Without any doubts, Magento has been one of the leading eCommerce platforms for most businesses. The first version of Magento (i.e., Magento 1), launched in August 2007, helped several businesses establish their brand online. To deliver better eCommerce solutions for businesses, the company continued to improve Magento. Hence, in November 2015, the company launched Magento 2 – a highly enhanced version of Magento. Magento 2.3.1 is the most recent version of Magento released in March 2019.
Since the release of Magento 2, several businesses have started migrating from Magento 1 to 2! Have you done it yet? If not yet, then now is the time! According to a recent update by Magento, the ongoing support for Magento 1 will not be provided after June 2020.
With an End of Life deadline now quickly moving closer, this article will help B2B businesses understand the benefits of migrating to Magento 2. Let’s have a look at them.
● Improved Admin Interface
Magento 2 has several significant improvements in the admin interface. The new interface is easier to work with and comes with various customizable features.
You can create products easier than ever before with 4 times faster product import capabilities using the new interface. You also have the option to personalize the admin panel to keep the crucial business information handy.
● Highly Responsive Design
Has it ever happened to you that you opened up a website and it gets disoriented on your mobile device? Users don’t entertain such websites. Magento 2 has a responsive design which fits any screen size and delivers a consistent and engaging shopping experience to your customers.
● Seamless Integration of Third-Party Modules
Gradually, as your customer base grows, you are surely going to require higher resources and software systems to manage your customer base. Hence, your platform must be capable enough to seamlessly integrate your back-end systems with robust APIs and extensions that reduce your time to market.
Magento 2 is designed in such a way that makes integration with third-party modules hassle-free.
● Unparalleled Performance
Magento 2 offers enhanced performance as it comes with several improvements which make things a lot easier for store owners. Some of these significant improvements are:
- On the server side, store owners can use Varnish caching out of the box. They don’t have to install any third-party module for this.
- With Magento 2 built-in tools, image compression is possible directly on the server side.
- The process of browser caching for static content has been greatly improved in Magento 2.
- Magento 2 has minimized JavaScript, therefore, reducing unnecessary browser operations on the client side.
- Hence, with Magento 2, you can deliver an unmatched experience to your customers with optimal resources.
● Modernized Technology Stack
One of the most important reasons behind the adoption of Magento 2 is the advanced technology stack that comes with it. Magento 2 offers upgraded versions of technology stacks which gives you easier customization and deployment flexibility.
● Powerful Quotation Engine
B2B businesses highly depend on negotiation. Magento 2 assists businesses in this by including a powerful quotation engine. This quotation engine allows customers to add products to their carts and convert them to a quote instead of placing an order.
Magento admin can examine the quotation and answer the customers by fixing the price and adding comments. Hence, the negotiation cycle is scaled down, resulting in quick closure of the sale.
● Easily Manage Multiple Accounts
Large B2B businesses deal with many customer accounts, hence, it becomes vital for the businesses to have visibility over the accounts to be successful. Magento 2 allows you to set up multiple admin users with each one of them having their own set of access and permissions.
For example, some may have access to approve and place orders while others may have permission to prepare orders. Consider a case in which a store manager places an order to refill the stock, but the financial control is provided to another person before placing the order. This flexibility is provided by Magento 2.
● Scope for Rapid Integration
For scalability, any B2B business requires interfacing with various information systems like logistics, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), PIM (Product Information Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), etc.
Magento 2 provides APIs, which makes rapid integration of back-end systems like CRM, ERP, etc. very easy. This is a very important feature as the valuable data present in these connector applications can be turned into actionable insights which can be highly crucial for B2B operations.
● Custom Pricing
Magento 2 has a custom pricing feature which makes it a great addition for B2B companies. It enables businesses to create multiple unique pricing lists and assign them to distinct companies. It also allows default public pricing which can be accessed by non-logged users.
In fact, with Magento 2, you can even set your products to have limited visibility based on specific pricing instead of setting them up on discount and other custom values.
● User-Friendly Checkout
Magento 2 provides a streamlined checkout process to the customers, hence making it quicker and easier for them to place orders. Thus, it reduces the checkout time to a great extent. Faster checkout means fewer abandoned carts and more conversions!
Risks of Staying on Magento 1
The risks of staying on Magento 1 are:
● Security Breaches
After June 2020, Magento will stop releasing security patches, making your site vulnerable to cyber-attacks. You may put your website and customers at serious security risk by staying on Magento 1.
● Module Updates
As Magento 1 won’t be supported anymore, many of its modules will also become outdated as developers give their focus on Magento 2 extensions. These modules are critical to your site’s functionality and with no support, they may function in an improper way.
Wrapping Up
Today, B2B customers demand seamless experience and convenient options while shopping online. Magento 2 edition offers powerful B2B functionalities and options which could be a great advantage for B2B businesses looking for scalability. It includes several built-in features that help in improving the overall user experience. Its unmatched flexibility enables store owners to deliver virtually any commerce experience in minimum time and at a lower total cost of ownership.
Now, if you are looking to migrate your store to Magento 2, it is recommended to take professional guidance from an expert and experienced Magento eCommerce development company, so you can migrate your store seamlessly without any glitches.
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