Buying things online has never been easier, thanks to technological advances that have significantly boosted the ecommerce industry. Magento is among the most popular such platforms today. It has two versions: Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce.
Here are a few reasons why Magento Open Source is a smart choice for small businesses.
Sizable community
Magento has an imposing user and development community. As of 2022, it was 360,000+ forum participants strong. At least one person has had the same problem as you!
If you can’t solve a problem on your own, you can ask other forum members for help.
Its hosting has many advantages
Many ecommerce platforms opt for Magento hosting because the service is easy to customize. It is free and open-source, which makes it easy to adapt as per your preferences. Its excellent security makes it a great choice for online shopping. It can handle high order volumes, vast ecommerce product catalogs, and much more.
Free to install and download
Small business owners are generally more familiar with Magento Open Source than its alternative, Adobe Commerce. Even someone without technical experience can build an online store on this platform because it’s free to download and install. Simply do so from the official website.
Magento Open Source will be a good choice if you’re not keen on paying for licensing and are relatively new to the market.
SEO–friendly
Magento’s tweakable URL structure makes it possible for companies to create clear and descriptive URLs for search engines and potential buyers to easily grasp what’s behind the link. Each page has fields for meta titles, meta descriptions, and other fields for adding metadata, which gives businesses control over what data appears in search engine results.
You can make sure your site is optimized for the most-searched and relevant keywords and key phrases, thanks to the platform’s content optimization tools. These also include adding alt tags to photos.
Third-party integration
Magento can incorporate database programs, payment gateways, shipping, and other services on your website. Among its payment processors are PayPal and Amazon Pay, and DHL and UPS are just two of their delivery partners.
While Magento doesn’t support Stripe, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay, they can still work. You can download them as extensions.
You can also use Google Analytics, Google Checkouts, and other Google technologies to help you check your website performance.
Segment customers easily
It’s not difficult to segment customers with the help of this ecommerce platform. The feature will help you create suitable marketing plans and strategies.
Strong security
Magento offers solid security through regular updates, Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance, and encryption of sensitive financial information. The platform releases security updates on a regular basis, making sure your customers’ data is protected from ingenious cyberattacks.
The open-source platform’s PCI compliance makes it safe for processing and storing credit card data.
Scalable
Magento offers scalable architecture, third-party integration, and performance optimization. It was built with an architecture that supports growth, allowing small businesses to add new features and functions as needed.
The platform offers indexing, caching, and other performance optimization features to make sure your website remains fast and responsive despite rising traffic.
Assistance across channels
The platform is highly responsive on mobile, with many suitable themes and templates that help small businesses offer their customers a wonderful experience.
You can manage your sales from a single location regardless of the point of sale, thanks to Magento’s integration with in-store point of sale (POS) systems.
Magento Open Source vs. Magento Commerce
The second Magento version, Magento Commerce, is definitely not suitable for small businesses. First of all, it’s quite costly, starting at $22,000 a year. For this money, you get all kinds of advanced features, which are suitable for B2B companies or wholesale businesses.
Magento Commerce aims at large businesses that require complex features and functionality. As most small businesses are focused on retail, they are unlikely to benefit from these features.
