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10 SEO Tips for Magento Product Pages
As the most popular and the fastest-expanding e-commerce platform that is also open-source and free, it is clear that Magento is becoming a thing of necessity rather than a thing of convenience. It is the absolute MVP when it comes to online stores and it many companies around the world, both big and small, rely on it.
Magento is very SEO-friendly, as you’ll find many experts claim. However, there is always something to be done and improved when it comes to SEO. Here are some very useful tips to help you make the most out of your Magento product pages.
The tips that mean the world
This write-up contains a list of must-use Magento SEO tips that you should apply right off the bat. Some of them pertain to top technical issues with Magento that you should implement immediately after integrating it with your ERP.
1. Update to the latest version
Updates for Magento are being released on a regular basis and if you choose to skip a few, you may end up experiencing certain issues and inconsistencies. Like with any piece of software out there, you should always keep up with the updates.
For instance, Magento updates feature the best and the latest SEO features. That’s because the world of SEO is always shifting and changing and frequent updates are essentially the way to keep up with the changes.
Of course, keeping Magento updated brings many other fixes and enhancements to the table, such as bug fixes, performance enhancements, and security boosts. With so many clear and apparent benefits, it is recommended that you always keep Magento fully updated.
2. Use appropriate keywords
Although Magento performs well with SEO in general, its default sample content (title & description, for instance), isn’t an SEO standard. One of the first fixes that you should apply when you integrate Magento, SEO-wise, is edit the default sample content. To do this, navigate to Content, followed by Design, and finally, Configuration. You’ll see the Design Configuration table, where you’ll be able to edit pretty much any aspect of your online store. Make sure to include appropriate keywords where needed.
3. Keep the meta description and the title keyword-rich
Keep in mind that the meta description and the title should be rich with keywords and always unique. When it comes to the title, you should aim to put the keywords as close to the beginning as possible, without it sounding strange or unnatural. Of course, that’s not always possible.
When it comes to the meta description, you should always aim to mix the main keyword in, regardless of its length. Naturally, you should try to execute it without it sounding weird and obvious.
In eCommerce, “the” and “and” shouldn’t appear in your title. Do the same for the category title/description.
4. Steer clear of duplicate content
Duplicate content is never good for SEO. There is nothing worse than having multiple URLs leading to similar or identical content. This, unfortunately, would be quite a beast to tame, if you went out to manually report all duplicate content.
Instead, the best way to go is to explicitly tell Google which one URL is canonical – also referred to as authoritative. Fail to do this, and Google will treat the duplicate content as equal, which doesn’t leave you with a whole lot of control over your SEO optimization.
Magento offers Canonical Tags, a tool that is essential for tagging the authoritative URLs. To enable this option, go to Store, then, navigate to Configuration, then, Catalog, and finally, Search Engine Optimization. Set the Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Categories option to Yes. To finish, set the Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Products to Yes, as well.
5. Optimize product images
Don’t forget that the product images on your store page should also be optimized. It all starts with naming your image files properly before uploading them. This means that your files should never read “IMG00666”, but “orange-electric-guitar”, instead (for example). File name should always be related to the picture. The reason behind this is that the file’s name will become part of that particular image’s URL.
If there is a logical connection between the image’s file name and the image itself, this will make it easier for the search engine to understand. Another good reason why you should name your images properly is because the search engine won’t always be able to see what’s in the picture. This is where the words kick in – they will allow the search engine to understand the photo.
6. Optimize URLs
When it comes to SEO, it is best that you keep your webpage URLs free of codes of any sorts. Luckily, Magento offers an option to “clean” the URLs for you. To do this, navigate to Store. Then, go to Configuration, General, Web and, finally, to URL Options. In there, find the Add Store Code to URL option and set it to No. This will prevent the category/product codes from being added automatically to your URLs, which will make your website significantly SEO-friendlier.
7. Make a sitemap
Unfortunately, Magento 2 doesn’t auto-create HTML sitemaps. Not by default, that is. In order to fix this, you will need to implement some extensions. You can take your pick from the available extensions, as most will work fine with Magento. But why do it? Why is this so important for SEO?
Well, first of all, having the sitemap will allow the crawlers to search the content of your site and send reports back to the search engine. The sitemap includes links to products, categories, CMS pages, as well as store views for Magento.
It is important to note that while Magento 1 supports both HTML and XML sitemaps, the choice is reduced to HTML in Magento 2.
8. Conduct keyword research
This may sound like an absolute no-brainer, but knowing which keywords to target is essential for proper SEO. Targeting only the short-tail keywords is obvious, but far from enough. You will need a lot of market research here. Use SEO researching tools and think wider - and longer - than short-tail.
9. Optimize the CTAs
A Call to Action (CTA) is an invaluable asset to anyone doing search engine optimization. CTAs are used to give the potential customer that one final nudge. It is your last call for them to purchase your item or service. Make your CTAs appealing and avoid the classic “Sign Up” or “Buy Now” phrases.
10. Check analytics
It would be nice if you could just optimize your website once and leave it be, but SEO isn’t a one-off thing. Instead, it requires continuous work. You’ll need to constantly check on your eCommerce analytics to see how everything is performing. Split tests, Google Analytics, and competitor research are essential here.
Magento and SEO
Doing SEO with Magento is easier than with some other platforms. However, you will have to allocate some time and resources towards setting up Magento SEO-wise, if you want to use it to its full capacity.
June 16, 2019Magento is very SEO-friendly, as you’ll find many experts claim. However, there is always something to be done and improved when it comes to SEO. Here are some very useful tips to help you make the most out of your Magento product pages.
The tips that mean the world
This write-up contains a list of must-use Magento SEO tips that you should apply right off the bat. Some of them pertain to top technical issues with Magento that you should implement immediately after integrating it with your ERP.
1. Update to the latest version
Updates for Magento are being released on a regular basis and if you choose to skip a few, you may end up experiencing certain issues and inconsistencies. Like with any piece of software out there, you should always keep up with the updates.
For instance, Magento updates feature the best and the latest SEO features. That’s because the world of SEO is always shifting and changing and frequent updates are essentially the way to keep up with the changes.
Of course, keeping Magento updated brings many other fixes and enhancements to the table, such as bug fixes, performance enhancements, and security boosts. With so many clear and apparent benefits, it is recommended that you always keep Magento fully updated.
2. Use appropriate keywords
Although Magento performs well with SEO in general, its default sample content (title & description, for instance), isn’t an SEO standard. One of the first fixes that you should apply when you integrate Magento, SEO-wise, is edit the default sample content. To do this, navigate to Content, followed by Design, and finally, Configuration. You’ll see the Design Configuration table, where you’ll be able to edit pretty much any aspect of your online store. Make sure to include appropriate keywords where needed.
3. Keep the meta description and the title keyword-rich
Keep in mind that the meta description and the title should be rich with keywords and always unique. When it comes to the title, you should aim to put the keywords as close to the beginning as possible, without it sounding strange or unnatural. Of course, that’s not always possible.
When it comes to the meta description, you should always aim to mix the main keyword in, regardless of its length. Naturally, you should try to execute it without it sounding weird and obvious.
In eCommerce, “the” and “and” shouldn’t appear in your title. Do the same for the category title/description.
4. Steer clear of duplicate content
Duplicate content is never good for SEO. There is nothing worse than having multiple URLs leading to similar or identical content. This, unfortunately, would be quite a beast to tame, if you went out to manually report all duplicate content.
Instead, the best way to go is to explicitly tell Google which one URL is canonical – also referred to as authoritative. Fail to do this, and Google will treat the duplicate content as equal, which doesn’t leave you with a whole lot of control over your SEO optimization.
Magento offers Canonical Tags, a tool that is essential for tagging the authoritative URLs. To enable this option, go to Store, then, navigate to Configuration, then, Catalog, and finally, Search Engine Optimization. Set the Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Categories option to Yes. To finish, set the Use Canonical Link Meta Tag For Products to Yes, as well.
5. Optimize product images
Don’t forget that the product images on your store page should also be optimized. It all starts with naming your image files properly before uploading them. This means that your files should never read “IMG00666”, but “orange-electric-guitar”, instead (for example). File name should always be related to the picture. The reason behind this is that the file’s name will become part of that particular image’s URL.
If there is a logical connection between the image’s file name and the image itself, this will make it easier for the search engine to understand. Another good reason why you should name your images properly is because the search engine won’t always be able to see what’s in the picture. This is where the words kick in – they will allow the search engine to understand the photo.
6. Optimize URLs
When it comes to SEO, it is best that you keep your webpage URLs free of codes of any sorts. Luckily, Magento offers an option to “clean” the URLs for you. To do this, navigate to Store. Then, go to Configuration, General, Web and, finally, to URL Options. In there, find the Add Store Code to URL option and set it to No. This will prevent the category/product codes from being added automatically to your URLs, which will make your website significantly SEO-friendlier.
7. Make a sitemap
Unfortunately, Magento 2 doesn’t auto-create HTML sitemaps. Not by default, that is. In order to fix this, you will need to implement some extensions. You can take your pick from the available extensions, as most will work fine with Magento. But why do it? Why is this so important for SEO?
Well, first of all, having the sitemap will allow the crawlers to search the content of your site and send reports back to the search engine. The sitemap includes links to products, categories, CMS pages, as well as store views for Magento.
It is important to note that while Magento 1 supports both HTML and XML sitemaps, the choice is reduced to HTML in Magento 2.
8. Conduct keyword research
This may sound like an absolute no-brainer, but knowing which keywords to target is essential for proper SEO. Targeting only the short-tail keywords is obvious, but far from enough. You will need a lot of market research here. Use SEO researching tools and think wider - and longer - than short-tail.
9. Optimize the CTAs
A Call to Action (CTA) is an invaluable asset to anyone doing search engine optimization. CTAs are used to give the potential customer that one final nudge. It is your last call for them to purchase your item or service. Make your CTAs appealing and avoid the classic “Sign Up” or “Buy Now” phrases.
10. Check analytics
It would be nice if you could just optimize your website once and leave it be, but SEO isn’t a one-off thing. Instead, it requires continuous work. You’ll need to constantly check on your eCommerce analytics to see how everything is performing. Split tests, Google Analytics, and competitor research are essential here.
Magento and SEO
Doing SEO with Magento is easier than with some other platforms. However, you will have to allocate some time and resources towards setting up Magento SEO-wise, if you want to use it to its full capacity.
The Whys and Hows of Magento and ERP Integration
eCommerce is one of the main and most convenient ways to buy things today. From the user’s perspective, ordering and purchasing online might seem simple and easy. As a business owner, you know very well that things are somewhat more complicated than that.
Are you considering integrating your eCommerce platform into your ERP system? Yes, you’ve probably come across many businesses doing the same. Clearly, there are a lot of benefits to this integration. It can help you significantly boost your business and let your customers get your product faster and easier.
Magento
If you’re just getting into the world of eCommerce or simply want to boost your knowledge or revise it, knowing the basics of Magento can be very helpful.
Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform that essentially gives you, as an online merchant, a variety of flexible options for setting up your custom shopping cart system. Magento gives you a lot of control, particularly regarding functionality, content, and the general outlook of your store. You can add a variety of themes and plug-ins to make the customer experience on your store page the best it can be.
This platform has a lot of tools attached to its belt, such as SEO, marketing, catalog management, and many other tools. Of course, Magento has even more custom functionalities to brag about, but they do require more advanced programming skills.
ERP
ERP is short for Enterprise Resource Planning. This type of business management software essentially allows a business to automate a variety of back-office functions that incorporate human resources, technology, and services. ERP software includes development, product planning, manufacturing, marketing, sales, user interface, and application. It is a true virtual office assistant packed into a single bundle.
Make no mistake, however, ERP is enterprise software built for medium to large businesses. It doesn’t work on its own, but rather requires dedicated employees or even teams to set everything up, customize it, and run it. Small business ERP software does exist, but it is significantly more lightweight and can’t perform advanced tasks all that well.
Why integrate Magento and ERP?
As mentioned, the benefits of integrating your Magento eCommerce platform with an ERP system are huge. If this weren’t the case, there wouldn’t be a huge number of worldwide companies, big and small, doing it.
But, as a good businessperson, you should never blindly make decisions and adopt the flock mentality. You should thoroughly understand all the advantages and risks of the moves you make.
1. Cost reduction
Businesses are always looking to cut costs and maximize profits. Also, becoming stable and profitable is something that doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes years of careful resource allocation and cost reduction, in order to achieve long-term stability. So, how can Magento help here? In a nutshell – it allows you to keep better track of your business.
Essentially, the sales updates are automatically reflected throughout the ERP if you use Magento. In other words, when a customer places an order, updates are immediately applied to invoicing, accounting, shipping, and every other aspect of your ERP system.
This will allow you to keep perfect stock track, meaning that you won’t have to worry too much about redundancies. You’ll be able to keep everything that you need on hand, plus automatically order more when necessary. That way, you’ll cut the costs significantly.
2. More automation
The very essence of the world of internet is automation – not having to spend too much time on mindless processes that can be done by a program or a machine. Integrating Magento with your ERP will allow you to minimize the number of manual entries, such as orders and product, inventory, and shipping and customer data entries.
More automation means two things - a smaller risk of error and less time wasted on redundant tasks. Oh, and proceeding with Magento integration will significantly improve the communication with the sales teams, as well as overall back-office productivity.
3. Decreased risk of error
As mentioned, if you decide to integrate Magento into your ERP, you’ll be able to automate a huge number of redundant tasks. But what does Magento really do here? Well, it allows for a seamless integration of the payment, order, shipping, and customer details and information into the system.
Furthermore, you can upload all the inventory details straight from your ERP and directly onto your eCommerce portal with Magento. No more unnecessary human errors, no more tedious data re-entry.
4. Satisfied customers
Perhaps even most importantly, integrating Magento with your ERP will improve your clients’ overall shopping experience. Here’s a good example of what Magento can do for your customers.
Thanks to Magento, a customer can log in to a Magento shopping cart to place individual orders. They can pick which products they want to add to the cart, as well as filter the products by category. After doing this, Magento allows your customer to have the product or products shipped to the pre-set address. This may not sound like a lot, but the easier you make the ordering process, the better your chances at conversion are.
Not only is the general ordering process made easier here, but your customers will actually gain access to useful information, such as shipping details, order processing, delivery dates, text updates, etc. This is important because keeping a customer happy after the purchase is makes them more likely to come back.
5. ERP connectivity
The entire purpose of ERP software is integrating business processes and making your life easier. The list of processes you can integrate includes budgeting, finance, accounting, invoicing, payment management, workflow management, QC, supply chain management, inventory management, warehousing, and customer relationship management, among others.
Magento actually covers a good number of those, such as payment management, invoicing, customer relationship management, warehousing, inventory management, and many others. Magento and your ERP could be a perfect match.
How to integrate Magento and ERP?
In the following sections, let’s discuss how to incorporate Magento into your eCommerce business. The first step towards integrating Magento with your ERP is finding the perfect ERP for the job. Of course, if you already have a good ERP you can stick with it and there is no doubt that Magento will work fine with it. If you don’t have one, you should try to find the best fit.
1. Identifying what you want to integrate
The best way to go would be to start at the highest - and the vaguest - data flow design concept. You want data to be created and updated in one system and moved to another. For instance, you want your eCommerce store to be updated when a product attribute is changed in the ERP.
In essence, you’ll want to know what aspects of data you want integrated for ERP.
2. Triggering/Timing
Okay, so you’ve started establishing data workflows that will occur between Magento and your ERP. This isn’t enough. You’ll also need to figure out the timing, with regards to different processes being triggered.
For example, there is a maximum amount of time that is allowed to pass between accepting the payment and shipping the ordered items. In this case, Magento should capture and note the order and transaction only when your ERP system has confirmed a fulfilled order.
3. Updates
Your ERP system that processes the shipping details, setting up the tracking numbers for orders. It is essential that this information is updated in Magento as fast as possible, so that it can automatically make it available to your customers. There are two ways to go about it – you can set up ERP to automatically trigger updates in Magento or you can have Magento check for updates at set time intervals.
4. Middleware opportunities
One of the most challenging aspects of eCommerce is multichannel online retail. This brings problems, such as dealing with separate API connectors and abiding by many business rules that aren’t necessarily related to your ERP or Magento, to the table.
This is why you should consider researching and obtaining middleware solutions that can help streamline the workflow and make everything run smoother. With a good middleware system, you’ll also get more security which is always a nice perk.
5. Consider other opportunities
Picking a random ERP you haven’t explored or choosing to stay with a particular one out of habit is seldom a good idea. For things to work out well, you need to take your current business model into account and also think about the future and how your business will develop and grow.
Also, taking a leap of faith and switching to a new ERP system on an impulse is never a good idea. Such an important decision needs careful consideration and planning, both before and after the actual integration. Always keep in mind that Magento will work with any ERP out there. So, the real task here is to find the one that suits you and your business best.
The whys and hows
The reasons for integrating your ERP with Magento are fairly clear. Integration will grant you improved automation, cost and risk reduction, customer satisfaction, and many other benefits. However, integrating Magento into your ERP is a long and complicated process. Therefore, make sure that you’ve picked the right ERP before starting the integration process. Whether you decide to stick with your current ERP or switch to a better one, Magento will work wonders for your eCommerce business.
May 12, 2019Are you considering integrating your eCommerce platform into your ERP system? Yes, you’ve probably come across many businesses doing the same. Clearly, there are a lot of benefits to this integration. It can help you significantly boost your business and let your customers get your product faster and easier.
Magento
If you’re just getting into the world of eCommerce or simply want to boost your knowledge or revise it, knowing the basics of Magento can be very helpful.
Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform that essentially gives you, as an online merchant, a variety of flexible options for setting up your custom shopping cart system. Magento gives you a lot of control, particularly regarding functionality, content, and the general outlook of your store. You can add a variety of themes and plug-ins to make the customer experience on your store page the best it can be.
This platform has a lot of tools attached to its belt, such as SEO, marketing, catalog management, and many other tools. Of course, Magento has even more custom functionalities to brag about, but they do require more advanced programming skills.
ERP
ERP is short for Enterprise Resource Planning. This type of business management software essentially allows a business to automate a variety of back-office functions that incorporate human resources, technology, and services. ERP software includes development, product planning, manufacturing, marketing, sales, user interface, and application. It is a true virtual office assistant packed into a single bundle.
Make no mistake, however, ERP is enterprise software built for medium to large businesses. It doesn’t work on its own, but rather requires dedicated employees or even teams to set everything up, customize it, and run it. Small business ERP software does exist, but it is significantly more lightweight and can’t perform advanced tasks all that well.
Why integrate Magento and ERP?
As mentioned, the benefits of integrating your Magento eCommerce platform with an ERP system are huge. If this weren’t the case, there wouldn’t be a huge number of worldwide companies, big and small, doing it.
But, as a good businessperson, you should never blindly make decisions and adopt the flock mentality. You should thoroughly understand all the advantages and risks of the moves you make.
1. Cost reduction
Businesses are always looking to cut costs and maximize profits. Also, becoming stable and profitable is something that doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes years of careful resource allocation and cost reduction, in order to achieve long-term stability. So, how can Magento help here? In a nutshell – it allows you to keep better track of your business.
Essentially, the sales updates are automatically reflected throughout the ERP if you use Magento. In other words, when a customer places an order, updates are immediately applied to invoicing, accounting, shipping, and every other aspect of your ERP system.
