Approximately 250,000 online retailers worldwide leverage the Magento ecommerce solution – and for good reason. The platform boasts innovative features, not to mention highly versatile infrastructure designed with the modern merchant in mind. However, the one advantage that makes Magento perhaps the most powerful ecommerce platform system available today cannot be found listed among its numerous technical specifications. No, the variable that creates the most separation between the software provider and its competitors is not concealed within the code.
Magento, which features an entirely open-source framework, maintains an immense network of more than 370,000 developers and contributors through its Community Hub. Sellers that ultimately decide to implement Magento gain access to these individuals whose contributions, code-based and otherwise, enrich the platform, improve the user experience and bolster customer satisfaction. And it is this perk that makes the solution a popular option among digital retailers.
Tracing Magento’s open-source roots
Magento launched in 2008 with an open-source offering, per Mixergy. That year, cofounder and former CEO Roy Rubin released the first iteration of the software, called Magento Community Edition, to fill what he considered to be a serious hole in the growing ecommerce solution marketplace. Just one open-source online retail solution occupied the arena then, leaving plenty of room for a new product with fresh features. Rubin’s suspicions were correct, as customers scrambled to adopt the highly customizable ecommerce platform. Within one year, Magento was the most-used open-source retail solution available. Over the decade since, the product has developed a massive following, whose members donate their time to expanding and improving mission-critical modules.
Today, Magento Community Edition, now called Open Source, comes equipped with the core components adopters need to get started. These include:
- Integrated checkout, payment and shipping
- Mobile-optimized shopping
- Worldwide selling
- Catalog management
- Application marketplace access
- Instant purchase
- Site search
These base features in Magento Open Source (Community) edition constitute the ideal springboard for retail companies intent on developing and deploying customized backend and frontend experiences. However, ecommerce companies should be aware that Magento offers a cloud-based ecommerce version, Magento Commerce, which comes with a more robust feature set and technical support. This is the ideal option for sellers looking to take a hands-off approach to implementation but leaves little flexibility for online retailers set on creating something more bespoke.
Pinpointing a reliable Magento Solution partner
Internal information technology personnel familiar with PHP and MySQL can certainly function within the Magento framework and bring to life custom features. However, collaborating with existing members of the open-source community is perhaps the most effective approach, as these individuals offer proven software solutions that live on active sites, as well as deep knowledge of the base platform itself. There are numerous places you can find Magento developers, of which there are an estimated 14,000 worldwide, roughly 500 of whom are fully certified. Freelance sites are certainly an option, as is Magento’s own Solution Partner Community, which tends to host more established development professionals and implementation experts.
In the end, online retailers that take the time to engage with the Magento open-source community and take advantage of the products and services its members produce see the most return, as they are able to cultivate customized online sales environments that work, in collaboration with proven experts.
Is your organization interested in putting into place a custom ecommerce environment centered on the Magento solution? Consider connecting with Pixafy, a Magento solution partner. We collaborate with retailers of all sizes, leveraging our award-winning ecommerce development team to produce Magento-based online shopping experiences that engage customers and boost the bottom line. We can also help you leverage newer Magento functionalities such as the Progressive Web Application suite.
Contact us today to learn more about our work and how you can get the most out of the Magento open-source community.
