After more than 15 years on the market, Magento is a robust ecommerce platform. If you are looking forward to having a strong online presence, this is perhaps one of the best options.
Today, Magento has emerged as one of the most powerful and versatile eCommerce platforms. In this article, we will discuss what Magento is, what it can do, its main features, as well as its main pros and cons. In the spirit of helping you evaluate your decision for this technology as best as possible.
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What is Magento?
Magento is an open source eCommerce platform developed to provide online merchants with a flexible and customizable system to manage their online stores. It was first launched in 2008 and has seen significant growth since then, becoming a popular choice for businesses of all sizes.
After several years of development and investment by companies such as eBay, in 2016 Magento 1 evolved into Magento 2, becoming more flexible and scalable. In May 2018, it was announced Adobe's acquisition of Magento, for $1.68 billion with a view to integrating it into Adobe Experience Cloud, its Enterprise CMS platform.
The acquisition was completed on June 19, 2018. And today it is known as Adobe Commerce, which has already been recognized in the Gartner magic quadrant for several consecutive years.
After the entire Magento purchasing process, Adobe announced that the platform would remain open source and its most recent version, Magento 2, It is managed and can be found on Github.
For your business… Which one to choose? Adobe Commerce or Magento 2?
At this stage of the platform, the terms Adobe Commerce and Magento 2 are likely to cause confusion, due to the relationship between them. But don't worry, we are here to clear up any doubts. Keep in mind that:
- Magento 2 is the latest version of the open source platform developed by Magento Inc., which is now owned by Adobe.
- Adobe Commerce, on the other hand, is the commercial version of Magento 2. It offers additional features and advanced support services.
Key differences between Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) and Magento 2:
1. Ownership and Support:
- Magento 2: It is an open source ecommerce platform. Users can download, modify and use the software for free, but additional support and features may require costs.
- Adobe Commerce: It is the commercial version of Magento 2, owned by the giant Adobe. It offers advanced technical support, additional features and a range of value-added services for merchants. This involves costs associated with licenses and subscriptions.
2. Functionalities and Features:
- Magento 2: Offers a robust set of features for ecommerce, including inventory management, order processing, product customization, customer management, and marketing tools.
- Adobe Commerce: In addition to the features of Magento 2, Adobe Commerce includes advanced functionalities such as dynamic content, customer segmentation, advanced promotion rules, and a personalized shopping experience. It also integrates Adobe marketing tools for a more complete marketing strategy.
3. Integration with Adobe Services:
- Magento 2: Although it can integrate with various third-party tools and services, integration with Adobe products may require more complex and custom configuration.
- Adobe Commerce: Being owned by Adobe, integration with other Adobe tools, such as Adobe Analytics and Adobe Experience Manager, is streamlined and more seamless, allowing marketers to better take advantage of advanced marketing capabilities.
4. Security and Reliability:
- Magento 2: Being open source, security depends largely on the security practices implemented by the user and the community around the platform.
- Adobe Commerce: Offers advanced security features and regular updates to ensure a secure and reliable environment for online transactions.
5. Scalability:
- Magento 2: It is highly scalable and can adapt to the needs of growing companies. Therefore it is ideal for those who want to do business in a B2B model.
- Adobe Commerce: Offers specific scalability and performance features to handle intensive workloads and high volumes of traffic and transactions.
Although the source code of Adobe Commerce and Magento 2 is the same, for simplicity we could say that, Magento 2 is the open source version of the platform, while Adobe Commerce is the commercial version with additional features and advanced support.
As in any business, your decision process will surely depend on the budget available to invest. Whatever your decision, both Adobe Commerce and Magento 2 offer all the potential to build a headless ecommerce, composable, scalable and with all the modern functionality for B2B, B2B and B2B2C models.
What can Magento do?
Magento offers a wide range of features and functions that make it an attractive option for online business owners. Some of its notable capabilities include:
Flexibility and Customization:
It allows users to easily customize the look and functionality of their online stores to fit their specific needs.
Catalog Management:
Merchants can efficiently manage their products, prices and stock through a very easy to use interface.
