Both platforms are rich in features, and many online merchants have had to make the tough decision of choosing one over the other. When Magento 1 was phased out, many of them decided to stay loyal and chose Magento 2, also because of the flexibility it offers. Being an open-source platform, Magento allows you to do unlimited customizations and is most suited for merchants with unique requirements.

Differences between Magento and BigCommerce

Hosting

Magento is an open-source, self-hosted platform. It means that it can be hosted on-premise or by a third party. Meanwhile, BigCommerce is a SaaS eCommerce platform with cloud hosting and maintenance services which you can use with a subscription fee.

Ease of use

Setting up a Magento store is not easy. You will need to rely on a developer or an outside agency to code and build the store for you. BigCommerce comes with a drag-and-drop page builder feature which means that merchants can set up their shop themselves. However, if the store is complex, you have access to BigCommerce partner agencies who will help you set up your store for a fee.

Go-to-market time

Being a cloud-based platform, BigCommerce has a much faster launch time. The built-in templates and functionalities make it much easier to design and launch a store on BigCommerce. In Magento you have to take care of website design, hosting, maintenance, etc. and it can be a very time-consuming process.

The cost of setting up a store on Magento will depend on the complexity and functionalities required for the store. While the software is available for free in the Magento Open Source version, merchants need to spend on store development, hosting and integration of various third-party apps and solutions. BigCommerce is a SaaS platform that takes care of the software, infrastructure, and technical support costs within the subscription fee. Merchants will still need to spend on store development and third-party integrations.

Reasons why store owners might migrate from Magento to BigCommerce

1. Automatic upgrades and patches: One reason merchants decide to re-platform to BigCommerce is the access to the latest upgrades and patches. It means that your store is automatically upgraded with all the features and is running on the latest version with no downtime.
2. Apps and Extensions: BigCommerce comes built-in with a whole host of features that help improve store performance. The BigCommerce marketplace has a wide range of Apps, both from BigCommerce and third-party solution providers, performing various functions from Marketing to Analytics and Reporting.
3. Integrated marketing features: eCommerce merchants have understood that it is just not enough to sell on one’s site. You have to be present in various social channels and marketplaces and provide customers the option to buy from there. By default, BigCommerce links all stores to different social channels. In Magento, merchants have to opt for a multi-channel selling tool to integrate with other marketplaces.
4. High Security: For eCommerce merchants, security is always a topic of concern. Being a fully hosted platform, BigCommerce takes care of the complete security of your site and automatically applies all security patches regularly.
5. The lower total cost of ownership: Being a hosted solution, BigCommerce covers expenses for hosting and maintenance improvements within the subscription fee. It can help limit expenses, especially for new businesses who are just setting up their store.
6. 24/7 support: BigCommerce offers 24/7 support through phone, live chat, email, and a dedicated help centre. BigCommerce provides access to highly trained support staff and this can be a boon for small entrepreneurs and business owners who don’t have in-house technical resources to turn to every time they face issues.

Points to consider while contemplating migration from Magento to BigCommerce

• Audit your existing site for its functionalities and performance. Scan through all possible reports and do detailed data analysis to identify gaps and areas to be improved. 
• List out all the features that you want to include in the new site.
• Explore BigCommerce functionalities and identify the third-party software and integrations you will need for the new store. 
• Back up all your data – customer details, orders, product information, website content, etc., before you make any changes.
• While migrating, try and retain your domain name because changing the domain name can severely impact your already established search engine rankings.
• Put a date plan for the new store launch after considering the time required to develop the new site and transfer all the data.
• Carry out final checks and thoroughly test before you publicly launch the new store.

If you are looking to migrate your eCommerce store, contact us at info@sorcible.com or call +359 898 707 570 / +1 877 787 2248

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When a business uses an eCommerce platform to sell to another business, this is B2B eCommerce. Globally the B2B eCommerce market size was valued at USD 5.7 trillion in 2019. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.5% from 2020 to 2027. Businesses have realized that there is immense growth opportunity in the online space. In this blog we will explore B2B eCommerce in greater detail, the various B2B models, how it is different from B2C eCommerce, and a few features that are a must in B2B eCommerce platforms.

Why is the B2B sector witnessing such rapid growth?

Today a large percentage of employees in the B2B sector are millennials. They have grown up with technology and are very comfortable making purchases online for all their needs. They expect the same convenience and options when it comes to purchases done professionally. When they need a product, they start the search online, similar to the process they would follow if they were buying shoes or a watch for themselves. They identify different brands, compare product specifications, price and then decide to purchase. In short, the B2B buying process now largely mirrors a B2C eCommerce buying process. It is amply clear that to stay competitive and relevant, businesses need to have a presence online.

