There is no doubt about the fact that Magento is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms out there in the market and it used by number of small businesses. But, being used widely does not necessarily mean that it is perfect. It has its own faults and many times many businesses wonder if the platform is right for them to implement the e-commerce or not. This article outlines the pros and cons of using the Magento platform for implementing ecommerce specialized CMS. Read rest of the article carefully in order to determine how well the platform can suit the needs of your business.
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We all know that Magento is an open-source platform which was developed under the guidance of Varien Inc. and a community of developers and users. Later at some point in time, it was sold to eBay. It is still very much a free platform but in order to use some advanced features you will have to pay money.
In the free version, you can get quite the support but with the support from being a community, you may not be able to get the timely solution to your problem as you may have expected.
Magento being very popular is also very complicated and anyone is bound to run into different problems from time to time. In such times having someone from whom you can ask for help can be an invaluable support. Support for the paid version is very good and when it comes to troubleshooting the framework you are covered appropriately regardless of the version you are using.
In terms of offering features it is quite versatile and comprehensive and depending on the version you are using you are allowed to do anything and that can range from managing the orders and catalogues to dealing with payment and shipment.
Not only by default Magento supports mobile but it also has advanced analytics built in which allows you to keep a close eye on the site’s metrics and on sales as well. Some of the options which you are looking for may be available in the paid version but as far as simple operations are concerned free version will be able to serve you very well.
Due to its complexity and support from the huge community, Magento is highly customizable. Its high customization also allows you to implement less orthodox functionality with or without any help from the community.
Magento not only allows you to manage your content but it is also very SEO-friendly. We all know that the success of the ecommerce platform depends heavily on visibility therefore it is no surprise that the community built this framework by laying emphasis on SEO.
Due to large databases, numerous pages and dynamic content SEO of an e-commerce platform can be a nightmare which is why making Magento SEO friendly is a huge benefit.
Magento is based on PHP and this dependency brings in two separate issues.
Since it is dependent on PHP it makes it necessary to hire an expert who is proficient in PHP and is also comfortable. If you are moderate-level PHP tech savvy then on the path be prepared to meet the frustration from time to time. In order to understand the underlying complexities be prepared to spend hours even days on the same issue. It allows you to do anything but it does not allow you to do it without giving trouble and frustration.
PHP as its base not only make it necessary to hire an expert in the same language but also makes the CMS very resource-demanding and specific and if you were thinking about getting shared hosting well, you can kiss goodbye to that thought of yours. Since small businesses are not in a position to afford dedicated servers and cloud-powered servers many hosting service providers are offering Magento-managed services which try to find out the right balance needed between resource requirements and price. In short performance, overheads can be very costly.
The platform is complex but considering the demands and requirements of the ecommerce solution simplicity should not be the first choice in case you are looking for a flexible and comprehensive solution.