This will allow you to keep perfect stock track, meaning that you won’t have to worry too much about redundancies. You’ll be able to keep everything that you need on hand, plus automatically order more when necessary. That way, you’ll cut the costs significantly.
2. More automation
The very essence of the world of internet is automation – not having to spend too much time on mindless processes that can be done by a program or a machine. Integrating Magento with your ERP will allow you to minimize the number of manual entries, such as orders and product, inventory, and shipping and customer data entries.
More automation means two things - a smaller risk of error and less time wasted on redundant tasks. Oh, and proceeding with Magento integration will significantly improve the communication with the sales teams, as well as overall back-office productivity.
3. Decreased risk of error
As mentioned, if you decide to integrate Magento into your ERP, you’ll be able to automate a huge number of redundant tasks. But what does Magento really do here? Well, it allows for a seamless integration of the payment, order, shipping, and customer details and information into the system.
Furthermore, you can upload all the inventory details straight from your ERP and directly onto your eCommerce portal with Magento. No more unnecessary human errors, no more tedious data re-entry.
4. Satisfied customers
Perhaps even most importantly, integrating Magento with your ERP will improve your clients’ overall shopping experience. Here’s a good example of what Magento can do for your customers.
Thanks to Magento, a customer can log in to a Magento shopping cart to place individual orders. They can pick which products they want to add to the cart, as well as filter the products by category. After doing this, Magento allows your customer to have the product or products shipped to the pre-set address. This may not sound like a lot, but the easier you make the ordering process, the better your chances at conversion are.
Not only is the general ordering process made easier here, but your customers will actually gain access to useful information, such as shipping details, order processing, delivery dates, text updates, etc. This is important because keeping a customer happy after the purchase is makes them more likely to come back.
5. ERP connectivity
The entire purpose of ERP software is integrating business processes and making your life easier. The list of processes you can integrate includes budgeting, finance, accounting, invoicing, payment management, workflow management, QC, supply chain management, inventory management, warehousing, and customer relationship management, among others.
Magento actually covers a good number of those, such as payment management, invoicing, customer relationship management, warehousing, inventory management, and many others. Magento and your ERP could be a perfect match.
How to integrate Magento and ERP?
In the following sections, let’s discuss how to incorporate Magento into your eCommerce business. The first step towards integrating Magento with your ERP is finding the perfect ERP for the job. Of course, if you already have a good ERP you can stick with it and there is no doubt that Magento will work fine with it. If you don’t have one, you should try to find the best fit.
1. Identifying what you want to integrate
The best way to go would be to start at the highest - and the vaguest - data flow design concept. You want data to be created and updated in one system and moved to another. For instance, you want your eCommerce store to be updated when a product attribute is changed in the ERP.
In essence, you’ll want to know what aspects of data you want integrated for ERP.
2. Triggering/Timing
Okay, so you’ve started establishing data workflows that will occur between Magento and your ERP. This isn’t enough. You’ll also need to figure out the timing, with regards to different processes being triggered.
For example, there is a maximum amount of time that is allowed to pass between accepting the payment and shipping the ordered items. In this case, Magento should capture and note the order and transaction only when your ERP system has confirmed a fulfilled order.
3. Updates
Your ERP system that processes the shipping details, setting up the tracking numbers for orders. It is essential that this information is updated in Magento as fast as possible, so that it can automatically make it available to your customers. There are two ways to go about it – you can set up ERP to automatically trigger updates in Magento or you can have Magento check for updates at set time intervals.
4. Middleware opportunities
One of the most challenging aspects of eCommerce is multichannel online retail. This brings problems, such as dealing with separate API connectors and abiding by many business rules that aren’t necessarily related to your ERP or Magento, to the table.
This is why you should consider researching and obtaining middleware solutions that can help streamline the workflow and make everything run smoother. With a good middleware system, you’ll also get more security which is always a nice perk.
5. Consider other opportunities
Picking a random ERP you haven’t explored or choosing to stay with a particular one out of habit is seldom a good idea. For things to work out well, you need to take your current business model into account and also think about the future and how your business will develop and grow.
Also, taking a leap of faith and switching to a new ERP system on an impulse is never a good idea. Such an important decision needs careful consideration and planning, both before and after the actual integration. Always keep in mind that Magento will work with any ERP out there. So, the real task here is to find the one that suits you and your business best.
The whys and hows
The reasons for integrating your ERP with Magento are fairly clear. Integration will grant you improved automation, cost and risk reduction, customer satisfaction, and many other benefits. However, integrating Magento into your ERP is a long and complicated process. Therefore, make sure that you’ve picked the right ERP before starting the integration process. Whether you decide to stick with your current ERP or switch to a better one, Magento will work wonders for your eCommerce business.
OpenLiteSpeed vs NGINX
Although NGINX has a lot to brag about, one of the most popular web servers on the market was bound to get some competition somewhere down the line. It finally happened, with the introduction of OpenLiteSpeed.
It is a hot new web server on the block that claims to offer much better performance than the typical, popular options. So, how does the new OpenLiteSpeed compare to the good old NGINX? Read on to find out.
Web server basics
Before moving on to learning more about these two web servers, we should first cover the web server basics. You probably already have a rough idea of what they are, but here’s the gist of it. A web server is a piece of software that is installed onto your existing server. It is responsible for handling all HTTP requests – receiving them, processing them, and sending the responses.
The story of NGINX
Released all the way back in 2004, NGINX is a web server that boasts excellent performance and reliability. It is very popular world-wide and it still used on millions of sites. The free, open-source version of the web server is called NGINX and it is the most common choice among its target crowd. There is also an enterprise version named NGINX Plus that boasts many more features. It is, of course, the paid version of the web server.
The story of LiteSpeed
To learn more about OpenLiteSpeed, let’s go back to 2003, a year before NGINX was released. Yes, LiteSpeed is an even older web server than its main competitor, NGINX. It is, however, important to note that LiteSpeed can replace Apache, another extremely popular web server. It can also read and load .htaccess files.
So, what made NGINX more popular than LiteSpeed? Well, simply put, LiteSpeed isn’t free. The fact that it has existed as paid software for years has put it into 4th place on the market, which is decent but far from the top spot.
Recently, however, OpenLiteSpeed was released. It is a free, open-source version of LiteSpeed. Are its features limited compared to the paid version? Yes, they are. How does it compare to its open-source competitors, NGINX? Let’s find out.
The test
The best way to find out which server is a better choice is to run burst tests on both. The general idea behind this is simulating 10,000 requests with 100 concurrent users. This test comprises three “phases”. Each web server is put against a small static file. Then, it is tested against a basic PHP script. Finally, their WordPress performance is evaluated. Naturally, caching is very important with WordPress, so both servers need a fitting caching solution.
Small static file (around 4KB)
Small static files are great for measuring the response time of a server because they don’t require any processing. So, how did the web servers measure up? Well, compared to Apache, NGINX scored approximately 26,000 while Apache reached 12,400 requests per second.
That being said, OpenLiteSpeed managed to reach almost 40,000, ensuring an absolute victory in this part of the test. This tells us that OpenLiteSpeed has a much better response time than NGINX.
Basic PHP script
The best way to successfully isolate PHP-server communication from PHP processing is benchmarking a PHP app. In other words, this test shows how efficient the server is at communication with the PHP engine.
The app, “Hello World” which was used in this test, however, is by no means similar to the real-life conditions. Again, OpenLiteSpeed is unquestionably victorious here, with more than twice as many requests per second than NGINX and Apache.
WordPress and cache
Testing OpenLiteSpeed against WordPress is perhaps the most accurate test of how a web server performs in a real-world environment. Of course, WordPress is quite a weighty PHP app, meaning that a server needs good caching abilities.
It is important to note that each of the web servers was paired with a matching caching option. For instance, FastCGI Cache was used with NGINX, whereas OpenLiteSpeed was paired with LSCache. Apache was put against W3 Total cache, but it severely underperformed.
In this test, as the case was with the previous two, OpenLiteSpeed achieved an outright victory. It beat NGINX by more than 10,000 requests per second. It is easy to conclude that OpenLiteSpeed does a better job with heavy PHP apps, as well.
Test summary
Clearly, OpenLiteSpeed performs far better than NGINX and Apache. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that NGINX has been around since 2004. Although LiteSpeed was released a year earlier, it has remained a paid service for quite some time. This means that people have already gotten used to NGINX and that OpenLiteSpeed will have to go a long way to claim the throne of the free web server class.
Other features
Although benchmarking plays an essential role in comparing web servers, there are other features that you should pay attention before you decide. While it is true that OpenLiteSpeed outperforms NGINX when it comes to requests per second, it may or may not fall short in security and cost-effectiveness departments. Here’s more on that.
Security
Security is one of the most important factors to take into account when it comes to using anything on the internet. Malware, adware, and even ransomware threats are absolutely real and can ruin your website in the making, and even lose you some serious money.
This is why both NGINX and Apache support ModSecurity rules. Don’t worry because OpenLiteSpeed supports them too, but without a drop in performance. This is mainly owing to OpenLiteSpeed’s efficient implementation.
Additionally, OpenLiteSpeed comes with features that protect WordPress from brute force attacks and has reCAPTCHA support, as well as numerous anti-DDoS measures. So, how does OpenLiteSpeed compare to NGINX when it comes to security? It remains the best web server around in this department, as well.
Cost-effectiveness
NGINX is a free, open-source web server that has pretty much been at the top of its category for more than a decade. While LiteSpeed has been around for even longer, it was frequently avoided on account of not being free. However, with OpenLiteSpeed, it is easy to make your choice. First of all, it too is a free, open-source web server. Secondly, it outperforms its competition by a longshot. Finally, it makes for an easy upgrade.
The enterprise version of LiteSpeed is convenient and pricing levels are scaled according to the server size. This brings competitive prices, feature flexibility, and many other benefits to the table. The NGINX Plus version does exist, but it definitely doesn’t perform as well as LiteSpeed.
Final verdict
It seems pretty clear that OpenLiteSpeed is superior to NGINX at the moment. The former benchmarks much higher than the latter, outperforming it in small static file, basic PHP, and heavy PHP app tests. This alone would make picking OpenLiteSpeed a no-brainer for most people.
They, however, would be very wrong not to also consider security and cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately for NGINX, OpenLiteSpeed is a much better choice in these departments, as well. This web server uses ModSecurity rules, but without compromising the overall performance, which can’t be said for NGINX. Additionally, OpenLiteSpeed offers reCAPTCHA and many other security measures.
Finally, when it comes to cost-effectiveness, there really isn’t a better choice than OpenLiteSpeed. It is definitely the best around and its paid version, LiteSpeed, is the best in its own category. Also, you can easily switch from OpenLiteSpeed to LiteSpeed, in case you want to upgrade.
Web server showdown
OpenLiteSpeed and NGINX still remain at the top of the web server food chain. They both perform brilliantly and, although OpenLiteSpeed is more advanced, many still choose to stick with NGINX. In its own respect it, too, is a great web server option. That being said, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if NGINX introduced a new, advanced version in the near future. This is, in truth, the only thing that OpenLiteSpeed needs to worry about at the moment.
April 14, 2019It is a hot new web server on the block that claims to offer much better performance than the typical, popular options. So, how does the new OpenLiteSpeed compare to the good old NGINX? Read on to find out.
Web server basics
Before moving on to learning more about these two web servers, we should first cover the web server basics. You probably already have a rough idea of what they are, but here’s the gist of it. A web server is a piece of software that is installed onto your existing server. It is responsible for handling all HTTP requests – receiving them, processing them, and sending the responses.
The story of NGINX
Released all the way back in 2004, NGINX is a web server that boasts excellent performance and reliability. It is very popular world-wide and it still used on millions of sites. The free, open-source version of the web server is called NGINX and it is the most common choice among its target crowd. There is also an enterprise version named NGINX Plus that boasts many more features. It is, of course, the paid version of the web server.
The story of LiteSpeed
To learn more about OpenLiteSpeed, let’s go back to 2003, a year before NGINX was released. Yes, LiteSpeed is an even older web server than its main competitor, NGINX. It is, however, important to note that LiteSpeed can replace Apache, another extremely popular web server. It can also read and load .htaccess files.
So, what made NGINX more popular than LiteSpeed? Well, simply put, LiteSpeed isn’t free. The fact that it has existed as paid software for years has put it into 4th place on the market, which is decent but far from the top spot.
Recently, however, OpenLiteSpeed was released. It is a free, open-source version of LiteSpeed. Are its features limited compared to the paid version? Yes, they are. How does it compare to its open-source competitors, NGINX? Let’s find out.
The test
The best way to find out which server is a better choice is to run burst tests on both. The general idea behind this is simulating 10,000 requests with 100 concurrent users. This test comprises three “phases”. Each web server is put against a small static file. Then, it is tested against a basic PHP script. Finally, their WordPress performance is evaluated. Naturally, caching is very important with WordPress, so both servers need a fitting caching solution.
Small static file (around 4KB)
Small static files are great for measuring the response time of a server because they don’t require any processing. So, how did the web servers measure up? Well, compared to Apache, NGINX scored approximately 26,000 while Apache reached 12,400 requests per second.
That being said, OpenLiteSpeed managed to reach almost 40,000, ensuring an absolute victory in this part of the test. This tells us that OpenLiteSpeed has a much better response time than NGINX.
Basic PHP script
The best way to successfully isolate PHP-server communication from PHP processing is benchmarking a PHP app. In other words, this test shows how efficient the server is at communication with the PHP engine.
The app, “Hello World” which was used in this test, however, is by no means similar to the real-life conditions. Again, OpenLiteSpeed is unquestionably victorious here, with more than twice as many requests per second than NGINX and Apache.
WordPress and cache
Testing OpenLiteSpeed against WordPress is perhaps the most accurate test of how a web server performs in a real-world environment. Of course, WordPress is quite a weighty PHP app, meaning that a server needs good caching abilities.
It is important to note that each of the web servers was paired with a matching caching option. For instance, FastCGI Cache was used with NGINX, whereas OpenLiteSpeed was paired with LSCache. Apache was put against W3 Total cache, but it severely underperformed.
In this test, as the case was with the previous two, OpenLiteSpeed achieved an outright victory. It beat NGINX by more than 10,000 requests per second. It is easy to conclude that OpenLiteSpeed does a better job with heavy PHP apps, as well.
Test summary
Clearly, OpenLiteSpeed performs far better than NGINX and Apache. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that NGINX has been around since 2004. Although LiteSpeed was released a year earlier, it has remained a paid service for quite some time. This means that people have already gotten used to NGINX and that OpenLiteSpeed will have to go a long way to claim the throne of the free web server class.
Other features
Although benchmarking plays an essential role in comparing web servers, there are other features that you should pay attention before you decide. While it is true that OpenLiteSpeed outperforms NGINX when it comes to requests per second, it may or may not fall short in security and cost-effectiveness departments. Here’s more on that.
Security
Security is one of the most important factors to take into account when it comes to using anything on the internet. Malware, adware, and even ransomware threats are absolutely real and can ruin your website in the making, and even lose you some serious money.
This is why both NGINX and Apache support ModSecurity rules. Don’t worry because OpenLiteSpeed supports them too, but without a drop in performance. This is mainly owing to OpenLiteSpeed’s efficient implementation.
Additionally, OpenLiteSpeed comes with features that protect WordPress from brute force attacks and has reCAPTCHA support, as well as numerous anti-DDoS measures. So, how does OpenLiteSpeed compare to NGINX when it comes to security? It remains the best web server around in this department, as well.
Cost-effectiveness
NGINX is a free, open-source web server that has pretty much been at the top of its category for more than a decade. While LiteSpeed has been around for even longer, it was frequently avoided on account of not being free. However, with OpenLiteSpeed, it is easy to make your choice. First of all, it too is a free, open-source web server. Secondly, it outperforms its competition by a longshot. Finally, it makes for an easy upgrade.
The enterprise version of LiteSpeed is convenient and pricing levels are scaled according to the server size. This brings competitive prices, feature flexibility, and many other benefits to the table. The NGINX Plus version does exist, but it definitely doesn’t perform as well as LiteSpeed.
Final verdict
It seems pretty clear that OpenLiteSpeed is superior to NGINX at the moment. The former benchmarks much higher than the latter, outperforming it in small static file, basic PHP, and heavy PHP app tests. This alone would make picking OpenLiteSpeed a no-brainer for most people.
They, however, would be very wrong not to also consider security and cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately for NGINX, OpenLiteSpeed is a much better choice in these departments, as well. This web server uses ModSecurity rules, but without compromising the overall performance, which can’t be said for NGINX. Additionally, OpenLiteSpeed offers reCAPTCHA and many other security measures.
Finally, when it comes to cost-effectiveness, there really isn’t a better choice than OpenLiteSpeed. It is definitely the best around and its paid version, LiteSpeed, is the best in its own category. Also, you can easily switch from OpenLiteSpeed to LiteSpeed, in case you want to upgrade.
Web server showdown
OpenLiteSpeed and NGINX still remain at the top of the web server food chain. They both perform brilliantly and, although OpenLiteSpeed is more advanced, many still choose to stick with NGINX. In its own respect it, too, is a great web server option. That being said, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if NGINX introduced a new, advanced version in the near future. This is, in truth, the only thing that OpenLiteSpeed needs to worry about at the moment.
Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2: 5 things to consider
Support for Magento 1 ended in November of 2018 and it’s not too late to migrate to the new platform. Magento 2 offers a number of upgrades that can give your online business an edge.
Besides a better overview of business results and enhanced website performance, you also get an improved omnichannel e-commerce experience.
Sounds good? Let’s do it!
Before you start
The things needed to migrate to the latest version of Magento includes theme, custom code, customer and product data, and extensions. To ensure everything runs as it’s supposed to, you should devise a strategy and follow the Magento migration diagram.
Start by inspecting your extensions. Check if the extensions are available for Magento 2 and remove ones that you don’t use. Also consider if you need additional capacity or more advanced functions. Then you can install and set up the new Magento and test its functionality.
Quick Migration gude
After running the tests, it’s time to initiate the migration. Go to admin panel and stop all activities except order management. You might want to migrate data from a backup database.
Reindex and do more testing on Magento 2 to determine if there are any issues. Afterward, you’ll want to get the latest data updates and transfer them to the new software. This includes customer profile changes, new orders, and reviews.
Now is the time to go live. Your store will experience a few minutes of downtime as it changes the DNS settings and reindexes.
To minimize mistakes and ensure a smooth transition, check out the following 5 tips.
1. Migration complexities
Keep in mind that the new Magento has an overhauled database design and different architecture.
Magento estimates that the latest version is only 20% bigger. But the size itself doesn’t ensure a smooth ride. The time and effort needed for the migration depend on the complexity of your website.
For example, if you have a bunch of extensions and customizations, it will take more time to migrate everything to Magento 2.
2. Importing
When it comes to importing, you need to move media files and all your product and customer data. Luckily, Magento provides you with the right tools and guidelines. Here is a simple guideline on how to do it.
Customer and product data
The Magento 2 Data Migration Tool allows for a smooth data transition. The tool transforms the data to the new Magento store by using map files.
It verifies the database structures (fields and tables) between Magento 1 and Magento 2. The tool also tracks data transfer and logs the progress and performs tests to verify the data.
