E-commerce Solutions: Is Magento Right for Your Business
For the average Joe Storeowner finding the right platform upon which to build an e-commerce site is probably a scary and daunting task; there are just so many options! Currently, at the top of the heap is Magento – the all-in-one e-commerce solution. Let’s take a look at what makes Magento so great, and consider some of the pros and cons of the platform to see if Magento is right for your e-commerce project.
What is Magento?
Magento is a powerful, comprehensive suite of business software. The program was built “open-source” which has led to the growth of a massive community and the plethora of extension, add-ons and applications they’ve created, which are available throughE-commerce Solutions
the Magento Connect marketplace. Magento can be used out of the box but the program is really intended to be customized to your business needs and design specs, and as such it is a complex and nuanced program with a steep learning curve. This means that finding a developer who is capable enough to successfully customize the program without losing some functionality (like the ability to upgrade) can be difficult and WILL be expensive to the point that the platform may really not be cost effective for smaller businesses.
Is Magento the Right E-commerce Solution for You?
Now that you understand what Magento is, how can you differentiate it from its competition and decide if it’s the right platform for your business?
Cost Benefit Analysis
A good analogy for Magento is a racecar: both are very powerful, precisely engineered and fine-tuned, and both are too much machine for the average Joe. Magento, like other high performance apparatuses requires the appropriate tools and capable handlers to keep it running at its peak – or to keep it running at all. Therefore, above all else, it is imperative that you secure a high quality source to host your site, and superior developers, preferably with lots of experience on Magento, to handle any fabrication or integration. All this means that if your site is smaller – a $1 million yearly turnover is a good yardstick – Magento is most likely going to be too expensive for you. The good news is that these are basically the only downsides of Magento, and if you can get the right developer to handle your project and your business can afford it, then Magento is a superb system with an amazing set of features.
What Does Magento Offer Users?
In addition to the most comprehensive suite of business software available in one package, Magento offers users all the basic necessities and e-commerce requirements like professional design, great security, and customer service. And the massive community of users means that finding answers to your questions or issues is almost a certainty. Add Built-in SEO optimization and marketing tools and industry leading product management to that and it’s instantly clear why Magento is so popular. However, perhaps the strongest selling points for Magento is that it is infinitely customizable, offering users almost endless design possibilities, and that it’s integrate-able with the vast majority of third-party business applications – think Google Checkout – making it the ideal e-commerce solution upgrade for companies with existing platforms already in place.
