Selecting the right ecommerce platform is critical for your business. In order for you to thrive online, your business will need an exemplary website that seamlessly blends both physical and digital shopping experiences.
Shopify and Magento are two of the most popular ecommerce platforms. Although both platforms are great choices, there is one that is sufficient for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about the dichotomy between both platforms, read on to obtain an insightful cost-benefit analysis.
Magento: A Closer Look
Magento is a world-renowned open-source ecommerce platform. The platform is commonly used by small brands and large businesses alike, as it’s more convenient to scale and customize for both B2C and B2B businesses.
Some of Magento’s key features include:
- Ability to develop and utilize custom e-shops
- Tremendous marketplace stocked with a large variety of website themes and other beneficial applications
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Convenient shopping cart integration system
- Massive inventory system
- Multi-store capabilities
- Integration of major software tools such (CRM, ERP, etc)
Magento is one of the fastest growing ecommerce platforms, thanks largely in part of its exceptional customer service, user-friendliness, and its easy-to-use shopping cart system.
Magento is also equipped with vital internet marketing capabilities, allowing users to leverage their SEO from its unique interface. Though, it’s important to note that Magento self-hosted, providing users with the capabilities of designing their own custom online store without any limits.
Nonetheless, Magento is the perfect platform for businesses of all sizes, and it’s versatility is ideal for businesses anticipating eventual expansion down the road.
Shopify: A Closer Look
Shopify is a Canadian ecommerce platform that gives users the ability to manage multiple sales channels, stock items in an unlimited inventory, and achieve single-step order fulfillment.
Unlike Magento, Shopify is hosted and doesn’t require its users to contain web development knowledge because the platform essentially takes care of every technical detail. In fact, some of Shopify’s greatest features include:
- Ability to create an online store with a custom domain
- Customize an ecommerce storefront with manageable themes
- Accept credit card transactions
- Add social media channels
- Track customer orders
- Respond to customer orders
In the broadest sense, Shopify allows its users to perform virtually any task from its platform. Additionally, the platform isn’t too technical and is ideal for ecommerce beginners.
However, one major drawback of this ecommerce platform is that it’s not optimal for businesses anticipating future growth. Although there are regular updates to Shopify’s system, your online store will only be a great as the platform.
Conclusion
From a business standpoint, Magento is the better ecommerce platform, primarily because it allows custom development using local override files making customizations convenient and quick to create. On Shopify, it’s much harder to make simple customizations, requiring a complete custom extension to be developed.
Generally speaking, Magento allows you to personally own and operate your online store. With Shopify, however, it feels more like your renting your store. They’re in control. As a result, Magento is the most ideal ecommerce platform for businesses who desiring to fully customize and have control over their online store.
If you would like to learn more about how you can use Magento for your business, visit our contact page for more information about how you can reach out to our award winning team at Towering Media.