Here’s how the Data Migration Tool operates. First, it moves configuration settings, and then it transfers the main data to the new database. Finally, it migrates data updates to the admin panel and the storefront.
Media files
Unfortunately, there isn’t any app that can migrate the media files for you, at least not yet. So what’s left is a manual transfer of all your images, videos, and other media files. Just follow Magento’s guide on how to safely move these files.
3. Extensions and themes
Chances are you’re using a few extensions which are incompatible with the new version of Magento. Some of the extensions can be migrated using the third-party Code Migration Toolkit. You can also check if the developers have released a new version for Magento 2. Otherwise, you might need to consider using a different extension.
Similar rules apply for the themes. It’s crucial to recreate both the themes and the extension to fit the new Magento architecture, and perhaps equally as important, to not confuse and turn off customers who have gotten used to your store.
4. Errors and fixes
Despite your best efforts and careful planning, some error messages might still appear. You can retrace your steps to determine the reason for the error. But if all else fails, you can always get in touch with Magento support for additional guidance.
5. Timing
The migration process is imminent so it’s best not to postpone it indefinitely. It’s recommended to migrate to Magento 2 first before making any further changes to your Magento store.
You should also plan the migration according to your marketing campaign. For example, you should probably initiate the process now if you heavily promote year-end holiday sales. It might take up to 6 months to fully transfer to the new architecture.
Regardless of your current success, you can benefit from Magento 2’s improved admin interface, B2N and CMS features, and streamlined performance.
More importantly, the new version comes with custom features that may improve your sales and conversion rates if you work on it. They include cross-sells, reward programs, upsells, and more.
In addition, it now supports various global shipping services that you might find useful. These include air freight logistical transfers to extremely affordable last-mile delivery services that are cropping up in numerous countries. You no longer have to depend on USPS, the most popular shipper for US stores that ship overseas.
Migration sevices
If you’d rather not do all of that on your own, you can hire a Magento 2 migration service.
Whichever service you decide to go for, they need to be a certified Magento Developer. This verifies that the company/developer has the right experience to move and transform your e-commerce to the new platform.
Post-migration support is also another important factor. Once the migration is over, the service provider needs to test all the aspects of the store for you to make sure there are no technical issues. Of course, you’ll also have to test the site yourself and work with the provider on any issues.
Move to better performance
The benefits of Magento 2 are obvious. However, it may not be a simple upgrade for everyone. Imagine redesigning and moving your brick-and-mortar business to a completely new location.
Okay, we’re exaggerating – it’s not exactly that painful. But you get the idea.
When all is said and done, it all boils down to careful planning. But if you are not exactly confident about doing everything on your own, feel free to ask for a quote from a Magento migration service provider.
March 29, 2019Besides a better overview of business results and enhanced website performance, you also get an improved omnichannel e-commerce experience.
Sounds good? Let’s do it!
Before you start
The things needed to migrate to the latest version of Magento includes theme, custom code, customer and product data, and extensions. To ensure everything runs as it’s supposed to, you should devise a strategy and follow the Magento migration diagram.
Start by inspecting your extensions. Check if the extensions are available for Magento 2 and remove ones that you don’t use. Also consider if you need additional capacity or more advanced functions. Then you can install and set up the new Magento and test its functionality.
Quick Migration gude
After running the tests, it’s time to initiate the migration. Go to admin panel and stop all activities except order management. You might want to migrate data from a backup database.
Reindex and do more testing on Magento 2 to determine if there are any issues. Afterward, you’ll want to get the latest data updates and transfer them to the new software. This includes customer profile changes, new orders, and reviews.
Now is the time to go live. Your store will experience a few minutes of downtime as it changes the DNS settings and reindexes.
To minimize mistakes and ensure a smooth transition, check out the following 5 tips.
1. Migration complexities
Keep in mind that the new Magento has an overhauled database design and different architecture.
Magento estimates that the latest version is only 20% bigger. But the size itself doesn’t ensure a smooth ride. The time and effort needed for the migration depend on the complexity of your website.
For example, if you have a bunch of extensions and customizations, it will take more time to migrate everything to Magento 2.
2. Importing
When it comes to importing, you need to move media files and all your product and customer data. Luckily, Magento provides you with the right tools and guidelines. Here is a simple guideline on how to do it.
Customer and product data
The Magento 2 Data Migration Tool allows for a smooth data transition. The tool transforms the data to the new Magento store by using map files.
It verifies the database structures (fields and tables) between Magento 1 and Magento 2. The tool also tracks data transfer and logs the progress and performs tests to verify the data.
Here’s how the Data Migration Tool operates. First, it moves configuration settings, and then it transfers the main data to the new database. Finally, it migrates data updates to the admin panel and the storefront.
Media files
Unfortunately, there isn’t any app that can migrate the media files for you, at least not yet. So what’s left is a manual transfer of all your images, videos, and other media files. Just follow Magento’s guide on how to safely move these files.
3. Extensions and themes
Chances are you’re using a few extensions which are incompatible with the new version of Magento. Some of the extensions can be migrated using the third-party Code Migration Toolkit. You can also check if the developers have released a new version for Magento 2. Otherwise, you might need to consider using a different extension.
Similar rules apply for the themes. It’s crucial to recreate both the themes and the extension to fit the new Magento architecture, and perhaps equally as important, to not confuse and turn off customers who have gotten used to your store.
4. Errors and fixes
Despite your best efforts and careful planning, some error messages might still appear. You can retrace your steps to determine the reason for the error. But if all else fails, you can always get in touch with Magento support for additional guidance.
5. Timing
The migration process is imminent so it’s best not to postpone it indefinitely. It’s recommended to migrate to Magento 2 first before making any further changes to your Magento store.
You should also plan the migration according to your marketing campaign. For example, you should probably initiate the process now if you heavily promote year-end holiday sales. It might take up to 6 months to fully transfer to the new architecture.
Regardless of your current success, you can benefit from Magento 2’s improved admin interface, B2N and CMS features, and streamlined performance.
More importantly, the new version comes with custom features that may improve your sales and conversion rates if you work on it. They include cross-sells, reward programs, upsells, and more.
In addition, it now supports various global shipping services that you might find useful. These include air freight logistical transfers to extremely affordable last-mile delivery services that are cropping up in numerous countries. You no longer have to depend on USPS, the most popular shipper for US stores that ship overseas.
Migration sevices
If you’d rather not do all of that on your own, you can hire a Magento 2 migration service.
Whichever service you decide to go for, they need to be a certified Magento Developer. This verifies that the company/developer has the right experience to move and transform your e-commerce to the new platform.
Post-migration support is also another important factor. Once the migration is over, the service provider needs to test all the aspects of the store for you to make sure there are no technical issues. Of course, you’ll also have to test the site yourself and work with the provider on any issues.
Move to better performance
The benefits of Magento 2 are obvious. However, it may not be a simple upgrade for everyone. Imagine redesigning and moving your brick-and-mortar business to a completely new location.
Okay, we’re exaggerating – it’s not exactly that painful. But you get the idea.
When all is said and done, it all boils down to careful planning. But if you are not exactly confident about doing everything on your own, feel free to ask for a quote from a Magento migration service provider.
Choosing the best payment gateway for your Magento store
Your payment gateway processes and transfers money from your customer’s account to your account. It’s a crucial part of any Magento stores.
Unless a gateway performs as it’s supposed to, customers are not likely to return. A bad gateway creates even more transactional problems for you, not to mention any reputational damage. A good one must meet your needs in terms of capabilities, fees, security, and convenience.
But there is more to choosing the best payment gateway than meets the eye. This write-up provides you with tips on how to make the selection. And there are also a few recommendations for gateways that are worth your attention.
What you need to consider
The most popular payment methods worldwide are credit cards, e-payment services (PayPal and others), debit cards, and direct bank transfers. In the United States, it’s mostly credit cards, and payment gateways lump Visa and Mastercard debit cards in with credit cards, at least as far as the interface is concerned.
But if you plan on expanding your international presence, your store might need to accommodate more payment methods.
Magento store edition
The edition/type of your Magento store is one of the things that affect your gateway choice. Magento Commerce and Magento Open Source offer different functionality and features.
The Commerce platform is a premium product which requires more investment at the start. But you might find it easier to integrate payment gateways that offer different payment methods.
Preferred payment method
Each payment gateway supports different payment options. For US stores, credit card support is a given. You’ll still need a merchant account to link to your gateway, but the easiest gateway can provide one for you.
You will have to pay a fee known as credit card discount every time your customer runs a credit card. The discount is taken out automatically before the processor deposit the money into your bank account. This fee is determined by:
Most importantly, customers want to feel safe so you need to be careful about the payment form and the included security steps. Here you have 3 options:
Redirect
This one offers the highest security and it’s suitable for most companies. A payment form can be integrated on the iFrame of your store. But the customer is actually leaving your website to make the payment.
Browser payment form
A browser payment form transmits customer data to the processor. There are lower security demands on your side except standard PCI data security standards.
Server payment form
This type of form allows your customers to quickly and easily enter their data. Speed is a great plus, but there are challenges in terms of security including PCI security compliance.
Customer experience
When all is said and done, a great payment gateway gives your customers a streamlined and enjoyable experience. It offers an easy check-out and the interface feels and looks safe.
You may enable auto-fill and saved payment info for your customers’ convenience. Guess who gets to enjoy the benefits of quick and easy payments in the end?
Top payment gateways for Magento stores
1. PayPal
PayPal earned its reputation by being one of the most secure payment gateways. Plus, it provides a lot of payment options. Your customers can pay via PayPal account, credit card, or PayPal credit.
This gateway also offers cutting-edge encryption and advanced fraud protection. The standard fee structure is 2.9% plus $0.30 for each authorization. You may qualify for a personal account manager and lower rates if you hit a certain monthly volume.
2. Authorize.net
If you run a small or mid-sized business, Authorize.net is a great solution. It offers more than a few payment options and good security. Your customers get to pay by Visa Checkout, Apple Pay, e-check, PayPal, and credit cards.
As for the security, this gateway features Advanced Fraud Detection Suite and CVV and address verification. Your customers can also store payment info by using the Customer Information Manager (CIM) option.
Authorize.net is available for businesses based in the US, Australia, Europe, and Canada. For credit cards, you can use your own merchant account or Authorize.net can refer you to one.
3. Stripe
Stripe is for business owners who need to quickly set up a payment gateway. It accepts Android and Apple Pay, Alipay, Bitcoin, and all major credit cards. And you can expect even more payment options in the future.
The gateway features PCI compliance and real-time fee reports. You pay the same fee per transaction as with PayPal and there are no monthly fees.
4. Amazon Payments
With Amazon Payments, customers are allowed to pay via an Amazon account. This can help you increase sales and reduce checkout time.
The gateway utilizes widgets to help your customers select shipping methods and payment options without leaving your store. Amazon Payments features the same fraud protection system as Amazon.com.
You are not required to pay monthly fees. The standard discount is 2.9% plus $0.30.
5. Braintree
Braintree is a PayPal-owned payment gateway that provides support for domestic and international businesses. Your customers can have 6 different payment methods including Bitcoin, Apple Pay, and Venmo.
This gateway offers built-in PayPal integration, fraud protection, and data storage. Your customers can also delete or add payment information. As you might guess, Braintree has the same fee structure as PayPal.
Cashing out
Choosing a payment gateway depends on your business needs. You’ll want to accept payments that make sense to you and your customers and make it easy for them to pay.
March 15, 2019Unless a gateway performs as it’s supposed to, customers are not likely to return. A bad gateway creates even more transactional problems for you, not to mention any reputational damage. A good one must meet your needs in terms of capabilities, fees, security, and convenience.
But there is more to choosing the best payment gateway than meets the eye. This write-up provides you with tips on how to make the selection. And there are also a few recommendations for gateways that are worth your attention.
What you need to consider
The most popular payment methods worldwide are credit cards, e-payment services (PayPal and others), debit cards, and direct bank transfers. In the United States, it’s mostly credit cards, and payment gateways lump Visa and Mastercard debit cards in with credit cards, at least as far as the interface is concerned.
But if you plan on expanding your international presence, your store might need to accommodate more payment methods.
Magento store edition
The edition/type of your Magento store is one of the things that affect your gateway choice. Magento Commerce and Magento Open Source offer different functionality and features.
The Commerce platform is a premium product which requires more investment at the start. But you might find it easier to integrate payment gateways that offer different payment methods.
Preferred payment method
Each payment gateway supports different payment options. For US stores, credit card support is a given. You’ll still need a merchant account to link to your gateway, but the easiest gateway can provide one for you.
You will have to pay a fee known as credit card discount every time your customer runs a credit card. The discount is taken out automatically before the processor deposit the money into your bank account. This fee is determined by:
- Individual cards: No-frills Visa and Mastercard would have the lowest fee, while American Express and cashback cards are known to be the most expensive.
- Your payment processor: They will add a small percentage to the base fee. Again, you could have your processor (where you have your merchant account) or the gateway may provide one for you.
- Risk factors: This includes your credit, business, merchandise, etc. If your business model and merchandise carry less risk of returns, defaults, etc., then the processor might charge you less.
Most importantly, customers want to feel safe so you need to be careful about the payment form and the included security steps. Here you have 3 options:
Redirect
This one offers the highest security and it’s suitable for most companies. A payment form can be integrated on the iFrame of your store. But the customer is actually leaving your website to make the payment.
Browser payment form
A browser payment form transmits customer data to the processor. There are lower security demands on your side except standard PCI data security standards.
Server payment form
This type of form allows your customers to quickly and easily enter their data. Speed is a great plus, but there are challenges in terms of security including PCI security compliance.
Customer experience
When all is said and done, a great payment gateway gives your customers a streamlined and enjoyable experience. It offers an easy check-out and the interface feels and looks safe.
You may enable auto-fill and saved payment info for your customers’ convenience. Guess who gets to enjoy the benefits of quick and easy payments in the end?
Top payment gateways for Magento stores
1. PayPal
PayPal earned its reputation by being one of the most secure payment gateways. Plus, it provides a lot of payment options. Your customers can pay via PayPal account, credit card, or PayPal credit.
This gateway also offers cutting-edge encryption and advanced fraud protection. The standard fee structure is 2.9% plus $0.30 for each authorization. You may qualify for a personal account manager and lower rates if you hit a certain monthly volume.
2. Authorize.net
If you run a small or mid-sized business, Authorize.net is a great solution. It offers more than a few payment options and good security. Your customers get to pay by Visa Checkout, Apple Pay, e-check, PayPal, and credit cards.
As for the security, this gateway features Advanced Fraud Detection Suite and CVV and address verification. Your customers can also store payment info by using the Customer Information Manager (CIM) option.
Authorize.net is available for businesses based in the US, Australia, Europe, and Canada. For credit cards, you can use your own merchant account or Authorize.net can refer you to one.
3. Stripe
Stripe is for business owners who need to quickly set up a payment gateway. It accepts Android and Apple Pay, Alipay, Bitcoin, and all major credit cards. And you can expect even more payment options in the future.
The gateway features PCI compliance and real-time fee reports. You pay the same fee per transaction as with PayPal and there are no monthly fees.
4. Amazon Payments
With Amazon Payments, customers are allowed to pay via an Amazon account. This can help you increase sales and reduce checkout time.
The gateway utilizes widgets to help your customers select shipping methods and payment options without leaving your store. Amazon Payments features the same fraud protection system as Amazon.com.
You are not required to pay monthly fees. The standard discount is 2.9% plus $0.30.
5. Braintree
Braintree is a PayPal-owned payment gateway that provides support for domestic and international businesses. Your customers can have 6 different payment methods including Bitcoin, Apple Pay, and Venmo.
This gateway offers built-in PayPal integration, fraud protection, and data storage. Your customers can also delete or add payment information. As you might guess, Braintree has the same fee structure as PayPal.
Cashing out
Choosing a payment gateway depends on your business needs. You’ll want to accept payments that make sense to you and your customers and make it easy for them to pay.
The best Magento extensions to boost M-commerce
As the newest branch of E-commerce, M-commerce has the potential to make or break your online business. More and more customers are looking for mobile-optimized websites to check on their favorite products, new releases, holiday deals, and so on.
Being mobile-ready and mobile-friendly is also believed to earn big points with Google’s search algorithm. One of the fastest ways to improve your rank and traffic is to use whatever extensions available to you to improve your online store’s mobile customer experience.
If you’re using Magento to set up your M-commerce empire, things will be fairly easy. As more Magento updates roll out, the easier it will become to implement mobile features and improve page navigation, simplify checkout procedures, speed up payments, and so on. Check out the best Magento extensions that you can use to improve the performance of your M-commerce store.
AddThis
If there’s one sure way of boosting your traffic and getting exposure, it’s having a strong presence on social media platforms. Just keep in mind that you don’t have to do all the advertising. With Magento, you can implement the AddThis extension and allow customers to spread the word about you.
This extension allows you to set up a sidebar with social media share buttons. The support is amazing too. Over 200 social networks are supported by AddThis. To make things even better, AddThis is free and customizable for mobile and desktop browsers.
Talk about boosting your M-Commerce venture without spending a dime.
SEO Hub
If you want something that helps improve your rankings, SEO Hub is one of the most important extensions for Magento. M-Commerce is still just as reliant as E-Commerce on data feeds, redirects, meta descriptions, keywords, and so on.
With SEO Hub, you can generate a sitemap for your mobile store which updates automatically depending on the parameters set.
Tawk.to Live Chat
If you want to run a successful online store, you need more than just exposure and traffic. You need to show customers that you care. Offering great customer service is key to attracting repeat business, shares, and word of mouth advertising.
But how can you improve your customer service? Consider starting with the Tawk.To Live Chat Magento extension. This extension is free and lets you provide real-time customer support using a very simple interface.
One of the coolest features is the automatic conversation resume function which kicks in in the event of any unexpected connection drops. This extension is available for both desktop and mobile, which makes it perfect for M-commerce.
Gift Card extension
If you’re running a Magento shop then you’ll want to maximize your profits by allowing your customers to buy gift cards. Available on both desktop and mobile, this extension helps you increase your short-term sales.
As you know, gift cards are better than purchases – you get paid upfront without having to ship anything right away. And, they’re also known as incentives for shoppers to spend more since they’ll want to use up every penny of the gift card, which like as not will require them to top off with a credit card.
Adding the extension is quite straightforward. In terms of customization, you can make it so that your customers can exchange personalized messages, custom card values, pre-set images, and more.
Mobile Template by Templates Master
If you’re not sure about converting your existing store into a mobile store, why not just optimize the mobile user experience by creating a separate entity. An extension like Mobile Template can be a difference-maker between boosting M-commerce sales and stagnating.
This extension ensures that the website is as mobile-friendly as possible in order to engage customers on a global level. The layered navigation menus are optimized for smartphones. The product pages are better condensed, yet they maintain a highly functional and large image gallery.
Among the features included are:
Bronto
Bronto is an indispensable email marketing extension for most Magento stores. This extension allows store owners to compile extensive lists of purchasing information from Magento.
After that, Bronto Connector imports the data for the store owner or admin to create personalized email promotions, ads, cross-channel marketing campaigns, and more.
Email marketing is still one of the most effective methods of driving traffic to your store. However, doing it right versus just cutting it can make or break a business. Bronto helps you create customized campaigns and offers based on purchase history. This makes it look like you’re always up to date with trends and preferences.
