Last updated - October 14, 2020
Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform used to develop websites for business purposes. The platform was released in 2008, and up till now, it has become one of the most popular eCommerce platforms due to its marvelous scalability and reliability. The effective features of Magento Commerce have made it popular among the users. Some popular users include Huwaei, Burger King, Coca Cola, Pepe Jeans, Ford, Fox Connect, and Liverpool F.C.
Using Magento Commerce for your online store requires to ask some questions from yourself or your business team that help you understand its requirements for your business. These are a few things you may consider.
What are the business objectives behind using any eCommerce platform for your business?
To answer this question, you need to ask a few more questions to define your objectives clearly.
- Are you clear about the cost that you will need to charge with the installation?
- Do you want your eCommerce site to be user-friendly to increase conversion and sale?
- Are you already using an eCommerce platform for your business? What differences are you looking for?
- Do you want a platform that integrates with third-party solutions?
- Do you want to get free about using particular services and vendors?
What Makes Magento the Right Enterprise eCommerce Platform?
Magento has some amazing features for midsize and enterprise-level eCommerce websites that make users choose this platform for developing their eCommerce website. It is an open-source platform with unlimited customization options. It is highly manageable and usable. In addition to this, the availability of more than 9000 plugins and extensions add to the enhancement of the features. Magento provides free social media extensions and has an extensive resource library for new plugins, demos, store management, and varying eCommerce store needs. In addition to this, the incorporation of Augmented reality and Artificial intelligence features in Magento can add an exciting perspective to the website that contributes to amazing user experience.
These are some of the most useful features of the Magento ecommerce platform.
Limitless Commerce
One of the best things about Magento is that it is an endlessly customizable eCommerce platform that progresses with your business as it grows and needs more features and options. As the store evolves from a single to many in number and size, the limitless business options allow it to benefit from built-in global support enabling the company to transact in multiple countries easily.
Compatibility with Multiple Devices
These days, the use of devices is unpredictable. Customers use all kinds of devices, from desktop to smartphones and tablets. This requires your website to be compatible with all kinds of devices. Magento enables its users to develop responsive websites without any additional costs.
Open Source
Technology is advancing every day, and you need to keep up with the advances . A platform that enables you to keep moving forward with the latest innovations is all that you need for a successful eCommerce store. Magento is a flexible and open-source platform that allows you to customize your site according to your business needs.
Client-centric
Simplicity and ease of use have become the most favorite features of website users and online shoppers. The same features contribute to making an effective ecommerce website and delivering a good shopping experience. Magento is a platform that assures you of usability and easy navigation and usability.
Quality Developers
Magento offers its users with hundreds of excellent developers and agencies that bring brilliant results.
Order Management
The platform enables store owners to manage complex orders effectively. It allows you to view, edit, and create orders for a painless shopping experience.
Easy Checkout
With Magento, the chances of cart abandonment are minimized. It offers simple, easy, and safe checkout and payment options.
Customization and Scalability
Magento is a good option to consider if you want your website to change with the time and needs of your store. The platform helps you develop a bespoke eCommerce website apt to the business needs. With Magento, you have an extensive collection of useful plugins, extensions, and integrations for enhancing and personalizing the design and functionalities of your website.
Useful plugins
In computing, a plugin or add-on is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program. When a program supports plugins, it enables customization for the user. Since Magento offers various plugins for its platform, it is highly customizable and adaptable according to the user needs. We have discussed two famous plugins of Magento to understand its features.
Botgento
Botgento is a Magento plugin that is used to make communication easy at your eCommerce store. The plugin integrates Facebook Messenger chatbot with Magento websites , which converts business into automation and business become witty and quick. Moreover, it enables business owners and retailers to discover targeted audiences. Botgento helps with the requirements in the business of conversational trade and enables vendors to put the right resources to handle customer’s queries and eventually try to convert them into success. The plugin is available free for the Magento Enterprise platform.
Zendesk
Zendesk is a popular plugin for Magento 2. The live chat support with Zendesk provides a quick and responsive way to connect with customers in real time. Live chat is an effective way to offer help to the user-end. With Zendesk, agents are enabled to handle multiple chats at once. This reduces the waiting time for shoppers that contributes a lot to successful conversion. It overall improves the customers’ experience.
You have to create an account at the Zendesk website to make this extension work for your website. Zendesk Lite is available for free FREE while the basic to premium options charge amount as per their features.
The Cons
Magento is not a platform that is not for all-level businesses. Also, it requires someone with proper technical knowledge to operate the program. If the platform is being installed for an enterprise-level organization, it would require a team of programmers to work for the program.
The basic version is free, but you are required to pay for getting an enterprise-level platform. Or, if you do not have programmers or developers in your team, you also need to invest money in third-party programming costs. This type of cost will be counted in maintenance costs. So, be ready to spend some amount on your e-commerce platform post-launch.
Well, how much does it usually cost to keep your store running? The cost may vary with requirements. The cost includes maintenance fees, continuing design and development work, platform support, SEO and data analytics, security, and updates.
Conclusion
Magento is the right platform for enterprises and organizations having online stores with a good quantity of products. Since we have discussed the platform for enterprise-level online shops, it is good to know that Magento is not recommended for small and midsize businesses because of its complex setup, technical management requirements, and cost.
