Whether you’ve just started your eCommerce research or if you’re looking to upgrade your existing platform, you’ve likely seen Magento mentioned, if not already explored the platform. After all, with the most single-platform market share of top enterprise retailers – there are clear reasons why it could be a great option to grow your brand.
These are a few questions to consider before making the transition to Magento.
How large is your company?
Consider both sides of this coin: how large is your product catalog, and what’s your annual turnover? Most experts recommend using Magento if you’re doing more than $1 million in sales per year. Similarly, your catalog should feature thousands of products or more to make Magento 2.1 Enterprise Edition, or Magento 2.1 Community edition a worthwhile investment. If you are an enterprise company that does several million in online business, or hope to be in that spot in the next coming years, Enterprise Edition is the best option for you. Mid-market companies with some technical know-how may find Community Edition the better option – finding a technical partner to help you get started and manage your Magento 2.1 Community Edition project is essential when running a mid-market business on Community Edition.
How large is your eCommerce budget?
While the Community Edition of Magento 2.1 platform is free, there are some ongoing costs. Magento is open source, meaning if you choose Community Edition, your team or an outsourced partner will handle all of the customization, updates, and maintenance. You’ll need to cover graphic design, server hardware, and all of the usual expenses that come with running an eCommerce platform. If you don’t have the technical knowledge, running Magento 2.1 Enterprise Edition with the help of a Magento-certified reputable partner can cut down on extraneous per-project costs and help project a more stable forecast for costs associated with eCommerce operations.
How much functionality do you need?
Do you just need simple shopping cart functionality, or do you need more complex customization and configuration? If you’d like a wide range of customizable details and very powerful features, Magento 2.1 Enterprise Edition is the right choice. Enterprise Edition has robust features like private sales, loyalty programs, newsletters and more that are not available to the Community Edition users.
Do you need technical support?
Because Magento is an open-source platform, traditional technical support isn’t an option. Finding a reputable partner that can offer expert guidance and troubleshooting when you need it is crucial. Partners can manage plug-ins, upgrades, extensions and add-ons to help you get the most out of your Magento eCommerce site.
Are you migrating from Magento 1?
Currently, there are no reliable automated tools to migrate fully from Magento 1 to Magento 2.1. Moving to Magento 2Moving to Magento 2Moving to Magento 2 this year if you are on Magento 1, because the company has announced that end-of-support for all editions of Magento 1 will come in 2018. Finding a trustworthy partner with experience in Magento 1.x to Magento 2.1 migrations is the first step. From there, your Magento-certified partner will scope the project and train your team on all the new features of Magento 2.1, and the data migration and site build can begin.
