Magento has proved to be the world leader from the time it was released in 2008. More than 3% of the ecommerce market use Magento as their partner. It is the top choice for ecommerce websites for all brands, big or small. However, Magento announced the release of its updated version for Magento 1 in 2018. The existing users were encouraged to move to the newer version to experience better services. Finally, in June 2020 Magento announced that the Magento 1 will not be supported anymore with version updates or patches for bug fixes.
Whether you are using the earlier version of Magento or are deciding to start afresh, this article will explain some of the features offered in Magento that can make your ecommerce website a great business.
Magento has three editions Magento 2 Open Source, Magento 2 Commerce and Magento 2 Commerce Cloud. The Magento 2 Commerce is the advanced edition and comes with a premium and Magento 2 Commerce Cloud is hosted on the cloud. But all the three editions have some common features.
Catalog Management
Catalog management in Magento 2 is simple and easy with rich catalog features that allows the business owner to control products, categories, prices, images and videos and its inventory. There are multiple customizations to create your product type with up to 6 product types available and specific categories to categorize your product.
With comprehensive search box that uses smart search engine, customers can easily browse through specific categories and products. Supported by elaborate images and videos the customers’ shopping experience is enhanced driving them to make positive purchase decisions.
Enhanced Marketing
Planning promotions and scheduling the changes on the website for particular campaigns is easy now. Business owners can edit, preview and schedule changes to products and promotional campaigns. Create banners for promotions, apply rules and segments for better customization. This is especially helpful when the team is away from office or if the promotions have to be launched for the weekend, etc. Track all the campaigns, live and upcoming in an easy-to-read dashboard.
Maintain continuous relation with your customers by sending them emails, that can be customized with brand logo and specific content. Magneto 2 comes with an exclusive space to manage your customer subscriptions and to send them newsletters, or coupons and gift codes that will keep them informed and ensure repeat visits to your website.
Magento 2 is the most SEO-friendly ecommerce platform which supports SEO best practices, such as URL Rewrites, Metadata, Site Map, Catalog Navigation, and much more.
Content Management
The extensive Content Management System in Magento 2 allows business owners to create rich content, CMS pages, widgets and blocks as well. It supports the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor, which means that texts, images, and videos can be inserted easily without using HTML codes. These pages can be customized to be both user-friendly and SEO-friendly. Custom pages like “About us’ or Privacy Policy can be created easily.
With completely customizable themes and designs, Magento 2 offers one of the superior themes compared to other content management system platforms. The new themes and designs can be applied to all CMS pages, widgets and blocks easily.
Conclusion
Choose the Magento 2 edition for your business considering these key factors – business costs, volume, and the importance of customer support for your business. Whatever you choose, the flexibility of the platform, the extended support to HTML5, MySQL and the latest PHP versions will make your website faster and ensure smooth shopping experience for your customers.