ShipWorks
Are you trying to cater to international clients as well? Although this sounds like a potential huge increase in revenue, international shipping can give you major headaches. Using an extension like ShipWorks allows you to automate the majority of shipping tasks including customs declarations for international orders.
Of course, ShipWorks does more than just automate the shipping process. It also allows you to see a detailed overview of everything related to the shipping workflow. In terms of features and customization, you would be hard-pressed to find a more efficient and affordable extension than ShipWorks.
Besides, ShipWorks can turn your M-commerce store into a powerhouse in your field that can handle thousands of orders all over the world simultaneously.
Because mobile shoppers prefer speed and efficiency these days, you have to be able to give them more than just smooth navigation. Making shipping equally pleasant and efficient is one way to improve your store’s reputation and sales.
Choosing the Best Extensions
Obviously, different online stores need different extensions and plugins. However, when it comes to Magento M-commerce, there are certain features that must be met by all extensions. Be on the lookout for extensions that offer constant updates and active support.
Ease of installation is also a plus as not every Magento store owner knows their way around code. Last but not least, consider your budget. Just because an extension is labeled free doesn’t mean totally free. It could be a freemium business model or you may have to share your user’s data.
February 28, 2019Being mobile-ready and mobile-friendly is also believed to earn big points with Google’s search algorithm. One of the fastest ways to improve your rank and traffic is to use whatever extensions available to you to improve your online store’s mobile customer experience.
If you’re using Magento to set up your M-commerce empire, things will be fairly easy. As more Magento updates roll out, the easier it will become to implement mobile features and improve page navigation, simplify checkout procedures, speed up payments, and so on. Check out the best Magento extensions that you can use to improve the performance of your M-commerce store.
AddThis
If there’s one sure way of boosting your traffic and getting exposure, it’s having a strong presence on social media platforms. Just keep in mind that you don’t have to do all the advertising. With Magento, you can implement the AddThis extension and allow customers to spread the word about you.
This extension allows you to set up a sidebar with social media share buttons. The support is amazing too. Over 200 social networks are supported by AddThis. To make things even better, AddThis is free and customizable for mobile and desktop browsers.
Talk about boosting your M-Commerce venture without spending a dime.
SEO Hub
If you want something that helps improve your rankings, SEO Hub is one of the most important extensions for Magento. M-Commerce is still just as reliant as E-Commerce on data feeds, redirects, meta descriptions, keywords, and so on.
With SEO Hub, you can generate a sitemap for your mobile store which updates automatically depending on the parameters set.
Tawk.to Live Chat
If you want to run a successful online store, you need more than just exposure and traffic. You need to show customers that you care. Offering great customer service is key to attracting repeat business, shares, and word of mouth advertising.
But how can you improve your customer service? Consider starting with the Tawk.To Live Chat Magento extension. This extension is free and lets you provide real-time customer support using a very simple interface.
One of the coolest features is the automatic conversation resume function which kicks in in the event of any unexpected connection drops. This extension is available for both desktop and mobile, which makes it perfect for M-commerce.
Gift Card extension
If you’re running a Magento shop then you’ll want to maximize your profits by allowing your customers to buy gift cards. Available on both desktop and mobile, this extension helps you increase your short-term sales.
As you know, gift cards are better than purchases – you get paid upfront without having to ship anything right away. And, they’re also known as incentives for shoppers to spend more since they’ll want to use up every penny of the gift card, which like as not will require them to top off with a credit card.
Adding the extension is quite straightforward. In terms of customization, you can make it so that your customers can exchange personalized messages, custom card values, pre-set images, and more.
Mobile Template by Templates Master
If you’re not sure about converting your existing store into a mobile store, why not just optimize the mobile user experience by creating a separate entity. An extension like Mobile Template can be a difference-maker between boosting M-commerce sales and stagnating.
This extension ensures that the website is as mobile-friendly as possible in order to engage customers on a global level. The layered navigation menus are optimized for smartphones. The product pages are better condensed, yet they maintain a highly functional and large image gallery.
Among the features included are:
- Multi-store support
- Multi-currency support
- Windows phone support
- Supports various resolutions
- Grid mode support
- Fully editable design/layout
Bronto
Bronto is an indispensable email marketing extension for most Magento stores. This extension allows store owners to compile extensive lists of purchasing information from Magento.
After that, Bronto Connector imports the data for the store owner or admin to create personalized email promotions, ads, cross-channel marketing campaigns, and more.
Email marketing is still one of the most effective methods of driving traffic to your store. However, doing it right versus just cutting it can make or break a business. Bronto helps you create customized campaigns and offers based on purchase history. This makes it look like you’re always up to date with trends and preferences.
ShipWorks
Are you trying to cater to international clients as well? Although this sounds like a potential huge increase in revenue, international shipping can give you major headaches. Using an extension like ShipWorks allows you to automate the majority of shipping tasks including customs declarations for international orders.
Of course, ShipWorks does more than just automate the shipping process. It also allows you to see a detailed overview of everything related to the shipping workflow. In terms of features and customization, you would be hard-pressed to find a more efficient and affordable extension than ShipWorks.
Besides, ShipWorks can turn your M-commerce store into a powerhouse in your field that can handle thousands of orders all over the world simultaneously.
Because mobile shoppers prefer speed and efficiency these days, you have to be able to give them more than just smooth navigation. Making shipping equally pleasant and efficient is one way to improve your store’s reputation and sales.
Choosing the Best Extensions
Obviously, different online stores need different extensions and plugins. However, when it comes to Magento M-commerce, there are certain features that must be met by all extensions. Be on the lookout for extensions that offer constant updates and active support.
Ease of installation is also a plus as not every Magento store owner knows their way around code. Last but not least, consider your budget. Just because an extension is labeled free doesn’t mean totally free. It could be a freemium business model or you may have to share your user’s data.
Can Demandware rival with Magento?
Although some E-commerce shores may use the same platform, their needs could be very different. Setting up an online store requires you to take into account customer needs, scaling potential, and unique needs based on the niche you’re operating in.
Demandware and Magento are two of the most popular E-commerce platforms. Magento is the industry leader and a very complex platform where the sky’s the limit. Demandware, now known as Salesforce Commerce Cloud after the acquisition in June 2016, is very different in many aspects.
Even so, many people ask themselves whether the new Demandware, now backed by a Wall Street darling, can actually rival Magento. Are we nearing the point when Magento can actually lose its dominance after so many years at the top?
For Demandware to truly rival Magento, it would need to flat out beat it or at the very least match the platform’s offerings in certain segments.
Have a look at some of the features that make Demandware unique and see for yourself if it’s worthy of the hype.
Advantages and disadvantages of Demandware
Pros
Cons
Advantages and disadvantages of Magento
Pros
Cons
Pricing differences
Magento has been the market leader for a long time and it doesn’t look like anything is going to change anytime soon. Even an annual subscription for the paid Magento Enterprise Edition is considerably cheaper than Demandware.
Demandware is not only more expensive but it also comes with additional costs. E-commerce businesses have to pay a licensing fee as well as a commission for every sale made through the platform. This makes pricing at least one area in which Demandware doesn’t even come close to Magento.
Platform flexibility
Any E-commerce platform should offer a great deal of flexibility and support for business owners. And the support should be extended to other areas than the core issues. Demandware does a good job at this. It offers support for a number of issues that a business owner might face, such as:
Magento offers the same level of support at a lower cost. Not to mention the fact that it even offers support for major code issues, customized coupons, visual merchandising, and more.
Both platforms offer a wide range of features. However, Magento has the advantage of being able to cater to both small businesses and large enterprises, whereas Demandware is a platform well-suited only for successful large businesses.
Demandware hosting and maintenance
Demandware makes things a bit less complicated for business owners than Magento. All the infrastructure of the business is managed in-house by Demandware. They tackle everything from plugin integration to maintenance and security.
This allows the users or client businesses to focus on selling products and marketing. The platform embodies everything you could want from a cloud-based service.
However, this comes at a cost and not just the financial aspect. Because Demandware handles everything, minor customizations can take a long time to implement. Demandware has a bunch of restrictions and guidelines that each add-on module has to follow.
Therefore, E-commerce companies might be disappointed when trying to implement new marketing, payment, or shipping solutions.
Everything has to go through Demandware and needs to be approved before being implemented. This translates to big changes as well as minor plugins that have minimal impact on the infrastructure.
Magento, on the other hand, leaves total control of the infrastructure to the storeowner. This is both good and bad. Magento has a learning curve to it. It can be complicated to manage if the storeowner lacks coding knowledge. However, with the community being as large as it is, it’s not that hard to find help.
At the same time, being a self-hosted solution, it does mean that any implementations of new extensions can be done on the spot. There’s no need to wait for approval nor is there a need to wait for someone to upgrade the infrastructure when needed.
Design flexibility
This is another area where Demandware comes up short. Magento has amazing design flexibility. There are thousands of templates available, including a few hundred that are free of charge. The potential for customization is through the roof.
With this complete freedom of choice, it’s no wonder that there are more than 250,000 Magento-powered stores up and running. Among them are brands that everybody has heard of, including Nike, Samsung, Coca-Cola, and Ford.
So where does Demandware fall short? – It’s simple. The in-house infrastructure management also extends to templates and layouts. There are fewer themes available on Demandware and it takes relatively much longer for any changes to take effect.
This is also noticeable when you compare store numbers. The number of Demandware-powered websites is well under 100,000. Even though there are some big brands like Puma and Adidas that chose Demandware, the popularity and accessibility of Magento are still miles ahead.
Design flexibility may seem like a minor issue until you crunch some numbers. Mind you that the previously mentioned brands are powerhouses. Demandware’s comparative lack of popularity with small business owners almost makes this debate a moot point.
A final thought
Not all E-commerce businesses are the same, nor are they run by the same type of people. For some, Demandware may be worth the extra money simply for the fact that the platform encourages a self-sustaining infrastructure.
In a way, this is a lazy approach. Considering how superior Magento is in terms of customization, implementation speed, and pricing, Demandware is just not on the same level. And, even if you’d rather not manage your own Magento store, there are plenty of web design companies that can manage it for you.
February 5, 2019Demandware and Magento are two of the most popular E-commerce platforms. Magento is the industry leader and a very complex platform where the sky’s the limit. Demandware, now known as Salesforce Commerce Cloud after the acquisition in June 2016, is very different in many aspects.
Even so, many people ask themselves whether the new Demandware, now backed by a Wall Street darling, can actually rival Magento. Are we nearing the point when Magento can actually lose its dominance after so many years at the top?
For Demandware to truly rival Magento, it would need to flat out beat it or at the very least match the platform’s offerings in certain segments.
Have a look at some of the features that make Demandware unique and see for yourself if it’s worthy of the hype.
Advantages and disadvantages of Demandware
Pros
- Cloud-based platform
- No need for third-party hosting
- Omni-channel marketing
- 24/7 Support
- M-commerce viable
- Can upgrade the infrastructure up to eight times per year
Cons
- Complicated customization process
- Sales-based license fee
- Doesn’t handle bulk ordering requirements as well
- Harder to scale
- Expensive
Advantages and disadvantages of Magento
Pros
- Tons of resources available
- Affordable
- Flexible pricing
- Free version available
- Easy to customize
- Omni-channel marketing
- M-commerce viable
Cons
- Requires third-party hosting
- Comes with a learning curve
- Complex setup
Pricing differences
Magento has been the market leader for a long time and it doesn’t look like anything is going to change anytime soon. Even an annual subscription for the paid Magento Enterprise Edition is considerably cheaper than Demandware.
Demandware is not only more expensive but it also comes with additional costs. E-commerce businesses have to pay a licensing fee as well as a commission for every sale made through the platform. This makes pricing at least one area in which Demandware doesn’t even come close to Magento.
Platform flexibility
Any E-commerce platform should offer a great deal of flexibility and support for business owners. And the support should be extended to other areas than the core issues. Demandware does a good job at this. It offers support for a number of issues that a business owner might face, such as:
- SEO customization
- Cross-selling and up-selling options
- Email management
- PLP merchandising
Magento offers the same level of support at a lower cost. Not to mention the fact that it even offers support for major code issues, customized coupons, visual merchandising, and more.
Both platforms offer a wide range of features. However, Magento has the advantage of being able to cater to both small businesses and large enterprises, whereas Demandware is a platform well-suited only for successful large businesses.
Demandware hosting and maintenance
Demandware makes things a bit less complicated for business owners than Magento. All the infrastructure of the business is managed in-house by Demandware. They tackle everything from plugin integration to maintenance and security.
This allows the users or client businesses to focus on selling products and marketing. The platform embodies everything you could want from a cloud-based service.
However, this comes at a cost and not just the financial aspect. Because Demandware handles everything, minor customizations can take a long time to implement. Demandware has a bunch of restrictions and guidelines that each add-on module has to follow.
Therefore, E-commerce companies might be disappointed when trying to implement new marketing, payment, or shipping solutions.
Everything has to go through Demandware and needs to be approved before being implemented. This translates to big changes as well as minor plugins that have minimal impact on the infrastructure.
Magento, on the other hand, leaves total control of the infrastructure to the storeowner. This is both good and bad. Magento has a learning curve to it. It can be complicated to manage if the storeowner lacks coding knowledge. However, with the community being as large as it is, it’s not that hard to find help.
At the same time, being a self-hosted solution, it does mean that any implementations of new extensions can be done on the spot. There’s no need to wait for approval nor is there a need to wait for someone to upgrade the infrastructure when needed.
Design flexibility
This is another area where Demandware comes up short. Magento has amazing design flexibility. There are thousands of templates available, including a few hundred that are free of charge. The potential for customization is through the roof.
With this complete freedom of choice, it’s no wonder that there are more than 250,000 Magento-powered stores up and running. Among them are brands that everybody has heard of, including Nike, Samsung, Coca-Cola, and Ford.
So where does Demandware fall short? – It’s simple. The in-house infrastructure management also extends to templates and layouts. There are fewer themes available on Demandware and it takes relatively much longer for any changes to take effect.
This is also noticeable when you compare store numbers. The number of Demandware-powered websites is well under 100,000. Even though there are some big brands like Puma and Adidas that chose Demandware, the popularity and accessibility of Magento are still miles ahead.
Design flexibility may seem like a minor issue until you crunch some numbers. Mind you that the previously mentioned brands are powerhouses. Demandware’s comparative lack of popularity with small business owners almost makes this debate a moot point.
A final thought
Not all E-commerce businesses are the same, nor are they run by the same type of people. For some, Demandware may be worth the extra money simply for the fact that the platform encourages a self-sustaining infrastructure.
In a way, this is a lazy approach. Considering how superior Magento is in terms of customization, implementation speed, and pricing, Demandware is just not on the same level. And, even if you’d rather not manage your own Magento store, there are plenty of web design companies that can manage it for you.
M-commerce: The new trend
M-commerce and E-commerce are still somewhat interchangeable terms. There are many similarities between the two concepts and that’s mostly because M-commerce is considered a natural progression of E-commerce.
What is M-commerce?
M-commerce started out with the introduction of mobile access on various online stores and online marketplaces. However, as time went by and the popularity of smartphones went up, M-commerce began incorporating even more features.
These days, M-commerce is more than just mobile-ready website layouts. M-commerce contains all types of transactions done via a mobile device. Here are some examples:
How to categorize different types of M-commerce
If you break things down to basics, M-commerce has three categories. Within these three categories, you can fit the entire range of transactions you can make with a mobile device.
1. Mobile banking
By far the most popular, mobile banking is all about using a dedicated app to manage your bank account, which includes account summary and detailed listings, fund transfers, and making transactions. One thing to note here is that this is a limited service. Depending on the bank or the app, certain large or specialized transactions may not be permitted.
2. Mobile shopping
The next step after making websites mobile-friendly in terms of navigation was to implement mobile shopping. Today’s optimized websites allow you to make purchases using a phone.
3. Mobile payments
This category strictly covers the types of payments you can make and the apps or platforms that allow you do to so.
Who benefits from embracing m-commerce?
Although the concept has its ups and downs, there are a lot of very good things to be said about M-commerce. It’s one of the ways of doing business that’s tailor-made for the future of networking and communication.
Both retailers and consumers benefit from M-commerce. Retailers have higher revenue potential and consumers are able to find what they’re looking for faster and easier.
1. Customer experience
You never know when someone gets the shopping bug. If your store is one swipe away, you stand a good chance to make a decent chunk of money off mobile users.
2. Competitive pricing
Shoppers love competitive pricing. And, even though this is also available with E-commerce, the fact that they don’t have to use the office computer to do some personal shopping during lunch break is a massive bonus.
3. Massive growth potential
There’s a clear understanding among online retailers that business is booming. Even more so since the introduction of mobile commerce. More and more people are spending time on their phones and tablets than on home computers.
According to eMarketer’s estimates, the mobile share of all online shopping has already exceeded desktop at close to 59%, an approximate 23% increase over the past year. Therefore, targeting the trending gadgets is the smart choice.
4. Next-level omni-channel marketing
If you’re unfamiliar with omni-channel marketing, don’t worry because it’s a simple concept. It’s all about knowing where to find your customers and how to target your ads in the right place at the right time for maximum exposure.
What are the drawbacks of M-commerce?
The trend is not mature yet. Even though countless improvements have been made and many concepts have been adopted and implemented to enhance user experience, M-commerce may not become the standard for quite some time.
1. Continuous website optimization
There’s a constant need to optimize websites and apps in order to accommodate mobile users. A lot more so than for regular PC and Mac users. Staying apprised of every new innovation is hard when you’re only addressing a segment of your business – mobile users.
2. Unavailability of certain payment methods
A lot of mobile wallets only work in certain geographical locations. You would think that this only affects international buyers but it also affects store owners as they’re unable to tap into certain international markets.
M-commerce, although used around the world, is not such a borderless concept as it seems. There will be users that stick to their preferred wallets. For example, many mobile shoppers in Holland prefer to use iDeal, which is not a wallet seen on most US online stores.
Because of this, implementing tons of payment methods may be necessary. You don’t have to do it, but it’s the only way to accommodate most of your international buyers.
What to focus on in the near future
If you’ve already adopted M-commerce then it’s only natural to get ready for what’s coming. So, what do most consumers look forward to?
1. Faster checkouts
Easy-to-use digital wallets and one-touch checkouts are in high demand. The easier you make the user interaction, the more repeat customers you will have.
For faster checkouts, you have to consider more than just optimizing the website. Look at ways to minimize the amount of information the customer has to type in before making a purchase – address, credit card information, etc.
2. Website responsiveness
It’s ok to want to promote certain products, sales, discounts, or new launches. However, the more you add to a website, the slower it moves. This effect is considerably greater when dealing with mobile browsing.
Creating a mobile-unique experience may not be a bad idea, investment-wise. This means that you create a secondary website that caters strictly to your mobile audience where you strip away a lot of the unnecessary content.
3. Establish trust
Although newer generations don’t have an issue with M-commerce security, you can’t just forget about your older audience. Older generations still use the internet as well as modern smartphones on a daily basis. Getting them to trust the concept should be a main focus.
A Final Word
M-commerce is a new trend that allows retailers to appeal to a previously untapped market. As a service, M-commerce is quickly becoming very lucrative for both consumers and retailers.
There are still some kinks in terms of optimization, but things are slowly moving in the right direction. More and more payment methods come out each year. Older ones are optimized to cater to a wider range of users.
