Magento is an open-source PHP software. It’s highly flexible and specializes in e-commerce omnichannel solutions. It’s considered the leading digital platform for e-commerce sites. It also comes with numerous out-of-the-box features that will make your customer experience better.
Even though Magento is open source, there is a more robust Commerce edition that offers more features and has a much larger price tag. This edition also requires developers and more support.
Fortunately, there is a large community of certified professionals such as bing digital that are ready and willing to help out.
A brief history
Development for Magento began in 2007. It was briefly owned by eBay and is now owned by Adobe. It is rumored that they plan to integrate it into the Adobe Experience Cloud which is an enterprise CMS platform.
With Adobe backing Magento, it has a bright and sustainable future. It’s also one of the most popular e-commerce platforms with a solid community behind it.
Magento open source
There are two offerings of Magento. Magento open source is the free edition. This version is an open source e-commerce platform. The software is free to download and use. The functionality can be extended by adding plugin modules.
The software can be downloaded from the Magento website. For do it yourself people, the active community behind the software can be very helpful. They are also helpful with improving and extending the software.
It’s not that difficult for a tech-savvy person to get a small Magento store up and running. Larger implementations may require the help of a developer or a team of developers to wrangle the more robust edition of the software.
The good news is both versions are based on the same software and upgrading is scalable.
Magento Commerce
Magento Commerce was previously known as Magento Enterprise Edition. This software has the same core files as the open source edition. This should make upgrading to Magento Commerce an easier experience with the same general platform, databases, and URL structure.
This is a robust solution and along with it comes a robust price tag. This edition also has more features and functionality. This is a good solution for large businesses that have a team for installation, troubleshooting, and technical support.
E-commerce Solutions
There are other e-commerce solutions such as WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, and more, but Magento has around 47% of the e-commerce market share in the US and is growing.
Besides being the most popular e-commerce platform, Magento has several built-in features that really make it functional.
Built-In Magento features
The platform allows you to manage your product catalog along with a built-in category and search function. It is a CMS that uses blocks and widgets. It has built-in promotion and marketing support. There’s a shopping cart with integrated checkout.
There’s order management that includes processing, payments, and shipping. There’s customer account management. Along with store management that includes information, hierarchy, and admin users. There’s an import/export tool and analytics that offers reports on marketing, sales, and customers.
Magento has a lot to offer in the digital e-commerce space. It’s easy and affordable to get started and possible to grow your website and platform as your business grows. It’s also a good system for large stores and businesses.