easily import products from your supplier’s list into your store. They also provide the required store analytics to manage and market your products better. One of the popular dropshipping plugins featured on the Shopify marketplace is Dropified. It connects you with AliExpress and helps you automate your entire dropshipping business.

Modalyst and Spocket are a few other online merchant marketplaces that you have access to in Shopify.

One disadvantage of Shopify is that there are a few restrictions on the kind of products that you can sell on a Shopify store, especially if you are using Shopify’s Payment System. E-cigarettes, pharmaceutical products, goods that have an age restriction are a few of them. So choose your niche accordingly.

Prominent dropshipping stores on Shopify

• aesthentials.com
• Wallplate Warehouse

WooCommerce

One of the main reasons people choose WooCommerce for dropshipping is the price factor – both WordPress and WooCommerce plugins are 100% free. So if you are looking to start a dropshipping business on a limited budget, then WoCommerce is for you. Also, unlike Shopify, there are no restrictions on the kind of products you can sell on WooCommerce.

WooCommerce comes built-in with a default product management system that allows you to add products to your site easily. This is most useful when you are identifying suppliers on your own and getting into individual agreements with them. Another option is to buy from large dropshippers like AliExpress by installing a WooCommerce dropshipping plugin that will automate the whole process for you.

WooCommerce has developed the WooDropship plugin which comes with a 7-day free trial, after which you will need to opt for a paid plan of $14 per month. WooCommerce also has a solution called the WooCommerce Dropshipping Suppliers Pro that helps you manage different suppliers easily and effectively.

You also have access to several WordPress dropshipping plugins: DropshipMe, AliDropShip and WP Amazon Shop (an Amazon affiliate) are a few of the popular options.

Prominent dropshipping stores on WooCommerce

• Ripley
• Wool Couture Company

BigCommerce

You can integrate your BigCommerce store to AliExpress using BigCommerce AliExpress Dropshipping which allows you to import products from AliExpress product page to your BigCommerce store easily. A custom-built AliExpress Importer Chrome Browser Extension is also available on the Chrome extension store.

In BigCommerce you can also do dropshipping by installing a third-party app – AliExpress Dropshipping by Webkul, Appfreak, Printful, Spreadr, Sunrise, Wholesale2B, etc. are some of the options available on the BigCommerce Marketplace.

Modalyst is yet another popular dropshipping software used by merchants in BigCommerce. It allows you to list products, import product images, descriptions and prices with a single click. The feature that differentiates Modalyst from other players is the Automatic Inventory Syncing that automatically updates the inventory status in your BigCommerce store and the supplier system so that you don’t end up overselling products that are out of stock.

Another tool worth trying is Spocket – an online merchant marketplace that has tied up with BigCommerce for dropshipping.

While there are quite a few options available for dropshipping on BigCommerce, the general feedback is that it is not very easy to use for beginners. However, it comes with built-in advanced features that make it a preferred platform among the tech-savvy players.

Prominent dropshipping stores on BigCommerce

• Marucci Sports
• Dark Horse Marine Products

Magento

There are quite a few dropshipping extensions available in the Magento Marketplace for both Magento 1 and 2. These extensions allow you to select and process all your orders from one platform. uDropship for Magento 1 and 2, Dropship by Webkul, AliExpress Dropshipping by CedCommerce are a few of them. However, the drawback of Magento eCommerce platform is that it is not very user-friendly and you will need the help of a professional developer to set up your dropshipping store, identify suppliers, select products and integrate them with the shopping cart. The back-end of the Magento platform is very technical, and you will need to have internal resources who have the technical knowledge and are proficient with the Magento platform to run the store smoothly.

Prominent dropshipping stores on Magento

• BAZESTARZ
• Miss Guided

OpenCart

Opencart also has many plugins for dropshipping. Opencart Extension Store has multiple third-party extensions – AliExpress Dropship is one of the most popular ones. With this module you can start importing products from AliExpress to your Opencart store one by one or in bulk. The admin can place the order at AliExpress and make payments with a single click.

