These days, more and more consumers are doing their shopping online. If your business operates on an ecommerce model, you likely did a great deal of research in settling on the right ecommerce platform to meet your needs. In the early days of ecommerce, Magento was one of the few platforms that businesses could utilise for their online sales efforts. However, ecommerce technology has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Now, companies have much more choice in terms of which platform to use.
In an attempt to keep up with the changing market demand, Magento released version 2.0. This is an entirely new version of the software. It is not compatible with any previous plugins or themes. In addition, it can be incredibly costly for businesses running previous versions of Magento to make the switch to the upgraded version. Because of this, more and more ecommerce businesses in Australia and around the globe are choosing to re-platform with Shopify.
Shopify Plus Exclusive Offer expires 30 June 2017 : 6 months free on a two year Shopify Plus contract and migration assistance.Contact Us Now
This is thanks to its ease of use and innovative, forward-thinking features.
1. Hosting and Deployment
Magento operates as a self-managed solution, meaning that you have to manage and host the product yourself. Otherwise, you’ll have to hire an outside hosting provider at an additional cost to your organisation. The larger your business, the more costly this hosting will be in order to accommodate higher sales volume. In conjunction with hosting, you’ll have to configure and manage the system on an ongoing basis. This can be incredibly time-consuming, depending on the type of configuration you select.
Shopify, on the other hand, utilises a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. This means that the platform’s infrastructure is hosted and managed by Shopify, with your business running within that framework. This makes it significantly easier to set up and manage your ecommerce store. Implementation times average two months with Shopify, as opposed to up to eight months with Magento.
Furthermore, Shopify is designed to be a turnkey system, meaning that the system is ready to use right away. This, in turn, means there is much less of a learning curve to get all of your team up to speed. The design of the platform is intuitive and easy to use.
2. Scalability
Both Shopify and Magento can be scaled up to accommodate high sales volumes, such as with flash sales or during the Christmas season. However, the two platforms really show their differences when you look at their scalability. Because you need to either host Magento yourself or use an outside hosting provider, you’ll need to acquire hosting that can accommodate that high sales volume at all times, even if your sales only reach that height for a few days a year. Obviously, this can result in a lot of money going down the drain on capabilities you don’t need on a day-to-day basis.
Shopify’s cloud hosting format gives you much more fluid capabilities. The functionality and reliability of your site will remain the same at all times, whether you experience high or low volume for the day. Even when demand does skyrocket, the platform is equipped and ready to handle it with no disruption to the user experience.
3. Security
Since online data security breaches are becoming more and more commonplace, it is critical that your website is secure. This is even more true for ecommerce businesses, as they deal with customers’ sensitive financial data on a daily basis. Magento is an open-source platform, which makes it especially vulnerable to malware and other attacks. Although Magento releases patch fixes to combat any security risks, oftentimes the fix comes too late.
Shopify employs the latest security measures to ensure that your and your customers’ data remains safe and secure at all times. The Shopify platform is in full compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) at the Level 1 qualification, which mandates the highest level of security requirements. The platform is constantly being adjusted and upgraded to incorporate the latest security standards. This means that you can have confidence in knowing that your business is doing everything possible to protect your customers.
4. Extensions and Integrations
No two businesses are exactly alike. You want to be able to distinguish your ecommerce shop from your competitors through platform customisation and upgrades. Although both platforms provide a plethora of add-ons and plugins for you to choose from, Shopify’s method is considerably more user-friendly. This makes it easy to get your chosen upgrades installed and running with minimal technical and coding know-how.
All of the plugins and upgrades are designed to work within the Shopify framework. They are easy to integrate and use. The Shopify App Store currently contains over 1,200 apps for you to choose from. These apps enable you to enhance your site to improve the user experience as well as your internal operations. For example, the order printer app lets you easily print invoices, shipping labels, receipts and more. MailChimp makes it easy to convey your message to your customers and let them know about upcoming sales and specials. With the Facebook Store app, you can sell your products directly on your brand’s Facebook page.
Magento often requires significant coding skill, especially if your system is complex. There is also no guarantee that a particular plug-in will run seamlessly with your specific configuration. Again, you may need to call in an external contractor to make sure that all of the coding has been executed properly and that the system is fully operational.
Making the Switch
Although the Magento platform does have its merits, it’s easy to see why so many organisations are switching over to the easy-to-use, future-oriented Shopify. Going forward, it is likely that this trend will continue, with more and more ecommerce businesses jumping ship in favour of Shopify’s SaaS model.
To make the process even more enticing, Shopify is even offering companies currently on a Magento Platform free platform & migration fees for the first six months for making the switch over to Shopify Plus.* This offer ends 30 June 2017. There is no time like the present to ride the ecommerce wave of the future with Shopify.
Shopify Plus Exclusive Offer expires 30 June 2017 : 6 months free on a two year Shopify Plus contract and migration assistance.Contact Us Now
*Click here for full details of Shopify’s current offer.