Sales Models within B2B eCommerce

• Manufacturers set up eCommerce sites to sell directly to other businesses. A good example is the auto part manufacturers that manufacture various vehicle parts, which they sell to the original equipment manufacturers. Their customers are automotive companies who manufacture vehicles and sell to end consumers.
• Wholesalers and Distributors who source products in bulk and sell to small retailers and end consumers. In this B2B eCommerce model, instead of selling your products individually to consumers, the business sells them in bulk and at a discount to other businesses. These are the intermediaries between manufacturers and retailers.

Advantages of B2B eCommerce

Increased reach: The established B2B eCommerce portals enable businesses to expand their reach and target potential customers effortlessly. Large product catalogs, low prices and fast shipping are a few reasons why B2B buyers are flocking to these marketplaces.  

Manage suppliers more efficiently: Manufacturing firms often have to deal with multiple suppliers. Keeping track of orders, maintaining the inventory, reordering products, etc. can be time-consuming and a drain on the resources. Managing suppliers becomes easy with B2B eCommerce platforms. A lot of the supplier interactions can be automated, helping you save time and costs.

Accelerate order fulfilment: Order fulfilment is critical for the success of an eCommerce business. You can automate the entire order fulfilment process and do away with errors that creep in during manual data entry of orders, customers and shipping details.

Better customer engagement: Having an eCommerce portal can increase the efficiency of sales representatives. They can have access to customer details at their fingertips. Client’s order history, the price quoted previously and order delivery status are all readily available, enabling reps to engage with customers more effectively.

How is B2B eCommerce different from B2C eCommerce

Target Audience: In B2C eCommerce the target audience is individual consumers who buy products for their personal use. Also, the market for B2C eCommerce is much larger – B2B eCommerce caters to a niche audience and the customers are not individuals but businesses of all sizes and shapes.

Buying decision: In B2C eCommerce, the decision to buy rests with one person, which is not the case in B2B purchases. Studies show that in B2B the average number of stakeholders involved in a purchase decision is 5.4. It is a collective decision-making process based on price, specifications, etc.

Purchase is not impulsive: The shopping behavior in B2C is very different from B2B. B2C is known for impulse purchases, while in B2B the decision to purchase comes after a lot of deliberation. Brands are shortlisted, prices and technical specifications compared, price negotiations happen and delivery modalities finalized before the purchase decision is taken.

Fixed Pricing vs Customized: In B2C eCommerce, the products have a fixed price. There is no scope for negotiations. Even discounts offered are prefixed by the seller and apply to all customers who visit the site. It’s not the case in B2B where pricing is customized based on the order quantity, relationship with the customers, payment terms, etc.

Lifetime value of customers: The average purchase value of products in B2B is much higher compared to B2C products. Also, B2B purchases are often made in bulk and appropriate shipping and insurance arrangements have to be made. Once a business finds a reliable supplier, they tend to stick with them and make repeat purchases. In short, the lifetime value of B2B customers is higher than B2C, so it makes sense to invest in personalized services and marketing and develop a good relationship with them.

Must-have features in B2B eCommerce platforms

B2B eCommerce platforms are a little different from B2C eCommerce because they need to cater to the complex selling process of B2B businesses. We have listed a few of the features that are a must in B2B eCommerce platforms that will enable companies to sell effectively in the online space.

• Request for Quote
• Access Restriction Options
• Customer Specific Catalog and Pricing
• Volume purchase and bulk discounts
• Quick order option
• Content delivery
• Self-service account management tools

In the next blog we will be discussing in detail each of these features, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, 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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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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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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Choosing the right eCommerce solution

The recent global economic challenges caused by COVID-19 came as a surprise to us all. Yes, there was (and still is) a short window of time you can use to prepare for the economic uncertainty ahead. But in general, many businesses were left exposed and in a vulnerable state all over the world.

Although the pandemic took a serious toll to our day-to-day activities, some organizations managed to capitalize on the situation and boost their sales. In a recent report, Adobe claimed that the eCommerce industry was accelerated by 4 to 6 years in terms of total online spending. This means that many more now prefer shopping online for goods they used to purchase in-store.

So it is no surprise that more and more companies are shifting their focus on developing and supporting a stable eCommerce experience for their customers. This is an important step and as such, you need to be well prepared to make the right decisions. This post will take a deep dive into Magento 2 to help you decide if it’s the right platform for your business.

How to know if Magento is the right solution for my organization?

