The e-commerce industry is proving to be a revenue-generating beast and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Studies recently revealing that the industry as a whole garnered $2.3 trillion in global revenue in 2017, and this is expected to rise through this year to 4.88 trillion by 2021 according to Statista.
This has created a drive for small to medium-sized businesses (SME’s) to go online with their products and build e-commerce websites. For them to put together such a site, they usually use a Content Management System (CMS), to analyse their sales volumes, rather than the technical side of the daily operations of an online store.
Integrating a CMS also allows some control over their SEO marketing strategies and makes it easier to modify their product catalogue.
When it comes to e-commerce, there are various platforms available such as WordPress, OpenCart, Shopify, Woocommerce all of which have proven and popular CMS systems. However, Magento still draws the crowds due to its reputation within the industry.
It is still the go-to for the big brand name such as Samsung, Nestle and Nike for example, Magento powers all. Magento currently holds a market share of just over 25%, so I’d like to point out some of the primary reasons why one in four companies today use this platform for its CMS systems.
So here is my list of the 10 Reasons why Large E-commerce Portals Prefer to use Magento.
1. It was Designed Specifically as an E-commerce Platform
Magento was explicitly developed for e-commerce CMS and subsequently is jam-packed with features that enhance the online platform.
The results are more advanced and have an aesthetic wow factor to them that some of the other platforms lack.
2. It’s an Open Source Platform
Look out for the Magento Community Edition, this is a free install and is free to modify and integrate. You will require some understanding of the system but can incorporate a plethora of functionalities and features to the core code by adding Magento’s marketplace extensions.
What the industry likes about Magento is due to it being an open source platform, there are many developers continuing to work on it 24/7, updating the platform, this keeps it secure and leaves very little room for security concerns.
The design is exceptionally responsive. The only negative is it’s a little advanced for novices to be able to use it to its full capacity. The system itself is finely balanced between meeting the demands of the business as well as a result to the consumer.
Factors like maintenance, support, debugging and code are common issues that require attention, Magento’s strength is in these areas, making the management side a lot more time efficient, crucial to a business.
3. A Spacious and Impactful Platform
Magento is known to be able to support up to almost 500,000 products on a single site which enables the business to carry out over 80,000 orders within 60 minutes. So to say you have room for the future growth of your online e-commerce shopping cart is an understatement!
Given that Google has become very attentive towards User Experience (UX) and User Interface Design (UI), where load-up speeds are paramount to any businesses ranking success moving forward into 2019, you would think that the complexity of Magento’s platform would be its undoing and to your businesses detriment; quite the opposite, it provides optimal performance and load-up speeds to satisfy Google.
4. Cross-Sells and Up-Sells are Built-In
The platform gives you the ability to browse specific options of products with prompts, this help to enrich the shopping experience, this also applies to the checkout areas too helping to enhance your percentage chance of driving those sales figures up.
5. Optimum Performance is Guaranteed with Magento
This should be the top of your consideration list when choosing an e-commerce platform. Delays even in milliseconds will adversely affect your conversion rates. Magento is known for flexibility, and so by adopting caching techniques this can help to optimise your online performance, plus the database itself is optimisable.
6. It’s The Most Flexible Platform
When it comes to CMS, Magento is at the top of the pile for flexibility. For those of you with experience of working with it and have some knowledge will know how open it is to building vibrant, diversified consumer experiences on all devices. Thus giving you the ability to personalise the workflow at the back-end to suit whatever requirements the business has, it indeed is as flexible as you can find.
You are in control of the look and feel of the site, helping to drive brand recognition and popularity while enhancing your UX above all others. With modular technology, you have a multitude of functionality options to add to your e-commerce platform.
7. Unrivalled Versatility
If for example the built-in features and components within Magento don’t suit your business or are not sufficient for your requirements, you can build extensions and add and incorporate whatever is necessary.
You are given the ability to customise the store from the front end to the back end to whatever capabilities and re-structure it the way you require. So for an e-commerce merchant, this should be music to your ears, regardless of the spec you need, Magento is versatile enough to deliver and integrate it into the platform.
8. Supporting and Optimising your SEO
Magento and SEO friendliness are synonymous with each other in the e-commerce industry. The platform development allows modifications to all Meta-info and URL’s in:
Categories
Products
Content Pages
Keywords
Descriptions
Google Sitemaps
HTML Sitemaps for User Content
9. Third Party Integration Efficiency
Successful e-commerce stores rely heavily upon a seamless integration process with third-party services. Meaning, the easier it is to integrate and process third-party services the better for your business it is.
With Magento incorporating third-party extensions such as Paypal or Google Shopping or Analytics it’s easy. Plus you can integrate it with WordPress CMS platforms too.
10. Simplifying the Check-Out Process
Some platforms check-out process can be content heavy and confusing. Magento’s SSL certificated system is just one-page.
Businesses have many options to customise and arrange the shopping cart to their liking to help increase conversion rates. It’s well known within the industry that the less confusing your check-out page, the lower the bounce rate of potential customers with full shopping carts is.
With multiple plug-ins that are available to install to assist with speed and consistency during the check-out process, your clients should not have an excuse not to follow through with their purchase.
Conclusion
In concluding Magento does have an edge on the other well-known platforms, due to its flexibility to cater to all kinds of business’s needs, as it’s not polarised in any way. Its e-commerce system represents endless opportunities to re-adjust it along with the demand and growth of your business. Offering a safe, hassle-free online shopping experience to the consumer to ensure if you are doing what you need to do right, you know that Magento has the back-end covered.
Author Bio
Sandy Bennington is an experienced tech blogger with an interest in business affairs, she loves eating out and is quite decent in the kitchen herself. She is associated with SEO Company Kuwait who specializes in SEO and Digital Marketing Services in Kuwait.