Opencart is a self-hosted eCommerce platform and hence it lags behind Shopify and BigCommerce in technical support. They do not offer 24/7 support, which is critical, especially if you are a beginner setting up your dropshipping business.

Prominent dropshipping stores on Opencart

• For Fans by Fans
• 6 Dollar Shirts

To learn how Sorcible can help you set up your Dropshipping shop please email @ info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

The post Everything you need to know about dropshipping appeared first on Sorcible.

A comparison of Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, OpenCart, SFCC, and Magento

In this article, we will compare the various platforms on performance and technical support.

Shopify

Performance

Page Speed and Site Speed

Page speed measures the time taken to load content on a page while site speed measures how well the site is performing overall. Shopify has been investing continuously in technology and infrastructure to better the load time of sites on its platform. The Storefront Renderer (SFR) is one such infrastructure upgrade that helps accelerate site speed. SFR is a server-side application designed to offer the fastest online shopping experience possible. Studies show that with SFR the server-side performance has improved 2.5 to 5 times compared to legacy implementations, merely by changing how read requests are served.

Site Uptime

Shopify is a fully-hosted cloud-based eCommerce solution with a Content Delivery Network (CDN). CDN is essentially a collection of web servers distributed around the world and content is delivered to customers from the server nearest to them. This ensures that the site speeds are good and the content loads reliably even during peak traffic.

Shopify has also been working continuously to handle high load scenarios by increasing the back-end capacity. An automatic scaling mechanism has been put in place that adds or removes computing capacity in response to the amount of load. When there is a surge in traffic and load increases the autoscaler will detect the increase and start provisioning more compute capacity to handle it.

All these efforts have been undertaken with the intent to avoid a site crash and target 100% uptime.

Coding and Bug Fixing

Minification is used to make the file size smaller and lighter so that it can be transferred faster. This helps improve the site loading time. Minification essentially compresses the text by removing extra characters like spaces and comments and combining common styles. This process also helps to remove poorly coded HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on the web page, which slows down the site’s performance. Shopify handles SCSS.liquid minification automatically and this is a great help to developers trying to identify bugs and improve the codes to achieve faster loading time.

Customer Support

Shopify has a support team to assist merchants with their queries. They are available 24/7 throughout the week and can be contacted via email, live chat, and phone. A well-equipped Help Centre has also been set up with user guides, tutorials and FAQs. They also have an active community forum where you can post queries and get them answered by fellow developers. However, if you are a Shopify Plus customer you will be assigned a Merchant Success Manager who will be available to help you. Shopify Plus merchants are also assigned launch managers who will provide technical assistance in migration and development when the store is being set up. You are also assigned an exclusive priority-routed phone number for any assistance required.

Shopify has partnered with Zendesk, an advanced customer support platform loaded with powerful tools that make it easy for merchants to get their queries answered and run their business from any location.

BigCommerce

Performance

Page Speed and Site Speed

We have seen that responsiveness and performance are key to an eCommerce store’s success. BigCommerce is a SaaS Platform engineered to keep up with the growing consumer demand and ever-changing technology. This is the first eCommerce platform to integrate Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) natively, allowing stores to improve their search engine rankings and loading speeds in a simplified way.

The scalability of the platform determines how well your site responds to traffic spikes. The open API in BigCommerce enables developers to scale the site and create customized user experiences. Being a SaaS solution, the upgrades done by the platform are automatically rolled out to all merchants, ensuring that your site is up to date and you can offer customers a fast and flawless online shopping experience.

Site Uptime

Cyber attacks, third-party integrations that ask to manage and modify data or simply bad code can result in loss of data and lead to a site crash. While BigCommerce will ensure that the software and infrastructure are up and running, stores need to have a sound back-up strategy in place to restore lost data.

BigCommerce offers a custom back-up solution using the platform’s API. It automatically makes a back-up of all the important files and sections of your site.