Even search engines tend to favor mobile-ready or optimized websites these days. This is a clear indication that if you haven’t considered M-commerce by now, you’ve been missing out on a lot of untapped potential.
January 31, 2019What is M-commerce?
M-commerce started out with the introduction of mobile access on various online stores and online marketplaces. However, as time went by and the popularity of smartphones went up, M-commerce began incorporating even more features.
These days, M-commerce is more than just mobile-ready website layouts. M-commerce contains all types of transactions done via a mobile device. Here are some examples:
- Mobile banking
- Contactless payments
- Mobile marketing
- Electronic ticket sales
- Mobile money transfers
How to categorize different types of M-commerce
If you break things down to basics, M-commerce has three categories. Within these three categories, you can fit the entire range of transactions you can make with a mobile device.
1. Mobile banking
By far the most popular, mobile banking is all about using a dedicated app to manage your bank account, which includes account summary and detailed listings, fund transfers, and making transactions. One thing to note here is that this is a limited service. Depending on the bank or the app, certain large or specialized transactions may not be permitted.
2. Mobile shopping
The next step after making websites mobile-friendly in terms of navigation was to implement mobile shopping. Today’s optimized websites allow you to make purchases using a phone.
3. Mobile payments
This category strictly covers the types of payments you can make and the apps or platforms that allow you do to so.
Who benefits from embracing m-commerce?
Although the concept has its ups and downs, there are a lot of very good things to be said about M-commerce. It’s one of the ways of doing business that’s tailor-made for the future of networking and communication.
Both retailers and consumers benefit from M-commerce. Retailers have higher revenue potential and consumers are able to find what they’re looking for faster and easier.
1. Customer experience
You never know when someone gets the shopping bug. If your store is one swipe away, you stand a good chance to make a decent chunk of money off mobile users.
2. Competitive pricing
Shoppers love competitive pricing. And, even though this is also available with E-commerce, the fact that they don’t have to use the office computer to do some personal shopping during lunch break is a massive bonus.
3. Massive growth potential
There’s a clear understanding among online retailers that business is booming. Even more so since the introduction of mobile commerce. More and more people are spending time on their phones and tablets than on home computers.
According to eMarketer’s estimates, the mobile share of all online shopping has already exceeded desktop at close to 59%, an approximate 23% increase over the past year. Therefore, targeting the trending gadgets is the smart choice.
4. Next-level omni-channel marketing
If you’re unfamiliar with omni-channel marketing, don’t worry because it’s a simple concept. It’s all about knowing where to find your customers and how to target your ads in the right place at the right time for maximum exposure.
What are the drawbacks of M-commerce?
The trend is not mature yet. Even though countless improvements have been made and many concepts have been adopted and implemented to enhance user experience, M-commerce may not become the standard for quite some time.
1. Continuous website optimization
There’s a constant need to optimize websites and apps in order to accommodate mobile users. A lot more so than for regular PC and Mac users. Staying apprised of every new innovation is hard when you’re only addressing a segment of your business – mobile users.
2. Unavailability of certain payment methods
A lot of mobile wallets only work in certain geographical locations. You would think that this only affects international buyers but it also affects store owners as they’re unable to tap into certain international markets.
M-commerce, although used around the world, is not such a borderless concept as it seems. There will be users that stick to their preferred wallets. For example, many mobile shoppers in Holland prefer to use iDeal, which is not a wallet seen on most US online stores.
Because of this, implementing tons of payment methods may be necessary. You don’t have to do it, but it’s the only way to accommodate most of your international buyers.
What to focus on in the near future
If you’ve already adopted M-commerce then it’s only natural to get ready for what’s coming. So, what do most consumers look forward to?
1. Faster checkouts
Easy-to-use digital wallets and one-touch checkouts are in high demand. The easier you make the user interaction, the more repeat customers you will have.
For faster checkouts, you have to consider more than just optimizing the website. Look at ways to minimize the amount of information the customer has to type in before making a purchase – address, credit card information, etc.
2. Website responsiveness
It’s ok to want to promote certain products, sales, discounts, or new launches. However, the more you add to a website, the slower it moves. This effect is considerably greater when dealing with mobile browsing.
Creating a mobile-unique experience may not be a bad idea, investment-wise. This means that you create a secondary website that caters strictly to your mobile audience where you strip away a lot of the unnecessary content.
3. Establish trust
Although newer generations don’t have an issue with M-commerce security, you can’t just forget about your older audience. Older generations still use the internet as well as modern smartphones on a daily basis. Getting them to trust the concept should be a main focus.
A Final Word
M-commerce is a new trend that allows retailers to appeal to a previously untapped market. As a service, M-commerce is quickly becoming very lucrative for both consumers and retailers.
There are still some kinks in terms of optimization, but things are slowly moving in the right direction. More and more payment methods come out each year. Older ones are optimized to cater to a wider range of users.
Even search engines tend to favor mobile-ready or optimized websites these days. This is a clear indication that if you haven’t considered M-commerce by now, you’ve been missing out on a lot of untapped potential.
How does Magento indexing work?
To understand fully how Magento indexing works, you need a crash course on database indexing in general. Indexing is basically a sorting method for records, or in this case, database fields. You can use this to find specific information, but most importantly, to update that information by assigning new values.
Now, various programming languages address this issue differently, as each one tries to either maximize efficiency or reduce the amount of disk space used. The way that fields are organized is just as important as the search method.
For example, a binary search is far superior in speed compared to a linear search. However, a binary search can only be performed on an already sorted field of block accesses.
Although indexing seems, and in fact is, quite complex, you don’t need a lot of programming experience to work it out if you’re using Magento. Here’s an overview of how Magento addresses PHP indexing.
Built-in Magento indexing
Magento uses 10 indexers to transform data from products or categories. Although this is enough for most basic e-commerce websites, the application also allows you to create your own custom indexers.
Because Magento indexing is not optimized for every potential situation, supplementing the default indexer list with your own may be needed. Especially when you customize a website in such a way that it requires advanced data searches during updates.
Components involved in indexing
1. Magento_indexer
This component is responsible for implementing the following actions: indexer declaration, indexer status, indexer running, indexer running mode configuration.
2. Magento\Framework\Mview
The Mview component is similar to MySQL’s “materialized view”. However, in the case of Magento, this function results in executing PHP code. This is different from SQL queries because it permits multiple queries to occur at the same time.
Indexing in Magento
As previously mentioned, there is a component that makes Magento indexing quite similar to MySQL database-level indexing. However, Magento is a lot more versatile and customizable when it comes to indexing.
The standard object indexing would normally be done on a large table that stores catalog products or categories. This is generally a fast way to perform searches, but there is an age-old problem to consider. Adding new attributes.
Attributes can be anything from a discount price or a color to adding an age range for certain toys or clothes. The way this is typically done is by adding a new column to the table. But what if only a handful of products have that new attribute? How do you then approach maintenance without slowing down the website?
Magento addresses this issue by splitting the classic table into smaller units that are easier to categorize. This level of flexibility allows for product categories and types to be better defined by merchants and website admins.
To further improve the performance, Magento uses another neat trick. This works if you start from the assumption that all the attributes have been clearly defined and a complete large table has been generated.
This allows Magento’s indexing to recreate the entire table at every change. Basically, when an attribute changes, say the price of T-shirt, the old table containing that information is obliterated in order to be generated again with the new value added, and everything else stays intact.
At the end of the day, this takes care of wasted resources spent on searching across multiple categories.
How Magento triggers reindexing
Based on the indexer status and indexing mode, the indexing mechanism triggers when needed. The value of an indexer status can be any of the following:
1. Valid
This means that no reindexing is required. The valid status appears when the data is synchronized.
2. Invalid
This means that the index requires an update as the original data was modified.
3. Working
This means that indexing is already in progress.
Now, there are two ways or modes for Magento to handle reindexing. You can choose between “Update on Save” and “Update by Schedule”.
The first option might make the browsing experience slightly slower, but it is the best way to ensure everything is up to date. The scheduled reindexing is done by what is called a cron job. It’s the standard PHP method of creating and executing various repetitive or scheduled tasks.
Both options must be set manually for Magento to take any action. This can be done by using the command line, but you can also do this by using the admin panel.
Best way to index in Magento
Whether you’re running a small online store or a large e-commerce website, manual indexing is still recommended. The Magento platform is very customizable but it’s not the fastest when it comes to making large updates.
One common issue with PHP-based indexing is that large updates can take too long. If the process takes too long, the script might end abruptly. This often causes data corruption and of course, your website will take a performance hit too.
Manual indexing lets you do one important thing. You get to choose a time of day when the website traffic is slower. This means you won’t ruin the user experience of your potential shoppers.
You can also choose to split an update across two days or two specific timeframes when traffic activity is at its lowest. This can considerably reduce the chances of the PHP script falling short and corrupting your data.
A final word
Although Magento doesn’t have the fastest indexing process, updates to the code over the past few years have certainly improved it. Magento is no longer as slow as it used to be and it still manages to maintain a level of flexibility that’s somewhat superior to that of classic MySQL indexing.
There are still some drawbacks in terms of automatic updates and you still have to add all your attributes to the table before you generate it. It’s by no means mandatory, but the extra work you put in beforehand will save you a lot of time and resources when attempting to do reindexing for your online store.
January 16, 2019Now, various programming languages address this issue differently, as each one tries to either maximize efficiency or reduce the amount of disk space used. The way that fields are organized is just as important as the search method.
For example, a binary search is far superior in speed compared to a linear search. However, a binary search can only be performed on an already sorted field of block accesses.
Although indexing seems, and in fact is, quite complex, you don’t need a lot of programming experience to work it out if you’re using Magento. Here’s an overview of how Magento addresses PHP indexing.
Built-in Magento indexing
Magento uses 10 indexers to transform data from products or categories. Although this is enough for most basic e-commerce websites, the application also allows you to create your own custom indexers.
Because Magento indexing is not optimized for every potential situation, supplementing the default indexer list with your own may be needed. Especially when you customize a website in such a way that it requires advanced data searches during updates.
Components involved in indexing
1. Magento_indexer
This component is responsible for implementing the following actions: indexer declaration, indexer status, indexer running, indexer running mode configuration.
2. Magento\Framework\Mview
The Mview component is similar to MySQL’s “materialized view”. However, in the case of Magento, this function results in executing PHP code. This is different from SQL queries because it permits multiple queries to occur at the same time.
Indexing in Magento
As previously mentioned, there is a component that makes Magento indexing quite similar to MySQL database-level indexing. However, Magento is a lot more versatile and customizable when it comes to indexing.
The standard object indexing would normally be done on a large table that stores catalog products or categories. This is generally a fast way to perform searches, but there is an age-old problem to consider. Adding new attributes.
Attributes can be anything from a discount price or a color to adding an age range for certain toys or clothes. The way this is typically done is by adding a new column to the table. But what if only a handful of products have that new attribute? How do you then approach maintenance without slowing down the website?
Magento addresses this issue by splitting the classic table into smaller units that are easier to categorize. This level of flexibility allows for product categories and types to be better defined by merchants and website admins.
To further improve the performance, Magento uses another neat trick. This works if you start from the assumption that all the attributes have been clearly defined and a complete large table has been generated.
This allows Magento’s indexing to recreate the entire table at every change. Basically, when an attribute changes, say the price of T-shirt, the old table containing that information is obliterated in order to be generated again with the new value added, and everything else stays intact.
At the end of the day, this takes care of wasted resources spent on searching across multiple categories.
How Magento triggers reindexing
Based on the indexer status and indexing mode, the indexing mechanism triggers when needed. The value of an indexer status can be any of the following:
1. Valid
This means that no reindexing is required. The valid status appears when the data is synchronized.
2. Invalid
This means that the index requires an update as the original data was modified.
3. Working
This means that indexing is already in progress.
Now, there are two ways or modes for Magento to handle reindexing. You can choose between “Update on Save” and “Update by Schedule”.
The first option might make the browsing experience slightly slower, but it is the best way to ensure everything is up to date. The scheduled reindexing is done by what is called a cron job. It’s the standard PHP method of creating and executing various repetitive or scheduled tasks.
Both options must be set manually for Magento to take any action. This can be done by using the command line, but you can also do this by using the admin panel.
- Go to Magento admin
- Select system
- Select index Management
- Select the checkbox for indexers that you want to be affected by the updates
- Go to actions list
- Select indexing mode
- Click submit
Best way to index in Magento
Whether you’re running a small online store or a large e-commerce website, manual indexing is still recommended. The Magento platform is very customizable but it’s not the fastest when it comes to making large updates.
One common issue with PHP-based indexing is that large updates can take too long. If the process takes too long, the script might end abruptly. This often causes data corruption and of course, your website will take a performance hit too.
Manual indexing lets you do one important thing. You get to choose a time of day when the website traffic is slower. This means you won’t ruin the user experience of your potential shoppers.
You can also choose to split an update across two days or two specific timeframes when traffic activity is at its lowest. This can considerably reduce the chances of the PHP script falling short and corrupting your data.
A final word
Although Magento doesn’t have the fastest indexing process, updates to the code over the past few years have certainly improved it. Magento is no longer as slow as it used to be and it still manages to maintain a level of flexibility that’s somewhat superior to that of classic MySQL indexing.
There are still some drawbacks in terms of automatic updates and you still have to add all your attributes to the table before you generate it. It’s by no means mandatory, but the extra work you put in beforehand will save you a lot of time and resources when attempting to do reindexing for your online store.
Magento 2.3 open source & commerce features and release notes
Marketers around the globe get excited with each new release of Magento 2. And they usually have a good reason to, as this extensive content management system, specifically built for e-commerce, gets much better with every single update. This is especially true in the case of major releases.
Packed with thousands of features and providing vast extendibility, it is also one of the most popular platforms in the industry. For example, did you know that Magento powers more of the top thousand online retailers than any other?
Introducing Magento 2.3.0
When Magento 2.2.2 was released, we called it a revolution. There were so many amazing features added, including Instant Purchases, Dotmailer Integration, MFTF, Advanced Reporting, and Magento Shipping.
Magento 2.3, the latest version of the platform, goes even further and introduces several brand new features that marketers are sure to find useful.
Great for both merchants and developers
The Magento 2.3 codebase has arrived and it is now officially live. It comes with a solid amount of new tools to bring new opportunities for both merchants and developers and enhance their experiences. These include a completely new front-end technology, which provides customers with feature-rich and even more powerful storefronts. And that’s not all.
Announcing the Page Builder
As a merchant, you may enjoy the presence of an all-new, intuitive Page Builder feature included in the latest Magento Commerce release. It will make it easier for you to update content or build some store pages on your own without a single line of code. A flexible grid system will allow you to visually position page elements in the most customizable way. Page Builder is also fully compatible with the existing Magento features such as widgets and media gallery.
It is currently only available as part of the Early Adopter Program and set to become generally available as of the 2.3.1 release.
New security tools
Fighting bots and taking your security to the next level is now even easier with native support for Google reCAPTCHA and Two Factor Authentication (2FA). This means that you will no longer need separate security extensions to implement those.
New APIs and improved indexing
You mustn’t overlook the new APIs, too. They are now scalable and asynchronous. The main goal here is to boost the performance significantly by allowing better control over the execution and timing of API calls. This will come to full light when integrating custom front-end solutions.
Indexation times are now reduced by over 60 percent thanks to sharding and parallel processing of indexers. This will result in far quicker product updates and can have a great effect on larger sites.
What to expect when upgrading
At this point, you are probably asking yourself if you should upgrade and if your Magento-powered web store will continue working after that.
These are some vital considerations you need to make before deciding whether or not you should upgrade. Here are a few quick notes that will help you make an informed decision:
Magento Open Source 2.3.0 release notes
Magento Open Source 2.3.0 is now generally available. There are numerous enhancements for both merchants and developers, as well as many functionality fixes included in this release. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.
Enhanced merchant tools
Multi-Source Inventory (MSI) is now provided as a major Inventory Management enhancement. What this means is that you can now directly manage physical inventory for all product types both in a single warehouse and across several locations using multiple sources. Inventory Management will also update order and shipment options accordingly, thus giving you full control over your stock.
Security enhancements
Better developer experience
Other enhancements and improvements
Magento commerce 2.3.0 release notes
We are now going to take a look at Magento Commerce 2.3.0 General Availability. As with the Open Source version, there are hundreds of functional improvements in the Commerce release for both merchants and developers to enjoy. Let’s have a quick look at some of them.
Improved merchant tools
Enhanced developer experience
Other improvements and enhancements
Magento 2.3 new features in-depth review
Let’s focus on the new features now. Some of them are available for all versions of the platform, while others are exclusive to Commerce and Cloud editions.
Magento 2.3 open source features
Google reCAPTCHA
Google reCAPTCHA has proved to be an excellent technology to eliminate bots from various websites, including online stores. You have most likely installed one of those third-party extensions like UI mod Google reCaptcha or Google reCaptcha by Amasty long ago.
No matter how robust those extensions are, you won’t need them anymore as the Google reCAPTCHA tool has now become native core functionality. You will now be able to use it to take the following pages to the next level in terms of security:
Two factor authentication (2FA)
Similar to the Google ReCAPTCHA tool, there is a great choice of extensions that can introduce 2FA for Magento. And again, they might become obsolete sometime soon. That’s because Two Factor Authentication is now also native in Magento 2.3 to provide an important extra layer of security for the admin panel.
It doesn’t really mean that you should stop looking for security extensions right now. There are many that might be crucial to your business’ security like Amasty Advanced Permissions.
Speaking of 2FA integration, it requires privileged users to verify their usual login procedure via phone call, access token, SMS, or One Touch. There are currently three authentication methods for the admin panel: Authy, Google Authenticator, and Duo Security.
Elasticsearch
This robust RESTful search and analytics engine used to be exclusively available in Commerce edition not long ago. As previously announced during the Magento Imagine 2018 conference, Elasticsearch support has been moved to the Open Source platform version. It was an important and highly anticipated decision, seeing as MySQL search engine was quite weak and causing lots of issues to busy online stores that were suffering from the lack of solid full-text search, faceting, or product list sorting solutions.
Elasticsearch has a distributed model (shards and nodes based), which allows for scalable and powerful searching through all kinds of documents. It is capable of near real-time search and analysis. It also supports real-time GET requests which work great for NoSQL datastores like MongoDB.
There are several Elasticsearch extensions available for Magento Open Source like Mirasvit, Bubbleshop, Wyomind, and ElasticSuite. They served many Open Source edition users well and certainly helped with the adoption of this solid search technology. Some of them might become less relevant, while others, like ElasticSuite, are still actively developed and keep their impressive potential due to better performance and their outstanding full-text search relevance model.
When upgrading, your default MySQL search will be flagged as deprecated in favor of Elasticsearch. It works well and it can greatly improve your site’s performance, reporting, as well as data storage and analysis.
Magento’s official website provides detailed instructions on how to install and configure Elasticsearch.
GraphQL
GraphQL is a server-side runtime for executing your queries and a query language as well. More importantly, it doesn’t depend on any particular database and/or storage engine.
With all the new features like Progressive Web Apps, it was really important to introduce a new query language for APIs in Magento 2.3 to reduce the number of API calls and shrink the volumes of data accordingly through a much smaller number of responses. This is now perfectly possible with GraphQL and its reusable units called fragments.
