Magento has more than 250,000 sites worldwide. Out of which 120,000+ online shops are in the US alone. Its popularity is because you can create custom online shops. You can add themes to create your own online brand. Also, you can add different extensions to expand on the basic features. So let’s find out all about Magento.
About Magento:
A US based company called Varien Inc created Magento. At the time eCommerce software lacked a lot of flexibility. As a result, a project was started with the help of volunteers. The main goal was to create a program that allowed retailers to setup an online store easily. Magento was officially released in March 31, 2008.
Some of Magento’s Features
With Magento you can easily climb the rungs to success.
- Open source which means there is a vast community of developers working and updating the code at any given time.
- Out of the box solutions for basic online shopping needs.
- A wide variety of themes available from different sites. There are free and paid themes suitable for every business like Ultimo.
- Magento Marketplace where you can buy extensions to add on to the basic Magento features.
The two Magento Editions:
Magento has two versions that suit most businesses. The Community Edition (CE) is great for small to medium businesses. While the Enterprise Edition (EE) is a favorite among fortune 500 companies like Coca Cola, Burger King, and Nike, just to name a few. Below is a brief summary of the features available and how they work for your online shop.
Community Features
- It is free. No trial limitations. No order limitations. And also no product or sku limitations. Hence this is the most preferred choice by most businesses.
- Different ways to add your products as per your requirements. Like single for electronic items. Configurable for clothes and shoes which has size and color variations. Bundle offers for products like for example 6 socks or 24 pieces dinner set. And finally groups for products like salt and pepper shaker comes with free sugar bowl.
- Offer different shipping options like DHL, UPS, USPS and FedEx.
- Alternate modes of payment like PayPal and PayPal Express, Amazon Payments, Google Checkout, Money Order and Checks.
- Create newsletters.
Enterprise Features
- Full Page Caching capability so that customers don’t have to wait long for your site to load.
- The ability to scale when traffic is high.
- Loyalty and Rewards Program
- Gift Wrapping Options
- Gift Registry
- And finally the Rollback system
After reading all about Magento, you have therefore realized that it is one of the best eCommerce software around. If you need help in setting up your online business Contact Web 2 Market. We offer hosting, developing, designing and digital marketing services.