BigCommerce claims to have industry-leading uptime at 99.99%. It is also ISO/IEC 27001:2013 & PCI DSS 3.2, Level 1 certified. This means that the stores on BigCommerce are protected by multiple security layers like firewalls, file integrity scanners and intrusion detection.

Coding and Bug Fixing

The biggest advantage of BigCommerce is that 99% of the features and functionality are organized within the core platform. The intuitive interface requires very little coding skills and changes can be made quickly without the help of highly skilled developers. At the same time, the open API gives developers and designers total freedom to customize almost any element of the store by changing the HTML and CSS code to fit their requirements. In case you do not have in-house expertise you have access to BigCommerce partners who can help deal with bugs and other technical glitches that affect your performance. They will take care of identifying excess or uncompressed code, downsizing images, identifying and fixing redirects, etc.

Customer Support

Upon subscribing to the 15-day trial package BigCommerce provides you with a lot of resources that will guide you through most of the tasks and management needed to set up the platform and store smoothly. Once you subscribe to a plan there is 24/7 live agent support to cater to all queries and needs. You also have the help pages where most of the common issues faced by developers are detailed out. The platform also has a community forum and a large collection of text and video resources to help developers and merchants navigate the platform successfully.

WooCommerce

Performance

Page Speed and Site Speed

It is the images, videos, javascript, webfonts, etc. used in webpages that make them heavy and slow to load. While web pages have been getting heavier, the optimal page load time has been decreasing. WooCommerce is one platform that has been struggling to keep pace with customer expectations especially with regards to site speed and performance. Shopify and BigCommerce are hosted eCommerce platforms with large teams working continuously to monitor every aspect of the platform and ensure that the sites are performing to their best. In the case of WooCommerce, the responsibility to optimize your site’s performance lies with you. One of the main reasons that your website is slow to load could be the hosting solution you have opted for. Poor quality website themes available on WooCommerce also play a big role in slowing down the site.

Site Uptime

WooCommerce is a very popular open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress sites. The plugin doesn’t come with built-in security, so hosting and security need to be taken care of by the store owners. The site uptime in WooCommerce largely depends on your hosting solution provider. Hosting services provide solutions that include automated systems to frequently scan your site and keep it secure, scalability features to tackle traffic and reliable back-up solutions. You need to study the various options available in the market and go with the one that best suits your requirements. When it comes to security WooCommerce doesn’t have its own SSL and most of the merchants get this done through their hosting provider on signing up to a hosting plan. All of these play a critical role in ensuring that your site is up and running 24/7.

Coding and Bug Fixing

To improve your WooCommerce site performance you need to adopt a systematic approach to analyzing your website and identifying problem areas. The first step would be to do a speed audit and follow this with a detailed analysis of the various HTTP requests: how many HTTP requests are generated, what can be removed, which takes the longest to load, ways to speed them up, etc. Then you have to optimize images using a CDN based image optimization service and then move on to minifying CSS and JS assets. These are just a few of the issues that slow down your WooCommerce site. Most important is that you have to take care of everything which is difficult and involves a lot of effort.

Customer Support

Being an open-source platform, WooCommerce has a large user base and community who are active and available for support if you run into any problem. WooCommerce also has support services that help merchants with plug-in setup, theme support, integration of shipping, taxation and payments and finally fixing issues.

OpenCart

Performance

Page Speed and Site Speed

As Opencart is an open source platform, the quality of the hosting service plays a great role in the site performance. Studies show that the core Opencart software is lightweight and can run well in a shared hosting environment. To increase site speed Opencart has launched a ‘Speedup Opencart Store Page’ extension. This helps increase and improve page speed and scalability. There are also built-in features to minify and compress JS/CSS/HTML files, reduce HTTP requests, optimize Database Table for fast SQL Query, etc.