This is a very interesting approach and Magento is currently working on an entirely new layer to support it. The layer will interface directly to the Query API. Obviously, GraphQL is the implementation of Magento’s choice for any PWA’s front-end data retrieval.
For further information on the GraphQL technology, take a look at the official Introduction to GraphQL.
Declarative database schema
As you may know, altering the schema of a Magento database isn’t exactly easy. You can accomplish this task with InstallSchema and UpgradeSchema classes, and that’s where certain issues could appear.
The Magento 2.3 release is attempting to improve this and eliminate the difficulties by implementing a so-called declarative database schema. Instead of database schema definitions being fragmented to accommodate many install/upgrade scripts, a new and interesting approach is introduced here.
Magento’s declarative database schema will make use of a full definition created with XML, which means there will be no more messy fragments. It will certainly make it much easier to install and upgrade Magento as you are no longer dealing with fresh database scripts for each new version of the platform, data or schema-wise.
With this approach, redundant operations are no more. And with the new declarative schema method, developers are able to declare the final desired state of the database, while the system is able to adjust to it automatically. On top of that, it will allow data to be deleted when a module is uninstalled.
Klarna checkout
The Klarna support introduced in version 2.3 is a payment system enhancement. It adds a number of new features and is meant to boost the default shopping experience.
The most noticeable improvement gained with Klarna is the instant checkout process. It isn’t exactly a zero-step checkout, but with this provider, a customer only needs to specify their address details.
Another vital enhancement to Magento’s default shopping experience is Klarna’s “pay over time” option which allows for spread payments. A customer is now able to split the cost of purchase into several convenient parts.
The third unique improvement is the “pay later” option. A customer can pay for their order within 30 days after shipping and can also return the product without spending any money.
The Klarna Checkout module for Magento 2 can be installed for free on Magento’s official website. You can also read more about the Klarna Magento integration.
BlueFoot CMS & page builder
BlueFoot CMS integration with Magento 2.3 seems to be one of the top improvements for this release. It is actually a rewrite of the Blue Foot CMS technology that Magento has recently acquired from Gene Commerce together with Page Builder. A flexible grid system will allow you to visually position page elements in the most customizable way.
It features drag-and-drop layout management, template creation, and much more to make it easier for you to update content or build some quick store pages on your own without a single line of code needed. It gives you the power to create or customize pages just the way you want them to be, as it also offers full integration with the existing Magento features such as widgets and media gallery.
As of Magento 2.3, you can add streaming videos from services like Vimeo and YouTube, as well as a large number of other elements like Google Maps to produce everything from standard pages to blog posts. You will be able to create outstanding content quickly and mostly without the need for any other system. The interface is clean and friendly, which makes it easy to use even for non-tech-savvy users.
This is a great addition, and while BlueFoot CMS cannot cope with particularly complicated tasks, it will certainly appear as a real time and money saver for small and medium-sized merchants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0KNS7C5dZA
Progressive web apps (PWA)
Progressive Web Apps are true game changers in terms of how the front-end part of an e-commerce store is implemented.
In short, they are web apps enhanced with a number of robust web technologies (such as Cache API, push notifications, Service Worker, Fetch networking, and Web App Manifest) that will allow you to design a website or a web app that can behave like a native application in terms of speed and functionality.
As a matter of fact, a properly designed progressive web app won’t be just as good as native – it is pretty much possible to create a PWA that will provide a better experience than a native one. That’s mostly because PWAs are using the same HTML/CSS/JavaScript platform as regular websites.
With PWAs, not only can you cut the costs related to dedicated mobile app development but also greatly speed up the overall process by skipping the app store approval, seeing as you simply won’t need it anymore. Progressive web apps aren’t really limited to mobile devices, though. They can also be easily installed as a Chrome Web App in the desktop version of the Chrome browser.
Unlike typical web apps, Progressive Web Apps are entirely server-side, which allows for less troublesome maintenance and updates as you don’t need to issue them to an app store. Customers will certainly appreciate faster loading times, better usability, improved speed, and the device independency of PWAs.
Moreover, there is a roadmap to bring quality PWAs to the Microsoft Store and list them alongside native Windows 10 apps. Talk about a revolution in the making! Magento’s all-new PWA Studio included in the 2.3 release contains a set of tools that will allow you to develop and deploy amazing Progressive Web Apps on the basis of React and GraphQL.
Cache Management ACL
The caching system is the vital layer of performance for Magento 2. It may sound trivial at first, but there are as many as 15 types of cache in the latest release. Any attempt to interact with this specific system by a less experienced administrator may result in a dramatic performance drop.
In the earlier versions of the platform, the cache flushing policy was not enough to protect the web store from performance disasters. To address the problem, Magento 2.3 has been enhanced with effective granular access (or role-based access control) to the cache management settings. It is meant to prevent any accidental changes that could affect your system’s performance.
From now on, you will be able to efficiently control which users among those with administrative powers can view and manage cache types.
PHP 7.2
PHP 7.2 brings a large number of new development features. At the same time, it takes performance and security of the platform to the next level. Introduced in the Magento 2.3 release, it also incorporates modern cryptography technologies.
The core improvements include:
Message queues
Message queues allow for asynchronous communication between various systems within the Magento platform. In Magento 2.3, the support for queuing has been extended to Magento Open Source as opposed to older versions where Message Queue Framework was limited to Magento Commerce.
You can find more details about MQF in the Message Queues overview on Magento’s site for developers.
Asynchronous API
The Asynchronous Web API appeared in the Magento 2.3 release as an important improvement that allows a user to execute API calls to Magento’s REST API without the need to wait for a response.
This means that integrations don’t have to wait for their requests to be processed in full and they can make additional calls while waiting for the server. The performance increase will be dramatic in the case of large sites that receive a good number of API requests.
Magento Amazon sales channel
Amazon accounts for 44 percent of US online retail sales, while 60 percent of Magento merchants are already involved in the Amazon Marketplace. Attracting Amazon customers thus seemed to be an obvious decision for most businesses. However, it wasn’t exactly easy in terms of time and money – until now, that is.
Magento Amazon Sales Channel is an amazing enhancement introduced in 2.3 core. You will be able to easily integrate your catalog with Amazon and manage everything else like product listings, repricing rules, SKUs, orders, and so on right through the admin panel.
The following features have been made available:
Multi-source inventory (MSI)
This is an essential functionality enhancement in Magento 2.3 for businesses running multiple stores or doing lots of drop shipping.
It adds the ability to manage inventory by source location. Until now, managing multi-source inventories from a single website was a tough task. Even though a few third-party solutions exist, they are very complex while lacking some vital features.
MSI not only gives you the opportunity to link multiple inventory sources to your online store but it also lets you define various conditions to optimize the delivery route based on the location of the nearest warehouse or physical store. Advanced drop shipping management, low stock reports, total stock control – with MSI, none of this is a problem anymore.
Let’s have a look at the key concepts behind the Magento 2 Multi-Source Inventory system:
Magento 2.3 commerce-only features
There are a number of unique Magento 2.3 features that are exclusive to Commerce and Cloud editions.
You can find out more about those features below.
Store Credits
Providing your customers with credits has never been easier. It is a powerful tool that can help you attract more new visitors and keep your existing customers coming back. You can use credits to increase loyalty or as a replacement for refunds.
This functionality lets you view and control a credit balance from the admin panel, as well as link store credit to purchase, view history of operations, etc. The module also allows your customers to easily redeem their store credit balance. They also have the opportunity to share their credits with friends, which can definitely boost your sales by helping attract new clients.
Gift Cards
Previous versions of Magento 2 Commerce were lacking the gift card functionality. There are several extensions to fill the gap, but it’s always better to have this feature available out of the box.
There are two gift card types available in Commerce 2.3 release:
Requisition lists
This is another great exclusive functionality available in Commerce 2.3 edition. It provides your store visitors with the ability to create multiple lists of frequently purchased items and use them for order placement. It works for logged-in users as well as guests.
Please note that, while similar, a requisition list isn’t exactly the same thing as a wish list. There are several important differences between the two:
Visual merchandiser
In short, Visual Merchandiser provided in Magento Commerce 2.3 is a robust set of tools for product management. Positioning products and applying various conditions to them has never been easier.
This module greatly simplifies your back-end procedures and provides you with a number of new opportunities. With this tool, you are offered a grid that contains products as tiles or you can choose to work from a list of products. They can be dragged and dropped to a new position. It’s visual and easier than ever before, so you will no longer need to hire a specialist for a series of non-trivial tasks.
Content staging
With this exclusive Commerce 2.3 functionality, you can easily design, preview, and schedule a wide selection of content updates. Every static page can be turned into a dynamic one, which would provide store visitors with a scheduled, constantly changing experience. You can modify visual experience, price rules, etc.
In other words, you can turn any page into a collection of elements that can be exclusively turned on or off as you require. And with scheduling, you can have those changes applied automatically. This is a very handy feature to have for stores. Just think of holidays like Black Friday or any seasonal sales.
This is a full list of elements supported by the Content Staging module:
Page builder
Magento 2.3 Commerce offers a full version of Page Builder as opposed to a limited one provided in the Open Source edition. The robust Commerce Page Builder offers a vast variety of options and more content types that can be customized.
Let’s list and briefly describe the core features provided by Page Builder:
Grid system and drag and drop functionality
You will be able to customize products, images, headers, and anything else you require in just a few clicks with the all-intuitive Page Builder UI. The drag and drop functionality allows you to create more complex designs on your own, while the grid system lets you divide any page into separate segments to put your content in. Those page cells can be customized to allow for any custom experience desired.
Visual effects
The admin section of Page Builder introduces multiple reach visual effects to improve the appearance of your content. You can turn them on or off anytime as needed.
Relaxed integrations
Page Builder is well-integrated with the standard Magento 2 functionality. It allows you for easier and more intuitive use of the default features. Placing images from your gallery anywhere on the page is just a few clicks away.
Integration of products into other pages or elements is also possible, which is another great enhancement of the standard Magento 2 functionality. What’s more, not a single line of code is required for that, so you can easily integrate your products in blog posts or promotional pages.
On top of that, Page Builder lets you embed a number of third-party elements, such as streaming videos from YouTube or Vimeo, Google Maps, and much more to categories, product pages, and blog posts.
Preview and schedules
Page Builder also allows you to preview the appearance of your store with a single click. Just hit the button to see how your new storefront looks like from your customers’ perspective.
Furthermore, you can schedule changes for your required date and time. This means that you can now have that Halloween design ready in advance and apply it automatically right on time. Similarly, you can incorporate design changes for all major holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter and schedule them weeks or even months in advance. Better yet, the design will revert itself to your standard one as soon as the holidays are over.
Shared catalogs
This Magento 2.3 Commerce feature is a B2B improvement. Sharing an exclusive discount with just one of your partners is now entirely possible. You can define custom pricing rules within the admin panel that are designed for different businesses or groups of users. That also includes the visibility of particular products or categories.
There are two types of shared catalogs in Magento 2 Commerce: public and custom. A public shared catalog is created by default during the B2B installation process and displayed at the storefront to guests and non-logged-in customers, while the latter is visible only to users it has been assigned to.
Please note that you can only have one public shared catalog as opposed to custom shared catalogs that are unlimited.
Companies and negotiation quotes
Just like Shared Catalogs, Companies and Negotiation Quotes are also B2B features exclusive to Magento 2 Commerce edition.
The former lets you enable company accounts in your online store. The owner of a company account is then able to customize its structure and provide/change needed information.
Negotiation Quotes allow your business partners to set up negotiable prices directly from the shopping cart. Once the proposal is sent, store admins are instantly notified and can respond to it. A customer can proceed with the checkout process once the price is accepted. At this point, the negotiated price and quantity cannot be changed to prevent potential fraud.
Conclusion and final thoughts
The outstanding Magento 2.3 release is a combined effort of many hard working people: the Magento Core Team, Magento Community Engineering, and Community Contributors. This new major version is packed with many significant enhancements and improvements to both Open Source and Commerce editions that will, without a doubt, dramatically change the current customer experience.
As such, this version also introduces a very large number of new opportunities for merchants, administrators, and developers. Let’s just have a quick look at the list of the game-changing features:
Without any doubt, the release of Magento 2.3 is a great way to start the year. This new version of the popular e-commerce platform is a great gift for marketers looking to expand their online business and add more useful features that their customers will surely enjoy.
December 31, 2018Packed with thousands of features and providing vast extendibility, it is also one of the most popular platforms in the industry. For example, did you know that Magento powers more of the top thousand online retailers than any other?
Introducing Magento 2.3.0
When Magento 2.2.2 was released, we called it a revolution. There were so many amazing features added, including Instant Purchases, Dotmailer Integration, MFTF, Advanced Reporting, and Magento Shipping.
Magento 2.3, the latest version of the platform, goes even further and introduces several brand new features that marketers are sure to find useful.
Great for both merchants and developers
The Magento 2.3 codebase has arrived and it is now officially live. It comes with a solid amount of new tools to bring new opportunities for both merchants and developers and enhance their experiences. These include a completely new front-end technology, which provides customers with feature-rich and even more powerful storefronts. And that’s not all.
Announcing the Page Builder
As a merchant, you may enjoy the presence of an all-new, intuitive Page Builder feature included in the latest Magento Commerce release. It will make it easier for you to update content or build some store pages on your own without a single line of code. A flexible grid system will allow you to visually position page elements in the most customizable way. Page Builder is also fully compatible with the existing Magento features such as widgets and media gallery.
It is currently only available as part of the Early Adopter Program and set to become generally available as of the 2.3.1 release.
New security tools
Fighting bots and taking your security to the next level is now even easier with native support for Google reCAPTCHA and Two Factor Authentication (2FA). This means that you will no longer need separate security extensions to implement those.
New APIs and improved indexing
You mustn’t overlook the new APIs, too. They are now scalable and asynchronous. The main goal here is to boost the performance significantly by allowing better control over the execution and timing of API calls. This will come to full light when integrating custom front-end solutions.
Indexation times are now reduced by over 60 percent thanks to sharding and parallel processing of indexers. This will result in far quicker product updates and can have a great effect on larger sites.
What to expect when upgrading
At this point, you are probably asking yourself if you should upgrade and if your Magento-powered web store will continue working after that.
These are some vital considerations you need to make before deciding whether or not you should upgrade. Here are a few quick notes that will help you make an informed decision:
- Upgrading to PWA Studio is optional and the current front end is still there if you prefer it.
- Moving to the Declarative Schema is a one-way ticket (a potential downgrade will be hard).
- MySQL search will be marked as depreciated and Elasticsearch is going to be offered instead.
- Saving a product will require some attention and changes to avoid issues.
- The customer Data changes provided in order to eliminate the infamous duplicate AJAX calls may lead to potential bugs when using third-party extensions.
- Here is a list of deprecated classes and interfaces that you may want to check.
Magento Open Source 2.3.0 release notes
Magento Open Source 2.3.0 is now generally available. There are numerous enhancements for both merchants and developers, as well as many functionality fixes included in this release. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.
Enhanced merchant tools
Multi-Source Inventory (MSI) is now provided as a major Inventory Management enhancement. What this means is that you can now directly manage physical inventory for all product types both in a single warehouse and across several locations using multiple sources. Inventory Management will also update order and shipment options accordingly, thus giving you full control over your stock.
Security enhancements
- There are over 30 new security fixes integrated into the new Magento core.
- Cache flush ACL has been introduced to provide granular access to the cache management settings. It is meant to prevent any accidental changes that could affect your system’s performance. From now on, you will be able to control which users among those with administrative powers can clear the caches.
- The admin panel is now protected with Two Factor Authentication and Captcha, which will help protect your website from bots and password thieves.
Better developer experience
- The PWA Studio project is here to support the development of Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), as well as their deployment and maintenance. We will discuss this feature in more detail later on.
- GraphQL API is now available as a replacement for REST and SOAP web APIs, serving as a base for custom front-end Simply put, it is a sophisticated data query language. Take a look at the official GraphQL Dev Guide for more details about this implementation in Magento. We will also cover some aspects of it below.
- The declarative schema approach makes the installation and upgrade procedures for Magento and its extensions easier and greatly reduces the need for most database scripts. This particular feature also allows Magento to roll out database schema changes in patch releases, which wasn’t possible in previous versions. Database structure validation is supported, as are split and shared database structures.
- Asynchronous Web APIs enable all earlier versions of Magento REST APIs to access the data See Asynchronous web endpoints for more details.
- Bulk Web APIs are here to allow all existing REST APIs to use payloads with multiple entities. Check Bulk endpoints for more information on this.
Other enhancements and improvements
- Magento Functional Test Framework (MFTF) has been upgraded to version 2.3.6.
- Release packaging improvements that will result in improved product quality and smoother release process are also included. Additionally, an increase in test automation has been introduced.
- Elasticsearch support is now available in Magento Open Source, as opposed to older versions that provided Elasticsearch support only in Magento Commerce core.
- The Vertex implementation in Magento is now Vertex O Series 7.0 compatible.
- Klarna has received quite a few important updates, such as support for PHP 7.2 (no longer supporting PHP 5.6) and somewhat rebuilt cleanser filtering.
- Dotmailer will now support split database mode known from Magento Commerce core.
- Amazon Pay has been revamped with improved performance and architecture.
- Magento Shipping has been enhanced with the Click & Collect feature that will allow merchants to provide this functionality as a shipping option to buyers, as well as to configure a number of related options such as source locations available. There are many more changes to Magento Shipping, including pop-ups for multi-package shipments, improvements to the dispatch details page, and more.
Magento commerce 2.3.0 release notes
We are now going to take a look at Magento Commerce 2.3.0 General Availability. As with the Open Source version, there are hundreds of functional improvements in the Commerce release for both merchants and developers to enjoy. Let’s have a quick look at some of them.
Improved merchant tools
- Multi-Source Inventory (MSI) is now provided as a major Inventory Management enhancement. What this means is that you can now directly manage physical inventory for all product types both in a single warehouse and across several locations using multiple sources. Inventory Management will also update order and shipment options accordingly, thus giving you full control over your stock.
- Page Builder is native in Magento Commerce release. It is a re-write of the Blue Foot CMS that Magento recently purchased from Gene Commerce. Page Builder features drag-and-drop layout management, template creation, and much more to make it easier for you to update content or build some store pages on your own without a single line of code. A flexible grid system will allow you to visually position page elements in the most customizable way.
- The CMS enhancements in Magento 2.3.0 introduce TinyMCE 4.6 as your default WYSIWYG editor. It is integrated through an adapter that will allow you to easily replace it with a different WYSIWYG editor anytime. There are also banner enhancements – you can now create one in Page Builder or the native Magento WYSIWYG editor.
Enhanced developer experience
- Asynchronous Web APIs enable all earlier versions of Magento REST APIs to access the data asynchronously. See Asynchronous web endpoints for more details.
- Bulk Web APIs are here to allow all existing REST APIs to use payloads with multiple entities. Check Bulk endpoints for more information on this.
- The declarative schema approach makes the installation and upgrade procedures for Magento and its extensions easier and greatly reduces the need for most database scripts. This particular feature also allows Magento to roll out database schema changes in patch releases, which wasn’t possible in previous versions. Database structure validation is supported, as are split and shared database structures.
- The PWA Studio project is here to support the development of Progressive Web Applications, as well as their deployment and maintenance. We will discuss this feature in more detail later on.