We know that selecting the right software for your online store is a complex task. This is why we are going to examine Adobe’s eCommerce solution from multiple angles. What you will have to do is evaluate how each aspect of the framework fits with your organizational goals.

Post Navigation

1. The Magento 2 platform
   1. Long term support
   2. Security & Compliance
      • GDPR
      • CCPA
   3. Performance
   4. Scalability
2. Business Operations
   1. Accepting Payments
   2. Inventory & Stock Management
   3. Shipping Management
   4. Business Intelligence
   5. Custom Business Requirements

The Magento 2 platform

Magento is one of the leading eCommerce platforms on the market. It’s built on proven open source technologies and provides a quality solution to online merchants. From a flexible shopping cart system to absolute control over the functionality, user experience, and sales content, Magento offers powerful features that solve some of the biggest hurdles faced by online merchants.

To be the right solution for your store, Magento needs to align with your business needs and customer expectations in some key categories:

Long-term support

When you are integrating a new software within your organization, it is of utmost importance that you are confident in the long-term support of the product.

Coupling your business with a solution that is close to its end of life means additional overhead for technical support and feature updates. Both of which might require a dedicated development team depending on the vendor’s policy.

Currently, the latest version of Magento Commerce is 2.3. Version 2.2 was released in September 2017 and reached the end of its lifecycle in December 2019 when the latest release took over. As per the current Magento Software Lifecycle Policy, there is no date listed under End of Software Support for version 2.3.

With Magento 2.4 due for release in Q3 2020, some merchants are wondering whether now is the right time to start with the current latest release. But it is important to know that bug fixes for 2.3 will be provided for 12 months from the general availability announcement date of 2.4. For security updates, this period is 18 months. This gives you plenty of time to plan your migration and the confidence that your eCommerce solution will be supported in the long run.

Security & Compliance

Magento is a tried and tested platform. By default, it implements good practices in terms of password management, cross-site scripting (XSS) prevention, clickjacking exploits prevention, SQL injection prevention, and others. But it’s also important to evaluate how things are handled when new security lapses are found.

Security

While no software is 100% safe, 3 key components affect the security performance of the Magento platform.

The first one is Adobe themselves. Adobe is a company with serious software development experience and know-how. So when a lapse in the security is identified, the team behind the eCommerce software releases security patches and fixes on time.

Adobe had its fair share of security breaches and while these situations create a lot of stress for the company and its users, they are also a powerful learning opportunity. This is why the last 3 patches released for Magento version 2.3 (namely 2.3.3, 2.3.4 and 2.3.5) bring more than 100 security enhancements in 8 months.

The second component is the open-source Magento community. Each published line of code is accessible for contributors to discuss and improve upon in an open forum environment. This conversation facilitates the early discovery of potentially insecure functionalities and allows for a quick response by the development community.

The last element are security companies like Foregenix and Ambionics. Such organizations research market-leading platforms like Magento and have a great impact on early loophole identification. This doesn’t mean that they don’t make bad decisions sometimes (Critical flow in Magento handled badly), but the effort of hundreds of security researchers across the industry helps keep the platform safe.

Compliance

2018 was the year when personal data privacy was put center stage. Key legislation like GDPR and CCPA forced many merchants to take swift and decisive action to comply with the new standards.

GDPR

Magento 2 is ready for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Below you will find a list of resources that will provide valuable information regarding your compliance:

1. Magento GDPR Compliance
2. Magento GDPR Overview
3. Magento 2.x Personal Information Reference
4. 3 key actions for merchants
5. 5 things to know about GDPR and Magento

CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect on January 1, 2020. Your business is subject to CCPA requirements if you do business in California and collect, sell, or share California consumers’ personal information. Below you will find resources that will help you enable your CCPA compliance for your Magento store.

1. Magento CCPA Compliance Guide
2. CCPA Fact Sheet
3. Magento CCPA Compliance

Performance

High performance is a key ingredient in improving customer experience and boosting conversions. Today more than ever users are expecting an instant response to the action they are taking on your store. Magento Commerce 2.x made huge leaps forward in terms of site performance compared to Magento Enterprise Edition 1.x:

• Increased order processing per hour by up to 39%
• Provides nearly instant server response time for catalog browsing
• Add-to-cart server response times are up to 66% faster
• End-to-end checkout duration sped up by up to 51%

Magento offers a wide variety of options that can help you improve your website performance straight out of the box. Utilizing a sensible operational architecture, Magento provides options for faster workflow not only to your customerс but also to your suppliers and Magento developers.