Site Uptime

Security and uptime are among the biggest concerns of eCommerce store owners. Being an open-source platform, Opencart is vulnerable to external threats like code injection. Opencart extensions have also been a major cause for worry when it comes to site uptime. Developed by third-party players, these extensions are not scrutinized well by the Opencart technical team. These have been the main reason for many glitches faced by Opencart store owners.

Coding and Bug Fixing

When setting up your shop Opencart looks attractive because there is very little coding required. However, errors can crop up any time in the PHP Code, MySQL, JavaScript/jQuery/Ajax and even templates and themes chosen. That’s why it is essential to have a knowledgeable in-house team who can attend to errors in coding and fix bugs. Alternatively, there are solution providers or agencies who take up the complete maintenance of the store. They ensure that all Opencart related problems are fixed and the site is ready for business.

Customer Support

Support available on OpenCart is quite limited. They do not offer 24/7 support for the free version but paying customers are assigned a dedicated support who will assist them with all technical queries. Opencartalso has a community support page that can be freely accessed by all customers.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Performance

Page Speed and Site Speed

Salesforce Commerce Cloud comes with best-in-class network, scalable database and memory allocation, caching, security components,etc., guaranteeing high performance. The platform is designed to automatically scale and grow based on demand. It comes built-in with many features that help optimize the site performance. One feature that needs a mention is the Dynamic Imaging Service. This feature streamlines how images are served to a storefront. It takes a single image and dynamically transforms it into different sizes and serves them as required to various pages. This means that retailers don’t have to upload different sizes of the same image thereby reducing the file sizes drastically. Also, SFCC’s Storefront Reference Architecture (SFRA) takes you one step further in your efforts to speed up your site. SFRA is more or less a best-practice reference for building a site. The UX framework incorporates pre-built integrations with Salesforce Commerce Cloud API, data objects, and 3rd party technologies via their partner LINK program. SFRA is based on an adaptive design approach and helps load content faster on mobile devices. Also, the pre-built integrations perform better and faster compared to custom-built integrations.

Site Uptime

Salesforce Commerce Cloud has a 99.9+% uptime record for years and this can be verified any time at the community page where real-time information on system performance and security is published with details of the hosted uptime and service disruptions for every month. Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a leader when it comes to security and compliance. They have a dedicated technical team providing 24/7 coverage. They perform frequent tests including periodic vulnerability scans and penetration tests to ensure the security of the platform.

Coding and Bug Fixing

As a SaaS platform, you have access to seamless upgrades when new features are rolled out by Salesforce. Automatically updated on the admin panel, these upgrades can be installed with minimum technical knowledge on your side. These upgrades are rolled out to ensure that your site performance is at its optimum. While the Salesforce platform is reliable and high performing, you will still need experienced programmers who can correct codes, identify bugs and adapt the site to meet the customer needs.

Customer Support

Salesforce Commerce Cloud provides comprehensive 24/7 support to all merchants. The support covers all issues from fixing codes to improving security. They also provide Customer Service Center – an order taking solution designed to deliver an efficient customer service experience. The Customer Service Center has service agents who are responsible for servicing both online and over-the-phone orders. This service helps merchants to deliver a truly unified shopping experience.

Magento

Performance

Page Speed and Site Speed

If your site is well designed, has 100% uptime and loads fast, this automatically improves your SEO rankings, abandonment rate, and overall user experience. Magento continuously releases new versions with updates containing bug fixes and performance improvements. Upgrading a Magento installation is not easy but they provide good in-depth tutorials to enable developers to do it on their own. Magento also notifies store owners when new updates are launched. Like in other eCommerce platforms, implementing a content delivery network (CDN) with Magento is one of the easiest ways to improve page and site speed. For Cache Management, Magento comes with a built-in caching module.

Another feature of Magento is the use of EAV model (entity attribute value) for customer and product data. This can be beneficial especially if you have a large product catalog with 1000+ products listed. With the EAV model, all the product data is merged into one table, enabling a flat catalog for categories and products which further improves performance by responding to MySQL queries faster.

