In advance, all images are from the Magento website. We are not affiliated with them or paid for our opinions, we just love Magento Software.
If you’re running an e-commerce store, listen up! There’s brilliant software out there called Magento, and it’s all the rage.
Although we tend to shy away from anything trendy, this one seemed worth a bit more investigation. After some research, we liked it enough to give you the 411.
Or 111. Or 101. Something like that, you get the idea.
Readers, we present everything you need to know about Magento with some intentional creative misdirection to keep you not just educated, but additionally, a bit entertained.
1 – Magento is the Cage-Free Software of the E-Commerce World
Unlike most software out there, Magento is open source, or as hipsters have declared: “cage-free, free-range, fly chicken fly.”
What exactly is open source, you ask? Open source is when the software you purchase and use has the coding open for you to not just look at, but adjust and change as needed. In fact, it’s even encouraged.
The reason having a open source software is such an exciting option is because most software these days comes compiled and ready to run. That means it’s all locked up and impossible to edit or change. For most of the general population, this doesn’t tend to be a problem, until there are glitches or changes you want to make and cannot.
Having Magento run open source saves the user on cost, time, and all around makes it possible for the software to grow with the company. As any entrepreneur knows, businesses rarely need the exact same software for the entirety of their existence. They need adaptability.
There are some criteria to meet to be considered open source, so make sure you always check and learn about them.
2 – Magento Has an Insane Features List
We’re not talking a few added bonuses, but an actual huge features list that includes SEO capabilities, customer segmentation, catalog management, newsletter management, coupon codes, order management, private sales, gift registries, and checkout, payment, and shipping for when you order those chickens.
While our list isn’t exhaustive, it should give you a pretty good idea that Magento isn’t just dilly-dallying here. They mean business, which is probably why most of their clients are large corporations.
3 – Magento is SEO and Marketing Focused
Can we all just take a minute to appreciate that wondrous headline? Yes, Magento remembered us and has some mad respect for our industry and how vital it is to the success of an e-commerce store. If you ever had any doubt about what we do, look no further.
If Magento’s software is SEO and marketing focused, by golly, we’ve finally made it.
By being SEO and marketing focused what they’ve done is made email campaigns, ads, promotional pricing, multi-tier pricing, accessibility, and PCI-DDS compliance all integrated and ready to go. And remember, if there’s anything us digital marketing experts want to add in or do, we can because it’s completely open source.
4 – Mobile Commerce
While this is a feature and could have been mentioned above, we love it so much we decided it needed its own number and section.
With consumers spending 34 hours a month on their mobile devices, compared to 29 on the desktop, it’s no wonder Google finally made mobile first indexing official. You read that right, we’re on our phones 34 hours per month.
If that doesn’t convince you to be excited about their mobile commerce feature, maybe this will: conversion rates are higher in mobile than desktop. The stats prove it.
What this means for any business or e-commerce store is that if you’re not catering to your mobile users, you’re not selling. Plain and simple. Thankfully, Magento was already keen to this trend and just includes it as a feature, like you know…NBD. Nothing to see here.
5 – Magento Templates are Actually Good
Website templates tend to be love/hate. Love because we finally have our life back, and hate because, well, we didn’t think of it first.
The cool thing about Magento’s templates is they are really incredible and not at all expected. You’re not going to look at an e-commerce site and think, “Oh hey, that’s Magento’s Chicken Farm template.” Nope, oh no. The templates look sharp, and works beautifully.
The templates are all, of course, responsive and mobile-friendly and easy to use for any level of “template” designer. Just remember, to mess around in the coding with open source, you’re going to want to either really know what you’re doing or hire someone that does.
Final Thoughts
Magento is (excuse our mouth) badass.
It has all the bells and whistles you would expect for the tasks it claims it can do, they work, and they all work magnificently for running your e-commerce store.
Is Magento Right for Your E-Comm?
Magento is best suited for corporations or enterprises that have the staff and funds to make Magento work how you want. This is not for startups, and not for companies without a budget.
It’s kind of like that scene from Portlandia in the first season, where Fred and Carrie went to that high-end restaurant but couldn’t decide on which chicken to eat so they went to the farm to see how the chickens were raised, got to know their names, favorite colors, and eventually decided they could ethically eat Colin the chicken (sidenote: Portland is really like that).
Likewise, take the purchase and use of Magento seriously, and take some time to think, read reviews, talk to account specialists, make sure you have the support staff you need, and take the Magento leap with confidence and peace of mind.
Should you make that leap, we can confidently say you won’t be disappointed.
Need more direction? We can help you set your business ahead. Contact Dominate with SEO today.