In a test published by goivvy.com, Magento shows great performance while loaded with 1 000 000 unique products with an affordable server configuration:

• TTFB for admin dashboard – 1.37s
• Loading the list of products in 2.12s
• Loading product categories in 3.43s
• Home page response in under 850ms
• Category page loading in 10.03s
• Add-to-cart interaction completion in 1.34s

With Magento you get plenty of optimization options for basic deployments like extensive caching, asynchronous order data processing, frontend asset bundling, etc.

But if you are aiming for more advanced multi-server deployments you can leverage integration with Varnish caching system, Redis caching for sessions, or even a separate Redis instance for your default caching (we recommend not to use this instance for page caching) and boost performance even further.

That being said, many factors can influence your store performance. And while your software configuration has a vital role, your hardware resource availability is also key.

Do you need help speeding up your Magento website? Get in touch and leverage our insights!

Scalability

The scalability of your online store is highly coupled with your server infrastructure (we will discuss functional scalability later). If you are selecting Magento 2 for a small store with a limited number of products you might be able to provide a satisfactory customer experience on a more affordable server configuration.

But if we are talking about a medium or large store with millions of unique SKUs and a big user base, your web store is going to need a more robust hardware infrastructure.

One of the major advantages of Magento is that you can retain full control over your store hosting. Many eCommerce SaaS providers do not allow for hosting flexibility, leaving you to deal with the limitations of their servers.

The technological requirement for Magento 2.x allows you to deploy your store with a server provider of your choosing. But if you are still looking for the convenience of a managed and automated hosting platform that is specifically designed for Cloud-based solutions you don’t have to look further than Magento 2 Commerce Cloud Edition.

This version provides all M2 Commerce features and adds a layer of enhanced Cloud infrastructure that takes care of the server performance while making your site highly available to users in multiple geographic regions. You also get to leverage features like Git integration, key environments, etc.

Is it time to move your store to the cloud? Schedule a free consultation with a Magento Solution Specialist!

Business Operations

Running a successful online shop is a complex endeavor. The platform you select will have a big impact on your business operations. It should help you run your ops efficiently and provide you with enough opportunities for automation. Magento offers certain features that help decrease the administrative overhead while integrating well with your 3rd party service vendors.

Accepting Payments

Payments are a critical component of every online store and are important to both customers and merchants. Your customers expect a swift and easy payment process. Friction in the checkout process costs merchants around $200 billion in sales or about 50% cart abandonment rate (PYMNTS).

Merchants, on the other hand, face an additional layer of complexity when it comes to accepting payments. Often companies use a particular payment processing partner. This limits their flexibility and puts pressure on the eCommerce platform.

Luckily, Magento 2 is extremely flexible when it comes to payment integrations. By default, Magento supports some basic payment methods like:

• Check / Money Order
• Bank Transfer Payment
• Payment on Account (B2B feature)
• Cash On Delivery Payment
• Zero Subtotal Checkout
• Purchase Order

But often the default payment options don’t fit with your processes. If that’s the case, you can leverage one of the many payment integration modules available on the market. Currently, there are more than 240 payment integration modules for Magento 2. Here’s a shortlist of payment processors that you can integrate with your Magento store:

• Stripe
• Braintree
• 2Checkout
• Klarna
• PayPal
• Authorize.Net
• Google Pay
• PayU

See all payment modules here.

Before you move forward with purchasing a module you can also check with your Payment Processor. Often such companies already have solutions for the most common eCommerce platforms, so chances are your partner might be able to provide you with a module for your Magento 2 store.

And on the off chance that there are no modules that can integrate your online store with your preferred Payment Processor, Magento 2 offers a flexible programming API that can be used to create custom integrations. While this approach requires help from a developer, it is the most flexible way to integrate payments to your website.

Want to be in total control of your website payment? Get in touch and let’s discuss your custom-tailored integration!

Inventory & Stock Management

Inventory and stock management are some of the challenging aspects of running an eCommerce store. Managing product availability creates significant overhead and can put a strain on your resources.

Magento 2 offers a variety of configuration options that help you keep your inventory under control. And there are plenty of features to assist you in always being on top of the available quantities in your store.

Magento implements a flexible stock management system. You can control the general inventory settings for all products and also dive into the details and tweak the inventory of each product.

When discussing the general inventory settings, you will find options to decrease stock when order is placed, set items back to “In Stock” when an order is canceled, hide or show out of stock products, display a phrase when only a given amount of stock is left and to control whether the stock of a product is available on the Storefront.