Magento 2 also has built-in extensions like TinyPNG Extension, Compressor Extension, etc. to optimize image sizes. Optimizing product images decreases their download times and dramatically increases the speed of pages. Magento 2 also has a built-in feature to merge CSS and JavaScript files into one file, thereby reducing the total number of HTTP requests. This also helps in improving the speed and loading time of pages.

Site Uptime

Magento periodically releases updates that include new features, bug fixes, security improvements and other enhancements. Magento is either self-hosted or cloud-based – if you choose to use your own hosting your site performance will depend on the 3rd party hosting service that you use. It’s advisable to use a dedicated hosting service so that performance is not compromised. Dedicated servers fare better than shared ones when it comes to availability of resources, scalability, customer support and backup when faced with unexpected server issues.

With Magento Commerce you don’t have to worry about the security of your site. The architecture is designed to provide a highly secure environment and each customer is deployed into an isolated server environment, separate from other customers. The platform also undertakes proactive monitoring of the servers to avoid service outages, automatically activates scaling of server resources during peak traffic and sends alerts to customers during such events.

Coding and Bug Fixing

Site downtime, page not found error, product not available, etc. are issues often faced by eCommerce store owners. It is advisable to use the help of an expert Magento developer/agency to monitor your site 24/7 for code errors, shortcomings and bugs. Magento Commerce comes pre-integrated with NewRelic Application Performance Management (APM) Pro and Blackfire Enterprise. The NewRelic Application Performance Management (APM) Pro will provide Magento merchants with real-time visibility into the performance of their applications and Blackfire has been integrated to generate detailed performance metrics that will enable developers to write and automate performance tests which can then be used to debug site performance issues.

Customer Support

On signing up with Magento a Technical Account Manager will be assigned to the customer who will help the technical team during the implementation phase. The Technical Account Manager will be a dedicated resource and the primary point of contact. Magento also has a well-equipped Resource Library featuring FAQs, Videos, Tutorials, new release information, etc. There is also an active Magento Forum where you have access to a network of dedicated Magento enthusiasts sharing tips, tricks and support.

Comparison Chart

The post A comparison of eCommerce platforms on performance and technical support appeared first on Sorcible.

If your store is on Magento 1 it is time to replatform.

A lot has been discussed over the last 2 years on the EOL planned for Magento Commerce 1. The much anticipated or dreaded moment has finally arrived. Adobe announced the phase-out of the currently supported versions of Magento 1 starting June 30th. This means that Adobe will cease to provide updates or support these old versions of the Magento Commerce Platform.

History of Magento

Magento was launched in 2007. Built on open source technology, Magento was one of the early players in the eCommerce market. From then on Magento saw multiple investors and changed many hands until Adobe acquired the company in 2018. This acquisition promised an end-to-end online retail solution that combined Adobe’s marketing products with an all-powerful eCommerce platform. It put Magento on a fast track with its popularity increasing amongst both SMEs and big corporations. Adobe’s backing only goes to prove that things are going to get bigger and better for Magento. So if you are considering replatforming your eCommerce store you may want to check out the latest that Magento has to offer.

The downside of continuing on Magento 1

Magento 1 is the initial version launched in 2008. Over the next few years, we saw various editions including Magento Community, Magento Enterprise, etc. All these versions have been successful and widely used by web developers. Then came the new and improved Magento 2. In 2018, soon after the acquisition of Magento, Adobe announced the EOL for Magento 1.
Some of the most concerning aspects are the non-availability of software security patches or updates which can result in data breaches and malicious cyber attacks. A recent news article published by the FBI seems to point to the fact that the risks are real and there is merit in upgrading.

With more and more businesses and organizations slowly making the shift to the newer version, the support that you are banking on from the Magento ecosystem, community-based and third-party security patches, as well as updates & extensions, will start dwindling. So while you can hope to continue on Magento 1 trouble-free for a little while, it is imperative to start planning a complete replatforming exercise. And of course, the fact that you will lack the latest features and functionalities that are available in the newer eCommerce platforms are reasons enough to make a switch.