- GraphQL API is now available as a replacement for REST and SOAP web APIs, serving as a base for custom front-end Simply put, it is a sophisticated data query language. Take a look at the official GraphQL Dev Guide for more details about this implementation in Magento. We will also cover some aspects of it below.
- Many expected updates to Magento’s tech stack which include MySQL, Elasticsearch, Redis, and PHP 7.2.x compatibility.
Other improvements and enhancements
- Magento Functional Test Framework (MFTF) has been upgraded to version 2.3.6.
- Release packaging improvements that will result in improved product quality and smoother release process are also included. Additionally, an increase in test automation has been introduced.
- Security improvements were introduced in the form of Two Factor Authentication (2FA) and Google reCAPTCHA.
- Cache flush ACL has been introduced to provide granular access to the cache management settings. It is meant to prevent any accidental changes that could affect your system’s performance. From now on, you will be able to control which users among those with administrative powers can clear the caches.
- Elasticsearch support is now available in Magento Open Source, as opposed to older versions that provided Elasticsearch support only in Magento Commerce core.
- The Vertex implementation in Magento is now Vertex O Series 7.0 compatible.
- Klarna has received quite a few important updates such as support for PHP 7.2 (no longer supporting PHP 5.6) and somewhat rebuilt cleanser filtering.
- Dotmailer will now support split database mode known from Magento Commerce core.
- Amazon Pay has been revamped with improved performance and architecture.
- Magento Shipping has been enhanced with the Click & Collect feature that will allow merchants to provide this functionality as a shipping option to buyers, as well as to configure a number of related options such as source locations available. There are many more changes to Magento Shipping, including pop-ups for multi-package shipments, improvements to the dispatch details page, and more.
Magento 2.3 new features in-depth review
Let’s focus on the new features now. Some of them are available for all versions of the platform, while others are exclusive to Commerce and Cloud editions.
Magento 2.3 open source features
Google reCAPTCHA
Google reCAPTCHA has proved to be an excellent technology to eliminate bots from various websites, including online stores. You have most likely installed one of those third-party extensions like UI mod Google reCaptcha or Google reCaptcha by Amasty long ago.
No matter how robust those extensions are, you won’t need them anymore as the Google reCAPTCHA tool has now become native core functionality. You will now be able to use it to take the following pages to the next level in terms of security:
- Registration
- Forgot password
- Contact form
- Admin login
- User login
Two factor authentication (2FA)
Similar to the Google ReCAPTCHA tool, there is a great choice of extensions that can introduce 2FA for Magento. And again, they might become obsolete sometime soon. That’s because Two Factor Authentication is now also native in Magento 2.3 to provide an important extra layer of security for the admin panel.
It doesn’t really mean that you should stop looking for security extensions right now. There are many that might be crucial to your business’ security like Amasty Advanced Permissions.
Speaking of 2FA integration, it requires privileged users to verify their usual login procedure via phone call, access token, SMS, or One Touch. There are currently three authentication methods for the admin panel: Authy, Google Authenticator, and Duo Security.
Elasticsearch
This robust RESTful search and analytics engine used to be exclusively available in Commerce edition not long ago. As previously announced during the Magento Imagine 2018 conference, Elasticsearch support has been moved to the Open Source platform version. It was an important and highly anticipated decision, seeing as MySQL search engine was quite weak and causing lots of issues to busy online stores that were suffering from the lack of solid full-text search, faceting, or product list sorting solutions.
Elasticsearch has a distributed model (shards and nodes based), which allows for scalable and powerful searching through all kinds of documents. It is capable of near real-time search and analysis. It also supports real-time GET requests which work great for NoSQL datastores like MongoDB.
There are several Elasticsearch extensions available for Magento Open Source like Mirasvit, Bubbleshop, Wyomind, and ElasticSuite. They served many Open Source edition users well and certainly helped with the adoption of this solid search technology. Some of them might become less relevant, while others, like ElasticSuite, are still actively developed and keep their impressive potential due to better performance and their outstanding full-text search relevance model.
When upgrading, your default MySQL search will be flagged as deprecated in favor of Elasticsearch. It works well and it can greatly improve your site’s performance, reporting, as well as data storage and analysis.
Magento’s official website provides detailed instructions on how to install and configure Elasticsearch.
GraphQL
GraphQL is a server-side runtime for executing your queries and a query language as well. More importantly, it doesn’t depend on any particular database and/or storage engine.
With all the new features like Progressive Web Apps, it was really important to introduce a new query language for APIs in Magento 2.3 to reduce the number of API calls and shrink the volumes of data accordingly through a much smaller number of responses. This is now perfectly possible with GraphQL and its reusable units called fragments.
This is a very interesting approach and Magento is currently working on an entirely new layer to support it. The layer will interface directly to the Query API. Obviously, GraphQL is the implementation of Magento’s choice for any PWA’s front-end data retrieval.
For further information on the GraphQL technology, take a look at the official Introduction to GraphQL.
Declarative database schema
As you may know, altering the schema of a Magento database isn’t exactly easy. You can accomplish this task with InstallSchema and UpgradeSchema classes, and that’s where certain issues could appear.
The Magento 2.3 release is attempting to improve this and eliminate the difficulties by implementing a so-called declarative database schema. Instead of database schema definitions being fragmented to accommodate many install/upgrade scripts, a new and interesting approach is introduced here.
Magento’s declarative database schema will make use of a full definition created with XML, which means there will be no more messy fragments. It will certainly make it much easier to install and upgrade Magento as you are no longer dealing with fresh database scripts for each new version of the platform, data or schema-wise.
With this approach, redundant operations are no more. And with the new declarative schema method, developers are able to declare the final desired state of the database, while the system is able to adjust to it automatically. On top of that, it will allow data to be deleted when a module is uninstalled.
Klarna checkout
The Klarna support introduced in version 2.3 is a payment system enhancement. It adds a number of new features and is meant to boost the default shopping experience.
The most noticeable improvement gained with Klarna is the instant checkout process. It isn’t exactly a zero-step checkout, but with this provider, a customer only needs to specify their address details.
Another vital enhancement to Magento’s default shopping experience is Klarna’s “pay over time” option which allows for spread payments. A customer is now able to split the cost of purchase into several convenient parts.
The third unique improvement is the “pay later” option. A customer can pay for their order within 30 days after shipping and can also return the product without spending any money.
The Klarna Checkout module for Magento 2 can be installed for free on Magento’s official website. You can also read more about the Klarna Magento integration.
BlueFoot CMS & page builder
BlueFoot CMS integration with Magento 2.3 seems to be one of the top improvements for this release. It is actually a rewrite of the Blue Foot CMS technology that Magento has recently acquired from Gene Commerce together with Page Builder. A flexible grid system will allow you to visually position page elements in the most customizable way.
It features drag-and-drop layout management, template creation, and much more to make it easier for you to update content or build some quick store pages on your own without a single line of code needed. It gives you the power to create or customize pages just the way you want them to be, as it also offers full integration with the existing Magento features such as widgets and media gallery.
As of Magento 2.3, you can add streaming videos from services like Vimeo and YouTube, as well as a large number of other elements like Google Maps to produce everything from standard pages to blog posts. You will be able to create outstanding content quickly and mostly without the need for any other system. The interface is clean and friendly, which makes it easy to use even for non-tech-savvy users.
This is a great addition, and while BlueFoot CMS cannot cope with particularly complicated tasks, it will certainly appear as a real time and money saver for small and medium-sized merchants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0KNS7C5dZA
Progressive web apps (PWA)
Progressive Web Apps are true game changers in terms of how the front-end part of an e-commerce store is implemented.
In short, they are web apps enhanced with a number of robust web technologies (such as Cache API, push notifications, Service Worker, Fetch networking, and Web App Manifest) that will allow you to design a website or a web app that can behave like a native application in terms of speed and functionality.
As a matter of fact, a properly designed progressive web app won’t be just as good as native – it is pretty much possible to create a PWA that will provide a better experience than a native one. That’s mostly because PWAs are using the same HTML/CSS/JavaScript platform as regular websites.
With PWAs, not only can you cut the costs related to dedicated mobile app development but also greatly speed up the overall process by skipping the app store approval, seeing as you simply won’t need it anymore. Progressive web apps aren’t really limited to mobile devices, though. They can also be easily installed as a Chrome Web App in the desktop version of the Chrome browser.
Unlike typical web apps, Progressive Web Apps are entirely server-side, which allows for less troublesome maintenance and updates as you don’t need to issue them to an app store. Customers will certainly appreciate faster loading times, better usability, improved speed, and the device independency of PWAs.
Moreover, there is a roadmap to bring quality PWAs to the Microsoft Store and list them alongside native Windows 10 apps. Talk about a revolution in the making! Magento’s all-new PWA Studio included in the 2.3 release contains a set of tools that will allow you to develop and deploy amazing Progressive Web Apps on the basis of React and GraphQL.
Cache Management ACL
The caching system is the vital layer of performance for Magento 2. It may sound trivial at first, but there are as many as 15 types of cache in the latest release. Any attempt to interact with this specific system by a less experienced administrator may result in a dramatic performance drop.
In the earlier versions of the platform, the cache flushing policy was not enough to protect the web store from performance disasters. To address the problem, Magento 2.3 has been enhanced with effective granular access (or role-based access control) to the cache management settings. It is meant to prevent any accidental changes that could affect your system’s performance.
From now on, you will be able to efficiently control which users among those with administrative powers can view and manage cache types.
PHP 7.2
PHP 7.2 brings a large number of new development features. At the same time, it takes performance and security of the platform to the next level. Introduced in the Magento 2.3 release, it also incorporates modern cryptography technologies.
The core improvements include:
- Performance increase by 13% compared to PHP 7.1 and also 20% faster than PHP 7.0.
- Argon 2 is a modern algorithm for securely hashing passwords as opposed to Bcrypt, which was used in the previous version of PHP. It is designed to have the highest memory filling rate and, unlike Bcrypt, is parameterized by three distinct factors:
- Memory cost
- Time cost
- Parallelism factor
- Libsodium is an application-layer, modern, and easy to use library for encryption, decryption, signatures, password hashing, and more. It has been forked from NaCl and made portable, installable, and cross-compilable. It is also a cross-platform and cross-languages library.
Message queues
Message queues allow for asynchronous communication between various systems within the Magento platform. In Magento 2.3, the support for queuing has been extended to Magento Open Source as opposed to older versions where Message Queue Framework was limited to Magento Commerce.
You can find more details about MQF in the Message Queues overview on Magento’s site for developers.
Asynchronous API
The Asynchronous Web API appeared in the Magento 2.3 release as an important improvement that allows a user to execute API calls to Magento’s REST API without the need to wait for a response.
This means that integrations don’t have to wait for their requests to be processed in full and they can make additional calls while waiting for the server. The performance increase will be dramatic in the case of large sites that receive a good number of API requests.
Magento Amazon sales channel
Amazon accounts for 44 percent of US online retail sales, while 60 percent of Magento merchants are already involved in the Amazon Marketplace. Attracting Amazon customers thus seemed to be an obvious decision for most businesses. However, it wasn’t exactly easy in terms of time and money – until now, that is.
Magento Amazon Sales Channel is an amazing enhancement introduced in 2.3 core. You will be able to easily integrate your catalog with Amazon and manage everything else like product listings, repricing rules, SKUs, orders, and so on right through the admin panel.
The following features have been made available:
- Listing Management – Seamlessly integrate your products with Amazon marketplace via rules and build products in Magento from Amazon listings.
- Intelligent Pricing – Use the Magento intelligent repricing system to auto-reprice your Amazon listings in order to increase your sales via an Amazon Buy Box position, which is known to generate up to 90% of sales.
- Inventory Management – Maintain inventory sync between your catalog and Amazon listings automatically and utilize inventory marketing tactics on Amazon.
- Fulfillment Management – Fulfill your orders with FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), fulfill them on your own, or combine the two methods as desired.
- Order Management – You can ship or cancel orders and build customer accounts from a centralized location within Magento sales order grid.
Multi-source inventory (MSI)
This is an essential functionality enhancement in Magento 2.3 for businesses running multiple stores or doing lots of drop shipping.
It adds the ability to manage inventory by source location. Until now, managing multi-source inventories from a single website was a tough task. Even though a few third-party solutions exist, they are very complex while lacking some vital features.
MSI not only gives you the opportunity to link multiple inventory sources to your online store but it also lets you define various conditions to optimize the delivery route based on the location of the nearest warehouse or physical store. Advanced drop shipping management, low stock reports, total stock control – with MSI, none of this is a problem anymore.
Let’s have a look at the key concepts behind the Magento 2 Multi-Source Inventory system:
- Magento 2 MSI Stocks allows you to create groups of sources and link them to the desired
- Magento 2 MSI Sources lets you create and extensively manage a list of sources that represent each physical location where stocks are physically located like a warehouse, a garage, your house, etc.
- Magento 2 MSI Source Selection Algorithm is designed to calculate the most efficient delivery route, based on the sources list. It uses many parameters such as customer, address, product, stock, source data, and more.
- Magento 2 MSI Product Edit Page is a default product edit page which includes a completely new section named “Assigned Sources”. This section displays a source code, name, and status, the status of items in each source and their quantity, as well as the notification quantity.
- Magento 2 MSI Salable Quantity - After sources are defined and linked to stocks, the number of items is specified per source per product, and each stock is linked to a corresponding site. The MSI module then sums everything up to provide you with the salable quantity.
- Magento 2 MSI Partial Shipment lets you ship orders in parts or instantly provide your customers with drop shipping options.
- Magento 2 MSI Performance - The checkout performance usually suffers from source selection algorithm as it takes more computing power and time in most cases. MSI eliminates this problem and the purchase remains as fast as when processed from a single source.
Magento 2.3 commerce-only features
There are a number of unique Magento 2.3 features that are exclusive to Commerce and Cloud editions.
You can find out more about those features below.
Store Credits
Providing your customers with credits has never been easier. It is a powerful tool that can help you attract more new visitors and keep your existing customers coming back. You can use credits to increase loyalty or as a replacement for refunds.
This functionality lets you view and control a credit balance from the admin panel, as well as link store credit to purchase, view history of operations, etc. The module also allows your customers to easily redeem their store credit balance. They also have the opportunity to share their credits with friends, which can definitely boost your sales by helping attract new clients.
Gift Cards
Previous versions of Magento 2 Commerce were lacking the gift card functionality. There are several extensions to fill the gap, but it’s always better to have this feature available out of the box.
There are two gift card types available in Commerce 2.3 release:
- Physical - Offering physical cards will require you to pack and send them via post office just like any normal order. The recipient can then redeem the physical card in-store, by phone, or online.
- Virtual - Selling virtual cards lets your buyers send them right to the e-mail address of their chosen
Requisition lists
This is another great exclusive functionality available in Commerce 2.3 edition. It provides your store visitors with the ability to create multiple lists of frequently purchased items and use them for order placement. It works for logged-in users as well as guests.
Please note that, while similar, a requisition list isn’t exactly the same thing as a wish list. There are several important differences between the two:
- As a merchant, you can configure a maximum number of requisition lists per customer
- Requisition list is not purged after your customer adds items to the shopping cart and, as such, it can be used for placing multiple orders.
- The UI for requisition lists uses a compact view, which allows for displaying of a large number of items.
Visual merchandiser
In short, Visual Merchandiser provided in Magento Commerce 2.3 is a robust set of tools for product management. Positioning products and applying various conditions to them has never been easier.
This module greatly simplifies your back-end procedures and provides you with a number of new opportunities. With this tool, you are offered a grid that contains products as tiles or you can choose to work from a list of products. They can be dragged and dropped to a new position. It’s visual and easier than ever before, so you will no longer need to hire a specialist for a series of non-trivial tasks.
Content staging
With this exclusive Commerce 2.3 functionality, you can easily design, preview, and schedule a wide selection of content updates. Every static page can be turned into a dynamic one, which would provide store visitors with a scheduled, constantly changing experience. You can modify visual experience, price rules, etc.
In other words, you can turn any page into a collection of elements that can be exclusively turned on or off as you require. And with scheduling, you can have those changes applied automatically. This is a very handy feature to have for stores. Just think of holidays like Black Friday or any seasonal sales.
This is a full list of elements supported by the Content Staging module:
- Catalog and Cart Price Rules
- Products and Categories
- CMS Pages and Blocks
- Widgets
Page builder
Magento 2.3 Commerce offers a full version of Page Builder as opposed to a limited one provided in the Open Source edition. The robust Commerce Page Builder offers a vast variety of options and more content types that can be customized.
Let’s list and briefly describe the core features provided by Page Builder:
Grid system and drag and drop functionality
You will be able to customize products, images, headers, and anything else you require in just a few clicks with the all-intuitive Page Builder UI. The drag and drop functionality allows you to create more complex designs on your own, while the grid system lets you divide any page into separate segments to put your content in. Those page cells can be customized to allow for any custom experience desired.
Visual effects
The admin section of Page Builder introduces multiple reach visual effects to improve the appearance of your content. You can turn them on or off anytime as needed.
Relaxed integrations
Page Builder is well-integrated with the standard Magento 2 functionality. It allows you for easier and more intuitive use of the default features. Placing images from your gallery anywhere on the page is just a few clicks away.
Integration of products into other pages or elements is also possible, which is another great enhancement of the standard Magento 2 functionality. What’s more, not a single line of code is required for that, so you can easily integrate your products in blog posts or promotional pages.
On top of that, Page Builder lets you embed a number of third-party elements, such as streaming videos from YouTube or Vimeo, Google Maps, and much more to categories, product pages, and blog posts.
Preview and schedules
Page Builder also allows you to preview the appearance of your store with a single click. Just hit the button to see how your new storefront looks like from your customers’ perspective.
Furthermore, you can schedule changes for your required date and time. This means that you can now have that Halloween design ready in advance and apply it automatically right on time. Similarly, you can incorporate design changes for all major holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter and schedule them weeks or even months in advance. Better yet, the design will revert itself to your standard one as soon as the holidays are over.
Shared catalogs
This Magento 2.3 Commerce feature is a B2B improvement. Sharing an exclusive discount with just one of your partners is now entirely possible. You can define custom pricing rules within the admin panel that are designed for different businesses or groups of users. That also includes the visibility of particular products or categories.
There are two types of shared catalogs in Magento 2 Commerce: public and custom. A public shared catalog is created by default during the B2B installation process and displayed at the storefront to guests and non-logged-in customers, while the latter is visible only to users it has been assigned to.
Please note that you can only have one public shared catalog as opposed to custom shared catalogs that are unlimited.
Companies and negotiation quotes
Just like Shared Catalogs, Companies and Negotiation Quotes are also B2B features exclusive to Magento 2 Commerce edition.
The former lets you enable company accounts in your online store. The owner of a company account is then able to customize its structure and provide/change needed information.
Negotiation Quotes allow your business partners to set up negotiable prices directly from the shopping cart. Once the proposal is sent, store admins are instantly notified and can respond to it. A customer can proceed with the checkout process once the price is accepted. At this point, the negotiated price and quantity cannot be changed to prevent potential fraud.
Conclusion and final thoughts
The outstanding Magento 2.3 release is a combined effort of many hard working people: the Magento Core Team, Magento Community Engineering, and Community Contributors. This new major version is packed with many significant enhancements and improvements to both Open Source and Commerce editions that will, without a doubt, dramatically change the current customer experience.
