Let me tell you one thing, if you are planning to start your business off with an e-commerce store then always go for a mature platform instead of going with the latest ones. So yes WordPress can be used to build an e-commerce store but again there will be conflicts between plugins in terms of integration and they might fail from time to time even though they work perfectly well individually. In general don’t believe much in what is being said about these platforms on internet forums or blogs because every company has their own interest at heart (either its about making money via affiliate links / sponsored posts or to promote their own related products etc ).
One of the main reasons why I did not go for WordPress was because it does not scale well for high traffic website while Magento 2 has made tremendous progress in that area and is way more scalable. Also, when using WordPress for an e-commerce store you still have to get hosting from some third party provider as they do not provide WS based hosting (still).
This means if your traffic suddenly increases then there is a good chance your server resources will be utilized at the maximum level which would eventually lead to performance issues even though the host makes huge claims about supporting 500k hits per day on one of their servers while another might say they can handle 1 million hits per day on all their servers combined. Being a hosting service provider myself I speak from experience that there is always some truth in those claims but it’s not the reality as when the website starts becoming popular then even their servers will start showing signs of getting used at their full capacity quickly and what you are left with is an average server which cannot handle high traffic.
Magento 2 Website Builder:-
Coming to Magento 2, a lot has changed now and it’s amazing how they have managed to pull off everything in such short time. For e-commerce store owners all I can say is ‘Now start building your dream store. One thing I don’t like about switching to Magento 2 from other platforms (like Big Commerce, Shopify etc.) is that I have to start from scratch and do all the work again which includes setting up SEO, Traffic etc. This might be because I have already set up my e-commerce store on WordPress and now I have migrated to Magento 2. If you are starting from scratch then it’s a different ball game altogether.
In terms of basic installation of Magento 2 it’s not much different than other platforms like Shopify or Big Commerce as they also have similar installation procedures. But what makes it different is that you get complete control over your website infrastructure and can play around with server resources as much as possible by adding new hardware whenever required (or getting it done by hosting provider if you do not want to touch the server). For me personally this is one of the main reasons for using Magento 2 – to have complete control over my server resources and not get left behind when traffic increases.
What is more striking about Magento 2 is their focus on extensive scalability and customizations – but again it depends on how well you know the platform. It also offers a lot of framework extensibility which can be taken advantage of as per requirement (as in creating your own extensions etc). What this means is that you can keep adding new modules whenever required and even create your own custom ones if necessary while working on other things simultaneously instead of waiting for someone else to make it for you or take months to do so. I am saying all this because one of the main reasons why anyone buys an e-commerce product is to be able to sell more and with Magento 2 you can do that easily.
What I Like about Magento 2:
There are various features of Magento 2 which I like – few of them are listed below:
I like their approach towards software development by separating functionalities into several modules that can have some scope for extension (as stated above) This means as a customer you can choose whether to use the out-of-the-box functionality or keep adding new features / modules whenever your requirements change, unlike other platforms where additional functionality is very limited. Large number of strong points which makes it stand apart from other eCommerce frameworks currently available in market. Open source but one thing I will say here is that support & maintenance cost is on the higher side so be prepared to pay a lot for them if you are short of budget. Most importantly with Magento 2 you don’t need to hire any developers / designers as the product is fully customizable and has all necessary features for an e-commerce store owner. For example there is built in responsive mobile design which can be thrown away if not required or changes can be made as per requirement (as mentioned above). The theme editor is quite easy and manageable too, I have already played around a bit with it. Now comes the part where I tell you what’s missing in Magento 2?
The only thing that I find lacking in Magento 2 at this stage (aka not available yet) are various extensions like for example POS, Customer Relationship Management, Mobile Apps and so on. But there are third party extensions available in market from which you can buy or even develop them if you are a tech savvy person :). Otherwise all the basic functionality is present in Magento 2 to get started easily. Summing up I would recommend Magento 2 for those who have plans to grow their business online and want complete control over server resources. As mentioned above it does come at a cost but it’s worth investing your money into this platform as it has huge potential to give excellent ROI (Return of investment ) over time.
