The Benefits of Magento for eCommerce: Why it's the Right Choice for Your Online Store

Revenue in the eCommerce market is forecasted to reach $4.11 trillion in 2023. This is clearly an industry with limitless potential.

The industry is made up of a wide range of businesses, from retail and subscription to wholesaling and drop shipping. Irrespective of the part of the market you want to tap into, one thing you’ll need to decide on is which platform to use.

From BigCommerce and Shopify to Wix and Squarespace, there are many options to choose from. In this post, we’ll zone in on an open-source eCommerce platform that’s championed by many experts: Magento.

Read on to discover more about Magento for eCommerce and whether or not it’s right for your business.

Top eCommerce platforms and their usage

There are numerous eCommerce platforms available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some popular eCommerce platforms and their most recent usage statistics:

• Shopify - Shopify is a popular eCommerce platform that provides everything you need to create and run an online store. As of April 2023, Shopify is utilised by 4.15 million stores online.
• WooCommerce - This is an open-source eCommerce plugin designed for WordPress. It is a free platform that allows you to create an online store and sell products. At present, there are over 6,350,000 live stores on WooCommerce.
• Magento - Magento is a powerful eCommerce platform that is designed for enterprise-level businesses. It offers advanced features like customisable checkout, complex pricing rules, and multi-store capabilities. There are over 716,000 live stores that have used Magento.
• BigCommerce - BigCommerce is a cloud-based eCommerce platform that provides features like a drag-and-drop page builder, abandoned cart recovery, and multi-channel selling. There are over 144,000 sites using BigCommerce at present.
• Wix - This is a website builder that comes with eCommerce capabilities. It provides a range of templates and design tools to create an online store. It’s believed that Wix powers over 600,000 eCommerce stores, with the platform boasting over 132 million premium users.
• Squarespace - Squarespace is another website builder that offers eCommerce features. It provides a range of templates and design tools to create an online store. The platform boasts over 3.79 million users, with over 434,000 live websites on Squarespace.

The Magento eCommerce platform

Magento is a popular eCommerce platform that is designed for enterprise-level businesses. It offers advanced features like customisable checkout, complex pricing rules, and multi-store capabilities. Magento is an open-source platform. This means anyone can use the source code. You can also modify and distribute it.

• There are currently 716,200 websites that are Magento customers
• Of these websites, at least 151,000 are live
• Magento powers 0.6% of all websites on the Internet
• Of all users, 62% use Magento while 38% use Magento 2
• Many big brands use Magento, such as Ford, Liverpool FC, Coca-Cola, and Omega
• The Magento platform code has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times
• Magento has a market share of 2.32% in terms of worldwide eCommerce platforms

One of the key advantages of Magento is its flexibility and scalability. It can handle large amounts of traffic and can be customised to meet the specific needs of your business. It also offers a wide range of integrations with other software and services, such as payment gateways, shipping providers, and marketing tools.

Magento has a large and active community of developers and users, which means that there is a wealth of resources available to help you get started and troubleshoot any issues. There are also numerous third-party extensions and plugins available to extend the functionality of the platform.

However, Magento can be more complex to set up and manage than some other eCommerce platforms, particularly if you are not familiar with web development or programming. It also requires more powerful hosting than some other platforms, which can increase costs. This is why it makes sense to work with an expert Magento agency in London for expert Magento eCommerce development to ensure you’re seamlessly leveraging everything the platform has to offer.

How does Magento work?

Magento is a web-based eCommerce platform that gives companies and organisations the ability to develop and manage e-stores. It works by providing a range of features and tools that enable businesses to customise the look and feel of their store, manage products and inventory, process orders, and handle payments and shipping.

At its core, Magento is built using the PHP programming language and uses a MySQL database to store data. The platform consists of three main components:

1. The Magento core - This is the basic set of files that make up the Magento platform. It includes the code that handles basic functionality like product management, checkout, and order processing.
2. Extensions and modules - Extensions and modules are additional pieces of code that can be added to the core to add new functionality or customise existing features. There are thousands of extensions and modules available for Magento, both free and paid.
3. Themes - Themes are pre-designed templates that control the look and feel of your store. There are a variety of free and paid themes available for Magento, or businesses can create their own custom themes.

To set up a Magento store, businesses need to install the platform on a web server and configure it according to their specific requirements. This may involve setting up payment and shipping methods, configuring taxes, and setting up product categories and attributes.

Once the store is set up, businesses can use the Magento dashboard to manage their store, including adding and updating products, processing orders, and managing customers. Magento also includes a range of marketing tools, such as email marketing, customer segmentation, and promotions and discounts, to help businesses drive sales and increase customer engagement.

What are Magento’s benefits?

Now that you have a better understanding of Magento, let’s take a look at Magento's advantages and disadvantages in further detail.

Scalability

Magento is a highly scalable platform that can handle large amounts of traffic and support thousands of products. This makes it an ideal choice for growing businesses with plans to expand their online presence.

Customisation

You can enjoy a wide range of customisation options, including custom themes, extensions, and modules, which allow businesses to tailor the platform to their specific needs.

Multi-store support

Magento allows businesses to manage multiple online stores from a single dashboard, which can help to streamline operations and improve efficiency.

Marketing features

You can leverage a range of marketing features, such as email marketing, customer segmentation, and promotions and discounts, which can help businesses drive sales and increase customer engagement.

Open-source

Magento is an open-source platform, meaning that anyone can access the source code and use it, modify it, and distribute it. This makes it a flexible and customisable platform, with a large and active community of developers and users who contribute to its ongoing development.

Integration

You can integrate Magento easily with a range of third-party software and services, including payment gateways, shipping providers, and marketing tools, which makes it easy to expand functionality as needed.

Security

Finally, Magento takes security seriously, with regular updates and patches to address any vulnerabilities or issues that may arise.

Why Magento is the right choice for your eCommerce store

You may be wondering why Magento should be your eCommerce platform selection. Why choose Magento over Shopify for your eCommerce store?

While both Magento and Shopify are popular eCommerce platforms, there are some key reasons why Magento may be the right choice for your eCommerce store.

Magento is a highly scalable platform that can handle large amounts of traffic and support thousands of products. The level of customisation available is often more flexible than what is offered by Shopify.

Furthermore, as it’s open-source, it’s free to use and modify. Plus, the marketing features available may be more advanced than what is offered by Shopify.

Common challenges faced when adopting Magento as your eCommerce store

While there are benefits, there are some Magento eCommerce platform challenges that we must address. After all, every platform has pros and cons.

Magento can be more complex to set up and manage than some other eCommerce platforms, particularly if you are not familiar with web development or programming.

Due to its complexity, there may be a steep learning curve associated with using Magento. This can make it difficult for businesses without technical expertise to get the most out of the platform, which is why expert help is recommended.

Final words on choosing Magento

All in all, Magento is a powerful and flexible eCommerce platform that offers a range of benefits and features, including scalability, customisation options, multi-store support, advanced marketing features, open-source code, and easy integration with third-party software.

While it may come with some challenges and a higher learning curve than other eCommerce platforms, businesses with complex eCommerce needs or plans to expand their online presence may find that Magento is the right choice for their eCommerce store.