Customer experience:
Magento offers a streamlined shopping experience for customers. With features like fast shopping carts, secure payment options, and frictionless checkout processes.
SEO Friendly:
Magento is designed with the SEO best practices in mind. This makes it easier to optimize the website for search engines and improves online visibility.
Scalability:
This platform is highly scalable, meaning it can grow along with your business. Whether you have a few dozen products or thousands, Magento can handle it.
The main features of Magento
- Advanced Inventory Management: Magento allows merchants to manage large inventories and different product variants efficiently.
- Multiple Store Integration: Business owners who run multiple online stores can easily do so from a single platform.
- Robust Security: Magento offers advanced security features to protect customer data and online transactions.
- Analysis and Reports: Provides powerful analytical tools that allow merchants to understand customer behavior and make informed decisions.
Magento vs Shopify, WooCommerce and Prestashop
They say comparisons are odious. But when we are making the decision and we have to choose an ecommerce platform To create an online store, we find several options. From custom developments to widely used solutions like Shopify, WooCommerce and Prestashop.
Although all of them are positioned as viable for any type of ecommerce, perhaps we need to look in more detail. This is why in this part of the article we want to bring the main advantages of each one and along with a brief comparison between the most common ones.
- For new and small projects (although they can grow to fit medium and even large sizes), the most popular options tend to be Shopify and WooCommerce. The main feature of Shopify compared to other online store solutions is its speed in creating a store. In addition, its monthly cost includes web hosting and the most common payment platforms.
To install WooCommerce, you need to have your own web hosting and a WordPress website. Because WooCommerce is widely used, there are a wide variety of plugins available to manage shipping, taxes, and credit card payments. - When the project is bigger, the main options are usually Prestashop and Magento. Prestashop is an open source eCommerce solution designed to be easy to use and customizable. Much of this customization is achieved through paid extensions, as in other ecommerce solutions.
Both Prestashop, WooCommerce and Magento are free platforms, since they are based on open source software, although it is necessary to have your own web hosting to host the websites.
Magento includes a blog and allows you to add many product customizations such as color and size options. It also allows product groupings and even customizable products. The online store management panel is very intuitive and its ability to manage a large number of products makes it the ideal choice for ambitious projects.
Magento offers two versions: the Community Version option (free) and the Enterprise Edition option (paid). The Enterprise version offers automated user segmentation. This CMS allows for a high degree of customization, making it suitable for projects that require a highly specific and detailed approach.
The pros and cons of Magento
Looking at the pros and cons of a platform is also an important step in helping us decide. Does Magento work for your ecommerce? We hope to help you answer this question by looking at some pros and cons.
Pros:
- Versatility and Customization: Magento is highly customizable and suits a variety of business needs.
- Scalability: The platform can grow along with your business without compromising performance.
- Active Community: Magento has an active community of developers and users around the world who can provide support and solutions to common problems.
- SEO Optimization: Magento is designed to be search engine friendly, making it easy to optimize the website for better performance in search results. Something crucial for an ecommerce.
Cons:
- Learning curve: For beginners, Magento may seem overwhelming due to its complexity, which may require time to learn how to use all its features effectively.
- Hardware Requirements: To get the most out of Magento, powerful servers are needed, which can be expensive for some small businesses.
- Development Cost: Advanced customization and development in Magento can represent significant costs, which can be a disadvantage for companies with limited budgets.
Now is your turn!
We hope that if you made it to this section of the article, you already know that Magento is a robust and versatile eCommerce platform that offers a wide range of features for online business owners.
With its ability to adapt to the specific needs of each business and its focus on search engine optimization, Magento is a popular choice for many companies around the world.
Remember to consider the learning curve and costs associated with development before deciding if Magento is the right platform for your online business. With the right guidance and investment, Magento can be a powerful tool to grow your online presence and increase sales for your business.
Do you want to create or migrate your ecommerce to Magento? Here we are ready to start an incredible project today. Contact us.
Digital Marketing Manager at Orienteed.
