January 2013

We all know how difficult it can be to get a business off the ground as a small or emerging entrepreneur. Costly overhead, unforgiving economic circumstances, scarcity of talent—the obstacles pile up quickly. And to compete effectively, it’s absolutely crucial to maintain a solid online presence; global customer bases and internet-based service offerings are the new norm. Hosting solutions aimed at this small-to-medium-business demographic seem like a godsend in such an environment. Magento GO, released in 2011, aims to leverage Magento’s extensive e-commerce resources to provide rapid, seamless hosting for merchants in this niche. Basically, it uses a Software as a Service (SaaS) model to handle all the software, servers, hosting, and security for small businesses looking to retail online as soon as possible. This all sounds great, but let’s take a closer look: for whom is this model appropriate, and what should users know beforehand?

Not So Simple

Magento GO is advertised as a turnkey, ready-to-launch solution, but it actually requires quite a bit of legwork from your team to get things up and running. It’s by no means an instant store—the setup package includes a 300-page PDF, and the average storeowner would need both a design and a tech team to implement desired interfaces and functionality. And that’s just for a no-frills, by-the-numbers site. That’s not to say it isn’t faster than a full Magento build; it is, by a long shot, and chances are it’s also easier. But you get what you pay for: ask yourself if it would really be worth it to invest in a less-than-stellar representation of your company if you’ll immediately pay extra to improve it further with customized modules or design.

The Playing Field

In the long run, Magento GO competes with hosted solutions offered by companies like Volusion, whose staying power and scalable hosting options shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. It exists somewhere between Volusion and full Magento, acting as an all-in-one alternative to the former while lacking the flexible performance of the latter. Users will undoubtedly enjoy the intuitive feel once it’s launched, and the free trial offers a direct way to get a straightforward idea of Magento GO for anyone who’s interested.

Hosting with Hara

We at Hara Partners are proud to offer our own Magento-optimized hosting solution for small-to-medium enterprises. What sets us apart? First of all, we’re seasoned Magento experts with tens of thousands of hours of combined experience implemented customized, integrated Magento sites for a variety of customers. But the real clincher is our ability to deliver on multiple fronts for retailers in need of e-commerce results. We put the time and effort in to craft feature-rich, individualized sites with your business concerns at the forefront. Our in-house team provides complete Magento services out of one hand: developers, salespeople, content specialists, and designers collaborate on a daily basis to cover the entire site launch lifecycle, from strategizing through go-live and ongoing support. Take a look at our website and see what Hara Partners can do for you.

Here’s a quick overview of Magento Product Types: how to apply them, where to use them, and some tips for customization.

Simple Products

Use the Simple Product type for real products (i.e., products that exist in the real world). In essence, any physical/virtual product that “ships” ties to a Simple Product, which represents that SKU (“shelf keeping unit”). Inventory is always kept at the Simple Product level.

A Simple Product will only show up in your Magento store directly if it generally has a single configuration–“one size fits all.” See other product types below for multiple-configuration product types. Example Simple Products with a single configuration:

•  A Box of Crayons, small (24 Colors)
• A Box of Crayons, Large (64 Colors)
• SuperHighTech 26” HD Computer Monitor
• Han Solo Action Figure (6”)

Virtual Products

Virtual Products are those that do not have a physical or digital counterpart. They do not ship, nor do they have a download link. This product type might be used for services like:

• House Cleaning
• 1-Year Newsletter Subscription

Note: If using Virtual Products for “subscriptions,” be aware that there is no built-in way to manage auto-renewing subscriptions. All purchases made in Magento, regardless of Product Type, are one-time purchases.

Downloadable Products

Downloadable Products are similar to Virtual Products, with the option to add one or more digital files for download. Files can be uploaded either

(1) via the Admin interface, or
(2) directly to the server via FTP and then added by URL.

When a customer buys a Downloadable Product, Magento will generate a secure, encrypted link for the download to disguise the file’s actual location from the customer. This category might include products such as:

• Music/MP3s
• Computer Software

Note: If you have SSL enabled for your site, downloads may fail for all versions of IE, as IE contains a bug that prevents downloading over secure connections if the no-cache header is set. This can be easily fixed in an htaccess file by removing the no-cache and no-store headers, or by forcing download links to be non-secure.

Configurable Products

Configurable Products are virtual (i.e., they don’t exist in the real world) and they require underlying Simple Products. They can only be used together with Simple Products; they can’t exist on their own.

In the above example, all “hot cinnamon spice tea” is sold on one page as a Configurable Product, and the different package sizes and options (which are Simple Products) are offered within this page.

Here’s another example of modeling different variants that are available via a choice of options. Say you offer T-shirts in two colors and three sizes. You would create six Simple Products individually (each with its own SKU) and then group these six as a Configurable Product; customers can choose the size and color and then add it to their cart.

Note: Very similar functionality is possible using Custom Options for Simple Products. The difference between a Configurable Product and a product including Custom Options is that Custom Options do not have an inventory option.

Grouped Products

Grouped Products are similar to Configurable Products, allowing you to create a new product using one or more existing products in your store. For instance, let’s assume you have a “Han Solo Action Figure” and a “Luke Skywalker Action Figure” already in your store and you wanted to sell them as a bundle. You would simply create a new Grouped Product (let’s call it “Star Wars Heroes”), then add both action figures to the group via the “Associated Products” tab.

Note: Unfortunately, you can’t set a special “group” price directly from the product page. To offer a discount for buying items together, you will need to create a new Shopping Cart Price Rule.

Bundled Products

This Product Type, also known as a “kit” in other e-commerce software, is ideal for circumstances where the user has to select at least one option from a number of configurable options. This might include products like:

• Customizable Computer Systems
• Customizable Tuxedos/Suits

Unlike Grouped Products, Bundled Products allow discounts on the underlying Simple Products.

[Adapted from Tom da Brain’s description on the Magento Commerce wiki]

Confirming its reputation as a flexible powerhouse among e-commerce platforms, Magento has recently released HTML5 enhancements for both its Community and Enterprise editions to enable an improved mobile experience. By incorporating the language in its open-source architecture, Magento has positioned itself to offer advanced control and responsiveness to its growing mobile user base at the opportune moment. Together, Magento and HTML5 are poised to revolutionize web applications.

Magento and HTML5 capabilities

Merchants and users can expect significant advances in out-of-the-box mobile Magento commerce thanks to the integration. Magento’s official endorsement bypasses cumbersome workarounds that threatened to bog down innovative feature development in the past. Key capabilities include:

• Device-native audio and video interaction
• Gesture-based control and manipulation, such as image scaling and drag-and-drop shopping carts
• Fantastic cross-browser compatibility
• Expanded upselling and cross-selling functions
• Intuitive search and results display

This is a strong move not just for the future of Magento, but also for web development in general. HTML5 is also a powerful alternative to Flash, which isn’t supported by many mobile devices, and thus could be the ticket to extensive market penetration for a number of previously limited online retailers. As HTML5 comes into its own, e-commerce merchants will realize just how worthwhile investment in mobile applications can be.