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Feel free to drop me an email – [email protected] if you have any questions regarding Magento 2 or want to share your experience with it.
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The top reasons that make customers opt for a professional eCommerce website development agency rather than to build it by themselves or opt for an open-source platform like Magento are: High Quality Solutions Delivery
Let’s start ! A few years ago, when I started to think about opening my own eCommerce store , the first thing that came to me was “I should use some of the open source platforms like, Magento, Opencart etc for developing my website”. I really cannot recollect the exact reason behind opting for Magento but I think it was my friends who were of the opinion that,”Magento is a great open source platform to develop eCommerce stores and it has huge potential “.
In fact, when I did some research on Magento , I realized that there are plenty of reasons why one should go with this platform . Few amongst them being, – Great community support – Easy to integrate extensions from various providers like VQMOD (which powers our extreme customization capabilities) – Very good interface – Comprehensive documentation etc.
So you might be thinking now, “Okay where is the catch here ? if it’s such a great eCommerce platform then why not companies use it for developing their websites?”. It’s simple actually, it’s a matter of cost.
When we talk about developing an eCommerce store for any online business, there are certain costs involved which may include hosting charges, development charges, server charges etc if you want to do it all by yourself. But when you use the open source platform like Magento , you don’t need to deal with any hosting or server related issues as they form the base of your website . You just pay once for using this great platform and then get down to business without worrying about any technical issues.
Well, development cost is another factor that causes problems for most of the small businesses. They want to start their online stores because they feel that it’s the easiest route to success but when faced with these huge development cost , they end up spending money on third-party eCommerce solutions or external developers which in turn pushes them into more expenses . So, in this way Magento saves you from such unnecessary costs and provides you with all the customizations that can be offered by any other eCommerce platform.
All in all, we can say that Magento is a great platform to build any online store on as it has got everything in place and allows you to save money for your future business expansions . But still, there are things which make other eCommerce platforms better than Magento and the major drawback of Magento is its development costs. If you want to modify something or add some features then you have to go with an external developer or hire someone from the open source community . As a small time business owner , you don’t want to spend too much money on development and so Magento becomes less viable . If you are looking for a platform with lesser customizations but with more cost-effectiveness then Magento is not the right choice for your business.
In such cases, opting for other platforms like Opencart or even WooCommerce may be a better option as they offer all the features which Magento does but at a lower development costs. But that’s also not the reason to ditch Magento completely as it is still a great platform with powerful features and offers innumerable benefits in terms of saving money and time . It allows you to focus more on your core business activities without worrying about any technical issues as these are resolved by the professionals working at Magento . All in all , we can say that every eCommerce platform has its own limitations and advantages according to different businesses . So, understanding exactly what your needs are will enable you select the right platform for your business.
When we talk about developing an eCommerce store for any online business, there are certain costs involved which may include hosting charges, development charges, server charges etc if you want to do it all by yourself. But when you use the open source platform like Magento , you don’t need to deal with any hosting or server related issues as they form the base of your website . You just pay once for using this great platform and then get down to business without worrying about any technical issues.
Well, development cost is another factor that causes problems for most of the small businesses. They want to start their online stores because they feel that it’s the easiest route to success but when faced with these huge development cost , they end up spending money on third-party eCommerce solutions or external developers which in turn pushes them into more expenses . So, in this way Magento saves you from such unnecessary costs and provides you with all the customizations that can be offered by any other eCommerce platform.
But Magento is not the best choice for every business. As it has got lots of features and customized functionalities, it’s one of the most complex platforms out there which requires a lot of investment if you want to do everything on your own. In such cases, other eCommerce solutions like Opencart or even WooCommerce can be more cost-effective than Magento as they offer almost all that Magento offers but with lesser customizations but at lower costs .