With over four million downloads in five years, Magento is one of the most trusted e-commerce software in the world and is favoured by both prominent brands and start-ups. It was no surprise that the announcement of Magento 2.0 was met with huge fanfare, including at Le Site! As a leading Magento Partner, our team immediately began studying via training modules and earning course certifications. We are proud to now announce that we’re one of Canada’s seven partners to offer the new and long-awaited Magento 2.0!
An important question is…
“What are the key differences between Magento 1 and 2.0 and how do they apply to my store?”
Let’s break it down.
Elevated Merchant Experience
For one, Magento 2.0 puts the merchant experience at the forefront. The merchant interface is much less daunting to users who are not tech-savvy. It includes easier customization, simplified admin interface, guided product onboarding, customized views and up to 4x faster import/export capabilities. With these updates, you can customize your backend to retrieve information that is essential to your business. These tools help you in finding new ways to optimize consumer experience and boasts an intuitive interface that is simple for new team members to learn. Magento 2.0 is also tablet-friendly and generally much easier to use on a variety of screens. In the long run, merchants who don’t upgrade, will see some plugins becoming incompatible with older versions of Magento. This means Magento 1.0 users won’t always be able to take advantage of the intended flexibility of Magento, which is the plugins!
Page Load Time Upgrade
Another perk of the upgrade is speed. This platform has unrolled an impressive 50% faster page load time across many catalog and checkout pages, using Apache’s Varnish to cache page content for faster performance.. This will not only keep your customers happy, it will also improve your conversion rates and prevent users from bouncing. Additionally, inefficient checkout pages are a thing of a past, as checkout steps have been reduced by 40%.
Revamped security
Security is a major priority. Like you, Magento is aware that security is essential in e-commerce. As such, to alleviate all concerns, Magento 2.0 is equipped with built-in integrations to PayPal, Braintree, and Authorize.net. Users of WorldPay and Cybersource can also be integrated.
Foster loyalty and boost sales
Additional features have been added to enable customers to earn reward points, create gift registries and wish lists. You will also be able to create exclusive private sales for lucky customers!
Magento has also developed advanced customer segmentation tools that can:
- Target customers with specific promotions and merchandising
- Develop rule-based related products
- Create product sequence on pages to optimize sales
You can also send shoppers automated reminder emails for abandoned shopping carts, while offering gift receipts, gift cards, as well as gift wrapping options.
Ready to move to Magento 2.0?
Our team is eager to bring you on board! Contact us today to learn how we can get your business up to speed.
Next Magento Monthly: Magento 2.0 Pt. 2 – What Magento 2.0 means for developers