If you’re thinking about creating an online store, one of the first steps in implementing such a project is choosing a CMS. Various e-commerce solutions are currently available, and Magento is one of them. Should you choose it? Let’s analyze the facts and try to answer this question.
Ease of Use
Magento was originally developed for e-commerce. The developers position their product as extremely easy to learn, but due to the lack of a built-in visual builder, beginners will still need to learn its features and understand its functionality. For more advanced users, working with Magento will be a breeze. You can easily purchase beautiful and already optimized themes like Magento Color, which will ensure the attractiveness of your store.
Adding and editing new categories, pages, and products is done directly in the admin panel. Add-ons are managed here, templates are configured, and much more is also done here. From a technical perspective, the lack of a visual editor directly on product pages eliminates unnecessary scripting, which often becomes a stumbling block to performance. After a brief exploration of the engine’s core functionality, it becomes easy to manage, as there is literally nothing unnecessary that could impact key performance indicators.
Admin Panel Design
The Magento admin panel is designed in a classic style for such systems. Upon logging in, the user is taken to the Dashboard section, which displays summary information about site events. Here, you can view the number of purchases, identify top-selling products, find the average order value, and identify the most popular search queries.
The main menu is located on the left and is divided into several categories:
- Dashboard – a store overview;
- Catalog – divided into “Categories” and “Products” subsections. This is where you add new products and categories, as well as edit them;
- Costume – information about site visitors;
- Content – this is where you customize the visual aspect of your online store. You can customize the appearance of individual pages, as well as enable or disable individual widgets. Users can also add landing pages or blog posts in this section, which will then appear in the news;
- Stores – a particularly useful section for owners of multilingual online stores, where you can translate and customize each store for regional use;
- System – a tab containing basic engine and system settings.
It’s worth noting that the platform defaults to English, so a translation extension will need to be installed separately. This isn’t a problem, as both individual users and entire communities are dedicated to localizing the CMS, and most importantly, translating it into your language is completely free.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Magento provides standard tools for website search engine optimization:
- Changing the title and description of each page.
- Changing the page visibility status.
- Adding keywords.
- Configuring the robots.txt file.
- Adding a sitemap.
- Using a canonical link meta tag for categories and products.
Enabling canonical links helps prevent duplicate pages. This is a common problem in online stores where similar or identical products with different attributes are present. If your store is large, it’s useful to use automatic metadata generation. Magento offers this feature out of the box. The standard configuration also includes tools for editing the sitemap.
Pricing Plans
The cost of the Magento CMS directly depends on the license type purchased. The starting price is around $2,000. Users will receive 24/7 support, access to the developer’s cloud, and access to all the necessary functionality. It’s worth noting that the initial price increases several times if you need to implement multiple customizations, such as integration with non-standard ARM systems.
It’s worth noting that every user can receive a fully functional 30-day demo version of Magento. This can be done directly on Magento.com, but after this period, you will either need to purchase a full license or abandon the CMS.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The following are among Magento’s key advantages:
- Improved Varnish Cash caching system – accelerates page loading.
- Improved indexing processes – indexing of website pages occurs in the background and will not affect website performance.
- Full integration with Google Analytics – comprehensive store reporting and integration with services such as Google AdWords.
- Advanced user management – multiple users can share a single account, and catalog viewing restrictions can be set for certain users.
- Support for multiple payment systems, including PayPal;
- The ability to make large purchases with a receipt for up to 300 items.
- High performance even with a large number of visitors.
- Multi-site support.
- Mobile-friendly templates.
When it comes to disadvantages, the following points should be considered:
- Complex installation process – you’ll likely have to outsource the installation of the Magento CMS, and it will be simply beyond the capabilities of a beginner without prior knowledge.
- Requirement for customization – If you want to make your online store truly unique and personalized, you’ll either have to learn ZendFramework, the foundation on which Magento is built, or hire specialists, whose services are also expensive.
- Need for high-quality hosting – Basic and cheap hosting isn’t suitable for installing Magento.
- Few add-ons compared to other platforms.
Things to Remember
Magento is a powerful but complex platform for developing online stores. Its extensive features and customization options can make initial setup and ongoing maintenance challenging. Developers may face challenges integrating necessary modules, updating the system, and auditing code. Furthermore, highly qualified specialists are required to work with this platform. Incorrect configuration or errors can cause serious disruptions to the store, which is undesirable for a business. It’s important to consider the need for ongoing training and development of the team’s skills to minimize errors and improve service quality.
Final Thoughts
Magento CMS is a powerful system that can be used to build an online store with an incredible product range. The engine’s creators collaborate with many companies and private developers who create extensions and add-ons, significantly increasing its capabilities. However, for the domestic market, Magento has a number of drawbacks, ranging from the licensing cost to the need for constant development and the inability to integrate with various CRM systems, which is extremely useful for any company.
