Magento
is a simplistic but powerful open source shopping cart platform that provides
clean and professional looking pages without the need to know programming. This feature rich software is quickly
becoming one of the most used open source e-commerce solutions.
Features
Right out of the
box, Magento comes with a long list of features. Here are some that caught our attention:
-
Marketing
Promotions and Tools include Flexible Coupons that you can set to be accessible
to select stores and customers, for select products and categories.
- Analytics
and Reporting is easy with the Admin Dashboard which provides an overview of
reports such as the Abandoned Shopping Cart report and Best Customer Reports.
-
Search
Engine Optimization – Google Site Map, URL Rewrites providing full control of
all URL’s, and Meta-information on all categories and products.
- Comprehensive
Site Management tools allow you to control several sites and store fronts from
a single Admin Panel while sharing information as required. Upgrades are achieved with a single
click. Additionally, Web Services API is
easily integrated between third-party applications and Magento.
- Managing
your Catalog is simplified with the ability to Batch Import and Export
items.
- Generous
Catalog Browsing abilities such as layered and faceted navigation for filtering
products in categories and in search results, product reviews and comparisons.
- The
Product Browsing tools quickly set up products with multiple images and image
zoom capabilities.
- Mobile
Commerce – Magento is optimized for iPhone, is internationally supported, has
multiple currency settings, and is multi-lingual.
- Simplified
Checkout means that your customers will complete the transaction on one page
without signing up for an account and can ship to more than one address.
- Shipping
set up is also very diverse. You can
select multiple shipping sites per order and allow for free shipping.
- Payment
is integrated with Google Checkout (Level 2) and there are Payment Extensions
available with Magento Connect.
-
Customer
Service is easy with the features that show all order tracking right on the
customer account.
- Customer
Accounts- apply reorder ability on the customer account, include downloadable
products, and see recently ordered items.
***You need to be aware that even though Magento is packed with features, it is still very buggy and I would personally not recommend the solution to anyone who is serious about his/her online business. It is possible to create a great eCommerce store with Magento but it will cost you a lot of man hours or a lot of money or both.
Support
Whether
you are interested in the standard free download or a more comprehensive
package, Magento provides full support through a wiki, chat,
and forums. You should be able to find
the answer to any question you have.
If you have the free version and can't find an answer to your question - you may need to hire a specialist to help you.
Summary
Magento
is an impressive product that is scalable to fit a growing business. The software provides all the tools necessary
to have full control over the look, content, and functionality of your site. In addition, the added benefit of the
marketing features makes this a great shopping cart solution. Even though Magento looks like it could potentially be the future of eCommerce and might be a great affordable solution in the near future, we cannot recommend it to anyone who needs a custom solution who's budget is less than $5000.
If you are interested in a custom Magento website design or Magento customization, feel free to contact us.
