According to eMarketer, the eCommerce market is growing rapidly, with global retail eCommerce sales expected to grow by 20% from 2023-25.
Not only this, Nasdaq confirms that over 95% of transactions will happen online by 2040. These stats indicate growth if you're an eCommerce website owner looking to grow your business. But if your website doesn't engage and convert visitors, they indicate missed opportunities.
To create an enaging website, you need an eCommerce platform that supports your vision and is trusted by leaders across the globe. Magento is one such eCommerce platform that's widely popular and trusted by brands worldwide.
But being widely trusted is one thing and being able to support a business' requirements is another. Each business is unique and unless it fulfills their requirements and yields good returns of investment, even the best eCommerce platform is worthless.
This blog discusses if Magento is worth the hype and if it would do justice to your time, effort, and money. Let's begin:
What is Magento?
Developed by Varien Inc. in 2007, Magento is a widely-used and widely-preferred eCommerce platform worldwide. Boasting scalability, flexibility, advanced SEO capabilities, and features like robust catalog management - its an ideal platform for eCommerce business owners looking to customize and grow their online stores.
Adobe acquired Magento in 2018 for $1.68 billion.
5 Reasons Why Magento is the Best Platform for eCommerce Businesses
1. Magento offers vast customisation options
Each customer journey is unique. Promotions and tactics that worked for a certain customer may not work for another. Hence, a normal eCommerce website would not be suffice. Instead, you have to tailor it according to each visitor's journey.
Magento offers a vast range of customization options, making it a great choice for eCommerce websites. You can choose from a wide range of front-end themes that you can easily modify, templates that you easily edit, and new styles that you can easily add. You can also make adjustments on the back-end depending on your eCommerce store requirements.
In short, Magento is like water that shapes itself according to the changing requirements of your eCommerce business, ensuring it always remain flexible and scalable.
2. The Magento dashboard is comprehensive and easy to follow
Your business can suffer because if your eCommerce platform doesn’t have an intuitive interface. Here’s how:
Your productivity can take a hit as you have to spend more time trying to figure out things than performing tasks.
You can make mistakes that can cost you millions, such as adding incorrect order details, inaccurately analyzing data, and making wrong decisions that result in heavy losses.
Magento can prevent you from making such mistakes with its comprehensive database. From managing orders and updating inventories to making smart decisions to grow your business – you can handle everything in the Magento dashboard.
3. Magento Online Stores Work Seamlessly on Both Web and Mobile Devices
A few years ago (about 10 years), an eCommerce online store being mobile-friendly was an afterthought. But today it’s the need of the hour. Many users are active on mobile phones these days. You can’t ruin any chance of converting them. Hence, you need to ensure that the online stores you setup work seamlessly on both mobile and the web.
If you are also concerned that whether your online store will seamlessly work on both platforms, good news. Magento is mobile-friendly. It can help you setup the online store that caters a seamless, engaging user experience for both the mobile and the web audience.
4. Magento Lets You Integrate Your Online Store with Over 3000 Plugins
Plugins and extensions are critical in an eCommerce website as they let you add various features and capabilities into it. This way, you can make your online store more efficient and engaging.
Magento has around 3300 extensions to choose from, including payment gateways, marketing automation tools, customer support platforms, accounting and finance software, etc. It also has plugins to enhance your online store’s security and track your products’ shipping.
In short, Magento can help you set up an entire ecosystem for successfully running your eCommerce business. The best part is that you can do all this without any technical knowledge.
5. You can easily scale Magento to meet your business needs
eCommerce websites no longer invite a few hundred or thousand visits in a day. Instead, the number is a lot more. Amazon.com received approx 2.2 billion combined web visits in April 2023. During the peak seasons like Christmas and Black Friday, the number reaches 2x or 3x. Now, if your eCommerce website is not equipped to handle such sudden spikes in traffic, you’re already doomed.
That’s why you must have an eCommerce platform that’s easily scalable, and Magento is perfect for the job. You can easily scale it to accommodate a high number of visitors, orders, and products without impacting the website performance in any way.
7. Magento Enjoys Rich Community Support
Rich community support matters a lot in the eCommerce landscape. There are times when you may face a problem with your eCommerce website and might not have enough time and resources to contact an expert. That’s when support resources and community of developers would come to your rescue. They would also help you make informed decisions.
Magento enjoys support from a vast community of users and technology experts. These members actively share resource, offer support, and contribute to the continuous improvement of the platform. These experts would always have your back if you face any problems. They would address your challenges and ensure you can make the most out of the platform.
How Much Does Magento Cost?
The price of Magento depends on the edition you choose. Magento Open Source (which was called Magento Community Edition) is free to download and use. You would get basic eCommerce store features in it, which should be enough if you’re a small or mid-sized business with a limited budget.
Important Note: Only the software is free to download and use. Hosting, development, extensions, and themes would cost you money (a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand bucks).
Adobe Commerce (Earlier known as Magento Commerce) is a fully-fledged eCommerce platform in which you would get everything you need to successful setup and run an eCommerce store. It’s perfect for you if you’re a large enterprise with complex business requirements.
Unlike Magento Open Source, Adobe Commerce is not free. While the actual price may vary depending on your business requirements, the license fee starts at approximately $22,000 per year. With this fee, you get access to the software, security updates, and technical support. For a better estimate, you can approach an
agency for eCommerce development specializing in Magento. They have experience working on such projects and can help you.
Is Magento the Right eCommerce Platform for Your Business?
There are two answers to this question: In broader context and in the context of your business especially.
In broader context, Magento gets the job done. You can successfully setup and run your eCommerce store with it. Also, you get many features and seamless integration options to superpower your store with advanced functionalities.
Even if budget is your concern, you have the Magento Open Source to choose from. It gives you enough features to get your store up and running.
But would it work for your business? The best way to find it would be to approach an eCommerce development company. They work on many projects like yours and hence they know what may work best for your online store. If you looking for someone, contact us. We would be happy to help.