Magentois the number one E-Commerce platform for the third year in a row, with 179 retailers on the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 1000 list using it to power their eCommerce stores.
In just a few short years, Magento has grown from humble beginnings to become the world’s leading platform, now powering over 240,000 eCommerce sites globally. Electronic, efficient and easy to use, Magento puts the e into e-commerce, offering a true online economy.
Open source doesn’t just mean free
One of the reasons why Magento is so popular with retailers is that it is open source. And whilst open source software is generally free, Magento has far much more to offer the cost-conscious, in terms of customizability and support.
The platform has a global network of developers and merchants who make up the Magento community. Offering everything from free advice to premium development work, businesses can count on the community to provide the support they need.
As an open-source platform, Magento also benefits from over 1,900 themes and hundreds of modules (many of which are free) available for installation. This gives Magento merchants the opportunity to customise their sites as much as they wish to, creating a completely unique online experience for their customers.
“Using Magento specialists, it is possible to extend, develop and manipulate the Magento code, creating a super-charged eCommerce site. Whatever features and functionality you require; this online economy can deliver it” says David Bryan, Managing Director of Birmingham-based Magento eCommerce Agency.
Highly scalable
Scalability is something that lets down many eCommerce platforms but it’s actually one of Magento’s greatest strengths. The eCommerce platform is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small start-ups to large corporations. Those that experience exceedingly high growth even have the option to use Magento Enterprise Edition, which is poised as an affordable alternative to some of the more expensive and complex solutions offered by the ‘big 3’ software providers.
With Magento, merchants can have the peace of mind that as their business grows, so can their eCommerce store. This is not only convenient but also cost-effective as it saves the need for migration to a new platform at a later stage.
Multi-store functionality
The Magento economy makes it possible for merchants to run multiple stores from a single backend CMS. This gives them the opportunity to streamline several tasks including inventory management, billing and customer correspondence for all their stores from just one dashboard.
Marketing capabilities
Something else that makes Magento more than just an eCommerce platform is its marketing capabilities. The online economy comes with various tools for cross-selling, up-selling and flexible pricing, allowing merchants to drive conversions and increase their order values.
What’s more, the platform can be integrated with various marketing and SEO modules, allowing merchants to reap the benefits of increased online visibility.
Easy integrations
Although Magento is known for its excellent out-of-the-box functionality, the platform can prove to be even more beneficial with third-party integrations.
David comments “Many of our clients come to us with the aim of integrating Magento with a multitude of third-party services, such as payment gateways, database applications and shipping tracking solutions”.
He continues, “There aren’t many eCommerce platforms that allow for such integrations but Magento is the exception. It gives merchants a great opportunity to not only make their sites unique for their customers but also make them work for them. From streamlining order processes to seamlessly integrating online and offline sales, Magento integrations are one of the key reasons the platform deserves its title as an online economy.”
Magento’s got mobile commerce covered.
Supports mobile commerce
With more and more customers shopping online using their smartphones and Google focusing on mobile usability as a ranking factor, there’s a growing need for eCommerce websites to be mobile compatible.
The good news is that both Magento Community and Enterprise incorporate multiple HTML5 capabilities, thus providing superior mobile user experiences.
With the use of responsive themes, merchants can easily transform their eCommerce stores and make them compatible with mobile. This not only benefits their customers in terms of having access to a better shopping experience but also the merchant, who can benefit from the increased mobile traffic to their store.
From great customisation options and out-of-the-box functionality to easy integrations and effortless marketing, Magento has got it all covered. With such a long list of benefits, it’s easy to see how Magento has put the e into eCommerce and become the online economy it is known as today.