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When it was officially launched over two years ago, the long-awaited Magento 2 platform was met by a mixed response from the world of eCommerce.
Having been in development for a significant amount of time, the vast majority of eCommerce users were desperate to find out which new tools and features had made the final cut. Others, however, were more reluctant to dive in, more than comfortable with the functionality and flexibility the original Magento platform offered them.
This is somewhat understandable – Magento 2 did feel like quite a step forward initially and this sizeable leap has left some eCommerce store owners unwilling to make the move from the older version.
Despite these polarised opinions early on, we can now say with some certainty that Magento 2 has driven the eCommerce industry on to bigger and better things – which is why we wanted to explain the reasons why many online stores have since fallen in love with the platform.
It’s More Powerful Than You Think
One of the most common queries you’ll hear with Magento 2 is that it’s overly complicated and impossible to fully master – but this just isn’t true. Until you try the platform for yourself, you won’t know how easy it is to use once you understand its construction and the way things work. There’s also a handy guide created by Magento themselves for you to use as a resource.
Other popular eCommerce platforms out there focus a significant portion of their marketing efforts on showcasing their user-friendly features, but this usually overwhelms store owners that lack experience. Magento provides a platform that does the opposite – it may feel intimidating to use at first, but anyone can master it once they get up to speed.
Here’s what Ryan Street, a trainer at Magento Commerce, had to say:
‘Magento is a robust and complex platform. Many times, I receive questions about ‘Can Magento do this?’ More often than not, I am able to tell clients that Magento has their requested feature right out of the box. This usually comes as quite a surprise to many of them. Magento 2 is more powerful than you think.’
There’s Little In The Way Of Competition
Up until three or four years ago, there were quite a limited number of eCommerce platforms available. The competition in this industry has since exploded into life and there is now a range of platforms out there, all battling with each other for a piece of the pie. This is often where many people forget just how long ago Magento was established.
These newer platforms however suffer from severe limitations in this area, especially when it comes to backend and frontend flexibility. Magento 2 allows you to implement a choice of the latest features that simply aren’t found on any other platforms.
Your Site Can Grow With Your Business
It feels like we go on about this element of Magento 2 a lot, but it’s a huge factor and USP for the platform!
When your store starts to enjoy success, it’s very likely you’ll want to grow and expand quickly and without unnecessary hassle. While scalability is lacking from other eCommerce platforms, Magento 2 offers a unique proposition.
The latest version will allow you to happily work away in the backend of the site without affecting the performance of your frontend store. Powerful inbuilt design features and dramatically improved loading times make the whole process of tweaking your store as straightforward as it can be.
Here’s what Rebecca Brocton, a Magento 2 developer and project manager, had to say:
‘If you are serious about eCommerce, growing your business, and having a scalable website that can grow with you, then the first choice has always been Magento.’
Easy To Maintain And Solve Issues
The task of maintaining your store is vital for any eCommerce platform, so again you need to choose wisely. Technical problems or regular periods of downtime can have a significant impact on the performance of a store – every minute your site isn’t functioning as it should is another potential lost customer.
As we’ve already spoken about, Magento 2 is considerably different to the original version. This change didn’t happen immediately either – an army of developers worked week in week out to get the platform ready for use across the globe. It’s these developers that are on hand to assist you with any issues you encounter and resolve problems sooner rather than later – our Magento Support team are pretty good at this too!
Fantastic Inbuilt Functionality
Magento 2 is potentially the only eCommerce platform in the world right now that gives you all the tools you need to create a fantastic online store straight out of the box. No add-ons, no gimmicks, no pricey upgrades.
It’s this amazing functionality that makes Magento 2 perfect for stores that are already growing and will want to expand their offering in the future. Other eCommerce platforms can fill a gap in the market for smaller stores that aren’t quite ready to invest in their future right away, but Magento 2 is perfect for those looking at the long term.
Here’s what Eugene Zubkov, one of Magento’s senior developers, had to say:
‘One of the most significant advantages of Magento are numerous helpful built-in functionalities of the platform. After installing the system, we get a fully-functional store with multi-currency, localization, a lot of store views, marketing, and reports.’
New Improvements Constantly Added
When your business is based entirely online, there’s obviously an inherent risk that comes with it. Your overheads may be significantly lower when compared to a bricks-and-mortar shop, but at least that store owner can set the alarm and lock the doors at night – so what can you do?
Online security is a huge part of any eCommerce platform and one where Magento 2 is at the forefront of the marketplace. Upgrading from the original version does take consideration and careful planning, but the constant rapid development of the platform means any security breaches are patched quickly and new features are added on a quarterly basis.
Amazing Customisation Possibility
At the end of the day, online shoppers aren’t interested in what platform your store operates on or what fancy functionality you’ve added into the backend – they just want a fast, simple and enjoyable buying experience.
At the end of the day, online shoppers aren’t interested in what platform your store operates on or what fancy functionality you’ve added into the backend – they just want a fast, simple and enjoyable buying experience.
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If you ask most of them, chances are they’ll want something visually appealing in terms of design and a set of features that are easy to interact with. It’s very unlikely that you’ll find two Magento 2 stores that both work and look the same – even if they started out with the same template. That built-in flexibility Magento 2 provides means there are so many different avenues you can go down without having to make sacrifices in terms of performance.
Another developer at Magento, Josh Cameron, had this to say:
‘Personally, I think the sheer amount of customization possibilities is a huge factor. Businesses can fine-tune Magento to fit their business model, instead of the other way around.’
Summary
The best way to understand the benefits of any eCommerce platform is to speak to those that use it regularly and have the required experience in the field. Magento 2 ‘experts’ are dotted all over the world at the moment, but for a true interpretation of the platform, you need to go straight to the horse’s mouth as we have done here.
If you’re still unsure whether moving to Magento 2 is the right move for your store, drop an email to [email protected] and our team will be happy to talk all the options through with you!