If you have an online business, then you’ve probably spent a little time and money on your website. You’d be mad not to. A good website can be the difference between making a fortune and going under; it’s your shop window, your shop, and your salesperson, all rolled into one! If you sell products or services on your website, then it’s important to carefully consider the kind of web platform you use. There are various different kinds, but Magento is one of the most popular platforms, and for good reason. With the help of expert Magento developers, Peacock Carter, I’d like to go through the reasons why Magento is the best platform for most ecommerce sites – hopefully helping anyone thinking about improving their website’s performance.
Magento is a purpose-built ecommerce platform
Unlike other big platforms like WordPress, which has add-on ecommerce features on top its wide range of functionality, Magento was originally designed to function specifically as an ecommerce platform and has a range of useful features made just for online businesses. This framework makes Magento the best choice for bigger websites who have a large number of different products and/or services on offer.
Magento is used by some truly huge companies
For many business owners, it’s reassuring that other large companies have chosen Magento as their ecommerce platform. Big names like Coca Cola, Nike, Mothercare, Jaguar, Ford, Land Rover, Paperchase, Paul Smith, Bulgari, Liverpool FC, Kurt Geiger, Fred Perry, The North Face… the list goes on and on. If you choose Magento as your platform then you’re in very good company – and there is a lot of reassurance in this, as it shows you that Magento is working for some of the biggest brands in the world and could work for you too.
Magento is a multilingual platform
Magento functions particularly well as an international ecommerce platform when you take into account that it offers a multilingual feature that allows users to change the website’s language. Obviously, this is also ideal even if you just want your website to target one country as there will be many different potential customers who do not have English as their first language. Spending a little extra time and money translating your content into the various different languages could yield huge increases in traffic and conversions.
Magento is a multicurrency platform
Magento also offers the chance to offer multiple different currency options for your customers. This is especially useful for businesses that want to work across the UK and Ireland, or Europe and the US. It’s very easy to set up a multicurrency shop on Magento, and all you need to do is set the base currency and then apply the various exchange rates in relation to this. You will need to manage this function from day-to-day, but the set-up and maintenance is very simple. For a little advice on setting up or changing your currencies, this official Magento user document is a great source.
Magento is a multisite platform
With Magento, you can add many different websites to the same centralised content management system (CMS). This allows you to control several different websites from the same hub. This multisite function is perfect for any company that operates across several different brands. Within the Magento CMS, you can seamlessly switch which website you’re tracking, and even compare the performance of your different websites, keeping all of your digital activities under one efficient system.
Magento offers an ever-expanding range of extensions
Magento provides a great deal of flexibility, with an ever-growing range of extensions to extend its core functionality. These different extensions allow you to change how your website looks and functions, both for you and for the customer. Magento has a varied range of third-party extensions to choose from, finding the right function for your business. There are extensions that change the following site components:
- Check-out cart
- Various different payment options (and PayPal is automatically built in!)
- Product/delivery countdown features
- Instagram assimilation as well as other social media platforms
- Dynamic delivery availability
- Integration with cloud accounting systems
- Product enquiries
- Advanced product videos
- Stock and inventory systems
- Custom orders
- Discount codes
- And so much more!
These various extensions are just the tip of the iceberg, however. An experienced Magento web development company like Peacock Carter, can help you develop more specific bespoke functionality for you Magento website. If you’ve got an original idea or a unique requirement, then bespoke web development is the only way to make your website perform exactly how you need it to!
It’s also worth noting that in its basic state Magento has one notable weakness: is B2B commerce. There are various reasons for this, but they are best left for a completely different article. Often Oro Commerce is the platform used for B2B sites. However, a good web developer should definitely be able to make Magento work for any B2B company.
To summarise, Magento is undoubtedly the best platform for more serious ecommerce websites. It has been built specifically for this task, which means it has the perfect framework to manage all of your ecommerce requirements. It also has built-in multilingual, multisite, and multicurrency options, as well as a range of extensions that add various bespoke functions to any ecommerce site. At this point in time, Magento is definitely the best option for most ecommerce sites and if you aren’t using it already, it’s worth making the transition. With a little bit of time, effort, and money, you can transform your ecommerce site and completely revolutionise your online business.