As such, this version also introduces a very large number of new opportunities for merchants, administrators, and developers. Let’s just have a quick look at the list of the game-changing features:
- Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
- Declarative DB Schema
- GraphQL support
- Elasticsearch updates (now in Magento Open Source)
- Asynchronous and Bulk Web API
- Complete PHP 7.2 support (modern cryptography included)
- Multi-Source Inventories (MSI)
- WYSIWYG upgrade
- BlueFoot CMS
- Page Builder
- Cache-Management ACL
- Google reCAPTCHA and Two Factor Authentication
- Magento Amazon Sales Channel
- Klarna Integration
Without any doubt, the release of Magento 2.3 is a great way to start the year. This new version of the popular e-commerce platform is a great gift for marketers looking to expand their online business and add more useful features that their customers will surely enjoy.
Establish trust on e-commerce sites and apps
You can’t sell much if you don’t build trust with customers.
While your business could always use a revenue increase, customer trust is an important factor when attracting both new and repeat customers. A decreasing trend of consumer trust has been observed in all industries as they start turning away from traditional sources of information about products and services and instead using the web for verification.
Achieving trust through online resources might be difficult. It is so much different from those old-school face-to-face encounters. Customers tend to look at reviews and recommendations from their fellow purchasers before they make a decision to buy something. According to some studies, up to 78 percent of digital consumers read reviews before buying.
The keys to building trust
Building trust with customers is the key to success in the digital era. There are many steps that you can take and many paths to follow to establish the desired trust on e-commerce sites and apps. We will be showing you some of them shortly.
Be transparent
Steven Tadelis, a professor at UC Berkeley, researched the factors that encourage trust back in 2007. His main finding was that secretiveness doesn’t work. Transparency and full information about the identity, among others, were the most important positive trust factors.
Over the years, transparency has become a top priority for businesses. A recent study by Label Insight clearly indicates that up to 94 percent of consumers prefer businesses that offer transparency. At the same time, almost three-quarters of consumers wouldn’t mind paying more for services and products that offer total transparency.
In today’s world, your website should include more than a legal disclaimer. The more you cover, e.g. via questions and answers, the better. Also, transparent pricing is simply a must. Any attempts to bend the truth will fire back at you as 81 percent of digital customers tend to punish businesses by making their inconsistencies public.
Make a great first impression
Design matters because it reflects how you do business. Consumer trust begins with a great first impression. If you can do it, you might be able to keep a customer for life. Focusing on design in order to impress your customer will result in a much better conversion rate. This is essential when it comes to navigation, content and visual elements, proper organization, engagement, brand uniformity, and search engine optimization (SEO).
It is very important that your users/visitors can easily understand and explore your website or app. You really don’t need to go into such small details, though. It is enough that the navigation is perfectly intuitive. A good choice of a font and other details related to typography are also important.
If any content presented is hard to read or cluttered, your customer may not want to come back. The most comfortable way to read content is from top to bottom and from left to right. You thus want to put the most important pieces of information in the upper-left area of the screen.
You also want to catch your users’ or visitors’ eyes enough to get them engaged. This is a very important factor when creating that great first impression as that’s also where the engagement will begin. And if your business has a unique logo and/or a slogan, all of these elements need to be integrated into your design to ensure full consistency.
Don’t forget about SEO, either. The way you present the information will affect how search engines can see your website. Sometimes even a small detail will result in higher search engine placement – meaning that your website will become more visible.
Humanize and show your empathy
One of the best ways to gain trust is to avoid jargon. Use a language that is easy to understand. Use storytelling to humanize your brand, run a business blog, utilize social media, and show empathy for your users or customers.
Also, offer docs and tutorials wherever possible and make sure to give your customers ways to get in touch with you. This is how you show in public that there are real people behind your brand or company.
All these factors will inspire recognition and help you build consumer trust.
Show off your products
A picture is worth a thousand words. Your customers need to be able to visualize as much as they can about your product or services before making that buying decision. The better you understand and utilize this principle, the higher your revenue. Even small things can get you the sale.
When selling services – you want to make your description as clear as possible and cover just about every aspect of the product in a way that is easy to read and understand. Selling physical products will require crisp, high-quality images. Ideally, you should add both studio shots and “environmental” photographs.
Don’t have the budget for studio images? You could invite your customers to send in their own photos. Not only does it work but it also adds a nice personal touch to your products.
Add trust signals to your website
As we have already mentioned, trust is a crucial factor, and your business won’t survive for long without it. Adding trust signals to your website is obligatory in order to become successful. Adding these extra features to your website will inspire trust in the minds of your visitors. Here are the most important trust signals to help grow your revenue and conversion rates:
SSL Certification
According to the CA Security Council’s 2015 Consumer Trust Survey, 53 percent of respondents “recognize the padlock means trust”, while 42 percent agree that the green bar means safety. Having an SSL certificate obtained and properly implemented ensures that all data passed between your web server and your customers’ browsers will remain private. And that’s exactly the level of online safety that today’s customers want.
Reviews and testimonials
Publishing testimonials and/or reviews written by a satisfied customer is the most effective way to build trust. It will easily take your original content to the next level. Make sure to add the identity of reviewers to boost the trustworthiness as the internet is already flooded with anonymous opinions that hold very little value in the eyes of consumers.
Contact and communication
You need to tell your customers who you are and what your physical location is. They also need to know how they can get a hold of you. Putting a phone number and a map with physical address will definitely work great.
Enhancing trust through social media is also a good idea. Consumers trust Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, to name a few. People use these platforms to connect with their friends, so they provide a great way to connect with customers and gain their trust.
Payment assurance
Different consumers favor different online payment tools. Providing the right variety of payment methods will certainly boost their trust and your revenue. Adding badges and/or certifications works as well. In addition, icons like Visa, VeriSign, and PayPal are also among the highest rated trust elements for e-commerce website.
Conclusion
The first step to establishing trust on your e-commerce site or app is to find out what trust features your customers are looking for. After that, you simply need to give them what they want. Even though most trust factors are universal, some of them may be best-suited for specific types of e-commerce websites.
In this article, we have covered some of the most efficient ways to build trust with customers. Now it’s your turn to implement them and start building a loyal customer base.
December 17, 2018While your business could always use a revenue increase, customer trust is an important factor when attracting both new and repeat customers. A decreasing trend of consumer trust has been observed in all industries as they start turning away from traditional sources of information about products and services and instead using the web for verification.
Achieving trust through online resources might be difficult. It is so much different from those old-school face-to-face encounters. Customers tend to look at reviews and recommendations from their fellow purchasers before they make a decision to buy something. According to some studies, up to 78 percent of digital consumers read reviews before buying.
The keys to building trust
Building trust with customers is the key to success in the digital era. There are many steps that you can take and many paths to follow to establish the desired trust on e-commerce sites and apps. We will be showing you some of them shortly.
Be transparent
Steven Tadelis, a professor at UC Berkeley, researched the factors that encourage trust back in 2007. His main finding was that secretiveness doesn’t work. Transparency and full information about the identity, among others, were the most important positive trust factors.
Over the years, transparency has become a top priority for businesses. A recent study by Label Insight clearly indicates that up to 94 percent of consumers prefer businesses that offer transparency. At the same time, almost three-quarters of consumers wouldn’t mind paying more for services and products that offer total transparency.
In today’s world, your website should include more than a legal disclaimer. The more you cover, e.g. via questions and answers, the better. Also, transparent pricing is simply a must. Any attempts to bend the truth will fire back at you as 81 percent of digital customers tend to punish businesses by making their inconsistencies public.
Make a great first impression
Design matters because it reflects how you do business. Consumer trust begins with a great first impression. If you can do it, you might be able to keep a customer for life. Focusing on design in order to impress your customer will result in a much better conversion rate. This is essential when it comes to navigation, content and visual elements, proper organization, engagement, brand uniformity, and search engine optimization (SEO).
It is very important that your users/visitors can easily understand and explore your website or app. You really don’t need to go into such small details, though. It is enough that the navigation is perfectly intuitive. A good choice of a font and other details related to typography are also important.
If any content presented is hard to read or cluttered, your customer may not want to come back. The most comfortable way to read content is from top to bottom and from left to right. You thus want to put the most important pieces of information in the upper-left area of the screen.
You also want to catch your users’ or visitors’ eyes enough to get them engaged. This is a very important factor when creating that great first impression as that’s also where the engagement will begin. And if your business has a unique logo and/or a slogan, all of these elements need to be integrated into your design to ensure full consistency.
Don’t forget about SEO, either. The way you present the information will affect how search engines can see your website. Sometimes even a small detail will result in higher search engine placement – meaning that your website will become more visible.
Humanize and show your empathy
One of the best ways to gain trust is to avoid jargon. Use a language that is easy to understand. Use storytelling to humanize your brand, run a business blog, utilize social media, and show empathy for your users or customers.
Also, offer docs and tutorials wherever possible and make sure to give your customers ways to get in touch with you. This is how you show in public that there are real people behind your brand or company.
All these factors will inspire recognition and help you build consumer trust.
Show off your products
A picture is worth a thousand words. Your customers need to be able to visualize as much as they can about your product or services before making that buying decision. The better you understand and utilize this principle, the higher your revenue. Even small things can get you the sale.
When selling services – you want to make your description as clear as possible and cover just about every aspect of the product in a way that is easy to read and understand. Selling physical products will require crisp, high-quality images. Ideally, you should add both studio shots and “environmental” photographs.
Don’t have the budget for studio images? You could invite your customers to send in their own photos. Not only does it work but it also adds a nice personal touch to your products.
Add trust signals to your website
As we have already mentioned, trust is a crucial factor, and your business won’t survive for long without it. Adding trust signals to your website is obligatory in order to become successful. Adding these extra features to your website will inspire trust in the minds of your visitors. Here are the most important trust signals to help grow your revenue and conversion rates:
SSL Certification
According to the CA Security Council’s 2015 Consumer Trust Survey, 53 percent of respondents “recognize the padlock means trust”, while 42 percent agree that the green bar means safety. Having an SSL certificate obtained and properly implemented ensures that all data passed between your web server and your customers’ browsers will remain private. And that’s exactly the level of online safety that today’s customers want.
Reviews and testimonials
Publishing testimonials and/or reviews written by a satisfied customer is the most effective way to build trust. It will easily take your original content to the next level. Make sure to add the identity of reviewers to boost the trustworthiness as the internet is already flooded with anonymous opinions that hold very little value in the eyes of consumers.
Contact and communication
You need to tell your customers who you are and what your physical location is. They also need to know how they can get a hold of you. Putting a phone number and a map with physical address will definitely work great.
Enhancing trust through social media is also a good idea. Consumers trust Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, to name a few. People use these platforms to connect with their friends, so they provide a great way to connect with customers and gain their trust.
Payment assurance
Different consumers favor different online payment tools. Providing the right variety of payment methods will certainly boost their trust and your revenue. Adding badges and/or certifications works as well. In addition, icons like Visa, VeriSign, and PayPal are also among the highest rated trust elements for e-commerce website.
Conclusion
The first step to establishing trust on your e-commerce site or app is to find out what trust features your customers are looking for. After that, you simply need to give them what they want. Even though most trust factors are universal, some of them may be best-suited for specific types of e-commerce websites.
In this article, we have covered some of the most efficient ways to build trust with customers. Now it’s your turn to implement them and start building a loyal customer base.
Vue StoreFront
With the impending release of Magento 2.3, it’s time for merchants to start thinking about how they’ll be able to use the plethora of new features to grow their e-commerce business. It’s also time to start thinking about choosing a front-end solution that can match the capabilities of a powerful backend platform such as Magento.
PWA Studio is definitely one of the new features that merchants are looking forward to the most. The transformative power of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on any e-commerce business is set to make them the next big thing.
If you need a PWA storefront for your Magento backend, Vue Storefront might be a perfect choice.
What is Vue Storefront?
Vue Storefront is an open-source, standalone Headless and PWA storefront for your e-commerce business. It offers a set of modern tools that lets business owners create stunning storefronts to present their businesses in the best light.
You can connect it to any backend solution such as Shopware or Magento through the API. Once you do that, you’ll have an all-in-one frontend for your business.
How does it change shopping experience?
The reason why Vue Storefront was created is to conquer the many challenges that e-commerce businesses have to deal with. As with every other PWA, its goal is to ensure a smooth, native app-like shopping experience. This means a couple of things.
Fast front-end
The front-end of the store needs to be ultra-fast. One of the biggest advantages that native apps have over mobile web pages is their much higher responsiveness. For the best experience, the user needs to feel immediate interaction with the store, without any lags or reloads.
Vue Storefront takes the PWA approach to this, ensuring that the storefront can render product catalogs within milliseconds.
Traffic overloads safety
Another issue that e-commerce merchants face is traffic overloads. This is especially the case with shops that experience seasonal peaks in traffic. Traffic overloads make the browsing very slow and inconvenient, which can reduce customer satisfaction by a lot.
To prevent that, Vue Storefront ensures overloads safety. It adds a lot of endurance to overloads so that an online store can handle large spikes in traffic.
Offline browsing
Unless they’re precached, web pages won’t run while the user is offline. Even if they do, they’ll have a limited number of functions. And that’s the rub, as e-commerce merchants can’t let a loss of connection to get between them and their shoppers.
This is why Vue Storefront provides the ability to create a storefront that users will be able to browse even if they have no internet connection at all. What’s important here is Vue Storefront’s ability to keep your store fully functional in the event of a connection loss, so you don’t have to lose sales in such situations.
Multi-platform support
If you want to stay competitive, you have to develop storefronts for both desktop and mobile platforms. Simply optimizing your website for smartphones won’t do the trick, since mobile web browsing only yields 2.3% conversion rate on average.
To create a good shopping experience on both desktop and mobile, you’d have to use multiple apps dedicated to each platform. But not with Vue Storefront. As an all-in-one solution, it ensures that you can manage your front-end development for both mobile and desktop screen without having to resort to different apps.
Vue Storefront features
To ensure all of the above, along with many other aspects of creating a perfect storefront, Vue Storefront comes with a set of unique features. Here are some of the main ones:
Magento 2 support
Vue Storefront and Magento 2 are a perfect match. With the two combined, you can create an amazing storefront and build a perfect e-commerce shop in virtually no time.
When it comes to SEO, Vue Storefront ensures a variety of support features such as SSR (Service Site Rendering) and meta information management. It also offers URL ReWrite controls and lets you create SEO-friendly URLs.
As for checkout, payment, and shipping, there’s a wide variety of features that work perfectly with Magento 2. These features include:
The list of supported features goes on and on. Of course, Vue Storefront also fully supports marketing and promotion tools, order management, customers service, and all other aspects of owning and running an e-commerce business.
The final word
Vue Storefront is a very powerful front-end solution that ensures the user stays up-to-date with the latest trends in e-commerce. Its features offer you pretty much everything you need to build an outstanding storefront and bring your business to the next level.
Better yet, the platform is constantly evolving. New features are being explored and worked on even as you’re reading this. It’s certainly one of the best PWA development solutions for Magento. The two of them can be an incredibly powerful team at your disposal.
November 30, 2018PWA Studio is definitely one of the new features that merchants are looking forward to the most. The transformative power of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on any e-commerce business is set to make them the next big thing.
If you need a PWA storefront for your Magento backend, Vue Storefront might be a perfect choice.
What is Vue Storefront?
Vue Storefront is an open-source, standalone Headless and PWA storefront for your e-commerce business. It offers a set of modern tools that lets business owners create stunning storefronts to present their businesses in the best light.
You can connect it to any backend solution such as Shopware or Magento through the API. Once you do that, you’ll have an all-in-one frontend for your business.
How does it change shopping experience?
The reason why Vue Storefront was created is to conquer the many challenges that e-commerce businesses have to deal with. As with every other PWA, its goal is to ensure a smooth, native app-like shopping experience. This means a couple of things.
Fast front-end
The front-end of the store needs to be ultra-fast. One of the biggest advantages that native apps have over mobile web pages is their much higher responsiveness. For the best experience, the user needs to feel immediate interaction with the store, without any lags or reloads.
Vue Storefront takes the PWA approach to this, ensuring that the storefront can render product catalogs within milliseconds.
Traffic overloads safety
Another issue that e-commerce merchants face is traffic overloads. This is especially the case with shops that experience seasonal peaks in traffic. Traffic overloads make the browsing very slow and inconvenient, which can reduce customer satisfaction by a lot.
To prevent that, Vue Storefront ensures overloads safety. It adds a lot of endurance to overloads so that an online store can handle large spikes in traffic.
Offline browsing
Unless they’re precached, web pages won’t run while the user is offline. Even if they do, they’ll have a limited number of functions. And that’s the rub, as e-commerce merchants can’t let a loss of connection to get between them and their shoppers.
This is why Vue Storefront provides the ability to create a storefront that users will be able to browse even if they have no internet connection at all. What’s important here is Vue Storefront’s ability to keep your store fully functional in the event of a connection loss, so you don’t have to lose sales in such situations.
Multi-platform support
If you want to stay competitive, you have to develop storefronts for both desktop and mobile platforms. Simply optimizing your website for smartphones won’t do the trick, since mobile web browsing only yields 2.3% conversion rate on average.
To create a good shopping experience on both desktop and mobile, you’d have to use multiple apps dedicated to each platform. But not with Vue Storefront. As an all-in-one solution, it ensures that you can manage your front-end development for both mobile and desktop screen without having to resort to different apps.
Vue Storefront features
To ensure all of the above, along with many other aspects of creating a perfect storefront, Vue Storefront comes with a set of unique features. Here are some of the main ones:
- IndexedDB database – This in-browser database is what makes offline browsing possible. Everything from browsing a store to placing an order can be done without an internet The in-browser queue ensures that the order is automatically processed as soon as the user is back online.
- js-based frontend – The modern Vue.js is used as a frontend library that makes it easy to design and customize your storefront.
- Platform agnostic – The built-in support for Pimcore, Magento 1, and Magento 2 allows you to connect Vue Storefront to any other back-end platform.
- Native app-like features – This includes the ability to pin the PWA to a device’s home screen, as well as push notifications.
- High-speed and local caching – IndexedDB works together with Service Workers to reduce the average server response time to less than 0.3s, while the average client-side rendering time is less than 2s.
Magento 2 support
Vue Storefront and Magento 2 are a perfect match. With the two combined, you can create an amazing storefront and build a perfect e-commerce shop in virtually no time.
When it comes to SEO, Vue Storefront ensures a variety of support features such as SSR (Service Site Rendering) and meta information management. It also offers URL ReWrite controls and lets you create SEO-friendly URLs.
As for checkout, payment, and shipping, there’s a wide variety of features that work perfectly with Magento 2. These features include:
- SSL security support for sensitive transactions and online orders
- Multiple shipping address management
- Tax and shipping calculations prior to checkout
- Free shipping functionality
- One-page online checkout
The list of supported features goes on and on. Of course, Vue Storefront also fully supports marketing and promotion tools, order management, customers service, and all other aspects of owning and running an e-commerce business.
The final word
Vue Storefront is a very powerful front-end solution that ensures the user stays up-to-date with the latest trends in e-commerce. Its features offer you pretty much everything you need to build an outstanding storefront and bring your business to the next level.
Better yet, the platform is constantly evolving. New features are being explored and worked on even as you’re reading this. It’s certainly one of the best PWA development solutions for Magento. The two of them can be an incredibly powerful team at your disposal.
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