Switching to the product stock options, you can configure your preferences for backorders, maximum or minimum allowed quantity in the shopping cart, an out-of-stock threshold, quantity notifications, quantity increments, and others.

Moving to the product level, you can manage quantity, backorders, maximum or minimum allowed quantity, the out-of-stock threshold, quantity notifications, quantity increments, stock availability, and the quantity use of decimals for each product.

As your business is evolving, you might find yourself needing more control over the shipping locations. Magento offers options to setup multi-source inventory so you can include all your stores, warehouses, drop shippers, and other product sources. Alternatively, if you want to scale down your shipping to a single location, you can configure a single-source inventory.

Are you interested in a custom inventory and stock management solution? Schedule a free consultation with our solution specialists!

Shipping Management

Amazon and other eCommerce leaders changed greatly customers’ expectations on shipping. Today consumers expect their delivery to arrive fast (same day/next day) and often with a low or no charge. That’s why online retailers are very concerned with the challenges to deliver orders quickly and cheaply.

The platform you select for your online store plays an important role in helping you tackle the shipping issues. If it supports just a couple of shipping options your business will lose certain flexibility and you may also see a drop in conversion rates. Fortunately, Magento 2 is one of the most flexible systems when it comes to shipping.

Magento offers the following carrier-neutral shipping options:

• Flat Rate
• Free Shipping
• Table Rates

Due to the complexities of shipping, many sellers opt-in for partnerships with local or international leaders in logistics. Often it is more cost and time effective to outsource delivery fulfillment but it requires software integration between your store and your preferred carrier.

Straight out of the box Magento helps you integrate with the following carriers:

• UPS
• USPS
• FedEx
• DHL

With each of those you can easily connect your carrier account and your Magento 2 shop. This way you can leverage software automation and decrease overhead while providing customers with up-to-date delivery times and rates (may vary depending on your carrier and account type).

This high level of integration with major carriers allows you to tap into the shipping system and offer order tracking, shipping label creation, and more.

Generating a shipping label can be done for regular shipments and products with return merchandise authorization. Besides the information provided by the carrier, the generated labels can include the number of the current package and the total number of packages, along with the Magento order number. All this contributes to a friction-free shipping process for your business and a good delivery experience for your customers.

Business Intelligence

Successful online stores are ever-evolving. Staying on top of the market means having a good understanding of how your customers interact with your online shop and what bottlenecks they might face in the ordering process. This is why having a robust Reporting and Analytics system is crucial for running a profitable online store.

Merchants using Magento 2 can benefit from a wide variety of generated reports. The data can be opened in a spreadsheet or imported in other analytical software. The following report types are available with your default Magento 2 installation:

1. Marketing Reports
   • Products in Cart
   • Search Terms
   • Abandoned Carts
   • Newsletter Problems
2. Review Reports
   • Magento Reviews by Product
   • Magento Reviews by Customer
3. Sales Reports
   • Orders
   • Taxes
   • Invoices
   • Shipping
   • Refunds
   • Coupons
   • PayPal Settlements
4. Customer Reports
   • Order Total
   • Order Count
   • New Accounts
5. Product Reports
   • Product Views
   • Bestsellers
   • Low Stock
   • Ordered Products
   • Downloads
6. Private Sales Reports (Available in Magento Commerce only)
   • Invitations
   • Invited Customers
   • Conversions
7. Customer Engagement Reports – provides data import and report options for dotdigital.
8. Business Intelligence Tools
   • Advanced Reporting
   • MBI (Magento Business Intelligence)
   • Yotpo Analytics

Custom Business Requirements

While Magento 2 comes up with plenty of features, businesses often require specific platform customization and custom feature implementations.

There are two approaches there – purchase a third party module or hire developers to create a custom module for your specific use case.

The Magento Marketplace is home to almost 3,400 modules that help merchants customize and expand their stores. Other digital marketplaces sell Magento 2 modules from various vendors and for various functionalities as well.

Using a pre-made third party module has some benefits – functionalities are ready-to-use, require no additional testing, and need only to be configured. The downside is that often there is no guarantee that the module will suit your specific needs. You may have to conduct the required due diligence before buying the module.

Deciding to bring developers on board to implement your custom functionality also has its downsides but guarantees a “perfect fit”. Development takes time so it won’t be the best solution when you need something ASAP. But if you have the ability to plan, the result will be custom-tailored to your specific needs and current processes. You will also have constant opportunity to provide feedback during the development to ensure a successful result.

This is the end of Part 1. If you want to be notified when we release Part 2, follow us on LinkedIn.

The post Is Magento the right platform for your online store? – Part 1 appeared first on Sorcible.