Options to choose from

There are multiple SaaS eCommerce solutions available in the market today. From BigCommerce to Shopify, WooCommerce, and 3D Cart, the options are unlimited. All these platforms come with their advantages and disadvantages. To arrive at the right platform for your business it is critical to study your existing platform and its functionalities, identify new functional specifications required, understand whether the new platform will support the integrations you already use and whether your existing tools are compatible with the new system. In this article, we will run you through the features and functionalities of Magento 2 and the key differences with Magento 1.

Introduction to Magento 2

Magento 2 was launched in 2015. It is estimated that over 60,000* sites are already using Magento 2 with 8000+ sites being added quarterly. So what made them choose Magento 2 over the other options in the market? (source:* https://trends.builtwith.com/shop/Magento-2.).
Today the success of an eCommerce store boils down to the customer experience that you can deliver when he/she reaches your site. Magento Commerce 2 has technological capabilities that meet and exceed customer demands. If you are looking to create a great digital storefront, then Magento 2 is the platform for you. Known for superior cloud-hosted performance, Magento 2 comes loaded with business intelligence capabilities. The platform promises unmatched flexibility not found in the market today. The fact that you can deliver an outstanding customer experience in record time and at reasonable costs makes it a hot favorite among store owners and developers. The latest version in the Magento 2 series is Magento 2.3.5 which was released on April 23, 2020.

Why choose Magento 2 over Magento 1

This is not an exhaustive list but a few key reasons to upgrade to Magento 2.

Benefits of Magento 2

Superior shopping experience

Site speed, mobile responsive design, visual presentation, product videos, smooth checkout process, etc. are what make an eCommerce site stand out from the competition. Magento 2 comes with better shopping tools, plenty of new features and is also more secure which is an important consideration point when people choose a site to do online shopping.

Smooth Checkout Process

Conversions to a large extend depend on how simple your checkout process is. The biggest drawback of Magento 1 was its complicated 6-step checkout process. In Magento 2 this has been reduced to just 2 steps with an Instant Purchase feature added in. This feature allows returning customers to checkout faster by using previously entered payment credentials and shipping information. It allows the customer to skip totally 2 checkout steps and proceed directly to a purchase confirmation page. This is a huge improvement that will ensure higher conversions.

Highly flexible platform

Magento 1 came with a whole host of tools that allowed developers to customize their store. But often developers found these tools to be complicated and intimidating. Magento 2 comes with a better admin interface. It is user-friendly and responsive so even a non-technical user can find the tools and add new product listings with ease. The back-end interface allows changes to be made easily without the help of a programmer. So finally you have an option to take control of your store and reduce IT dependency.

Mobile Responsive

Mobile eCommerce is expected to account for 54% of the total eCommerce sales by 2021. With more people using mobile to shop it is imperative to have a site that is mobile responsive. In the latest version of Magento, all themes and templates are responsive and device agnostic and the front end has been designed to deliver an outstanding user experience. Built-in features like mobile-friendly checkout and progressive web applications in Magento 2 all help to up your site’s mobile performance.

To summarize, replatforming to Magento 2.3.5 will help you boost your site performance and enhance store security.

Coming soon – Magento 2.4

The launch of Magento 2.4 was announced during the recent Adobe Summit 2020. Get ready for a power-packed version with breath-taking features, platform improvements, updates, and product stability. The new version is expected to hit the market in Q3 2020.

It is too early to get into the product details of Magento 2.4 but what is evident is that Magento 2.4 will come with:

• Comprehensive B2B capabilities
• High levels of flexibility to deliver an enhanced user experience
• Smooth and secure Magento Web Payments
• Cloud hosting option
• Adobe Stock integration to help create more professional and visually compelling sites
• Progressive Web Applications for mobile commerce

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