Running a modern and efficient eCommerce shop means having a platform that is capable of reflecting technology. This means having features such as video to showcase your products, a direct feed in Google Products, the ability to export and import products with ease and all from a control that works for your staff.
Magento is the platform which is most popular for this kind of operation, and has grown in usage over the last decade due to a few reasons. Firstly it’s free. The operating system is open source like WordPress, and it’s just a matter of adding a theme or custom design. Secondly the platform has been subjected to update after update, giving it a unique number of options, configurations and plug-ins for an open source eCommerce system.
The main talking points of the Magento operating system are the sales management side, the built in reporting and the configuration of the shop and display. Other popular elements are the blog, fully customisable newsletter and the way it’s possible to handle attributes and custom URLs.
Managing customer sales includes every possible aspect you could consider, and all in user friendly manner. The system has touches like staff not being able to ship orders until stock has been allocated, integration with accounting packages and invoicing and credit management.
Reports that can be downloaded handle every aspect of your customers and sales figures. With cost prices entered any reports can show actual margins, so long as the delivery costs are factored in. Product reporting shows number of views and searches, time spent viewing the pages and conversions too.
The extremely comprehensive configurations settings for the shop display and tools add to an all round excellent package. For any new eCommerce websites, whether it’s a small business with just 30 products or a large retail operation with 10,000 SKU’s, the Magento open source platform is a great open and accessible for the majority of marketing department budgets.
