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Magento to Shopify Plus: Reasons Why You Should Make the Switch
No doubt you've heard people talking about Shopify Plus and BigCommerce. There's a good chance they were people that had migrated from Magento. What’s going on? Why are these platforms becoming more and more popular every month?
Magento is no longer the product it used to be. In fact, it’s become the second most expensive platform to support on the market! While there may be some less expensive alternatives out there, we firmly believe that Shopify Plus is the best solution for functionality, scalability, and costs.
In this post, we'll go through the top reasons why merchants are migrating their Magento websites to the Shopify Plus platform.
- You won’t have to worry about architecture.
Most eCommerce businesses are started by entrepreneurs who excel at selling a product but aren't necessarily tech-savvy. When you're not a developer, Magento is a difficult platform to use and manage.
The trouble with Magento is that it’s quite old; it was basically built in 2008 when technology was completely different and people didn’t shop much on mobile devices. It hasn’t evolved much since then. If you compare the two, Shopify feels modern and updated while Magento feels stuck in the past. Magento requires you to host your own site and set up a lot of back-end architecture, unlike Shopify which comes with everything you need to start. In short, Magento takes a lot of time, skills in development and programming, and a lot of work that isn't helpful for beginners and business owners with little technical know-how.
For start-ups that aren't very tech-savvy, it's better to follow more automated steps when setting up your e-commerce website. Shopify Plus is a far more modern platform, with a focus on UX and functionality. It’s been built with great design in mind, which means that it’s far more user-friendly and easier to use both as a business owner and even as a customer.
- Getting and maintaining site security is more manageable.
If you're a merchant, you need a safe and secure site that's easy for customers to use. You also don't want to spend all of your time trying to figure out how your site works or how to keep it secure.
Even with Magento, there are still the same issues of security and PCI compliance. Shopify takes care of some things for you, but they still have to be done by you. This is a huge improvement because one of the major points of friction with putting up an online shop has always been the strict, ongoing assessment of your security.
When you use Magento, you're responsible for compliance and security. You have to check in with a third-party service and get approval before your site is accepted by merchants. Any online shop that accepts credit cards, whether e-commerce or not, must be PCI compliant. Paying with a credit card can be dangerous, so the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council sets measures to keep information safe. If you want to show people that your site is safe, you need to be PCI compliant.
Shopify Plus handles your compliance and allows consumers to pay with credit cards. This makes your customers feel more secure while paying on your site.
In addition to PCI compliance, Shopify Plus also allows merchants to comply with all the other payment standards as well: AML, AEO, GAP, and SET, which are all extremely important in protecting customer information.
- More freedom for customization.
Recently, Shopify has released scripts that give developers access to Shopify's servers and architecture. This allows them to learn more about the platform's mechanics, which opens up a lot of options for customization.
Magento's platforms are extremely customizable and flexible, so it is hard to believe that a hosted platform can compete in this area. However, Shopify Plus utilizes the same technology as big names like Google and Amazon: it has a custom API that developers can use to make any customizations they need.
With hosted platforms, the code is usually hidden away and inaccessible. But Shopify Plus provides developers with all the information they need about their site. Developers can program in any language for Shopify Plus. In addition, Shopify Plus offers a powerful set of APIs for creating applications on top of its infrastructure.
- Better customer service, hands down.
At some point in your journey as a Shopify merchant, you’ll likely have a question about your store. It may be a simple query about adding an item to your cart page or perhaps a more complex inquiry relating to the functionality of your site and how it’s performing. When you need help, you’ll want it fast and from people who know what they are talking about.
When you ask for support on the Shopify platform, the first thing they do is ask you to describe the issue or problem you are facing. If it is a complex query or needs technical support, a dedicated team will be assigned to help you. This team will then work with you until the issue is resolved. The support process can be either via email or live chat; whichever works best for you and your store.
- Saves you time and energy with automatic updates and patches.
Many Magento retailers are frequently having to deploy software patches, often in response to security issues. These upgrades can be extremely time-consuming and costly. At any given time there are multiple patches being worked on by the platform's vendors, so it’s difficult to keep up with the constant cycle of updates. The result is that many store owners don’t bother keeping their sites up to date and get hacked.
Migration to Shopify Plus solves this issue as it provides a fully-managed enterprise eCommerce platform that handles security updates and upgrades for you.
On Shopify Plus, they handle all of the server patching and upgrades for you, so you can rest assured that your site is always up-to-date and secure.
- Better scalability.
For Shopify Plus, the most important thing is to make sure that its platform is ready to meet the needs of the growing businesses. Shopify Plus can grow with you, no matter how big your business is or how complicated your operations are. Magento's scalability strategy was to manage the architecture when there was a lot of traffic. In order to handle spikes in traffic, the architecture must be carefully managed. For many merchants, this is not a priority. However, when your site sees a spike in traffic and you cannot serve customers, that changes quickly.
Shopify Plus is more flexible and responsive, and it has a lot of APIs that can be used to scale as big as you want. It has been designed from the ground up with enterprise-specific features, like super high-speed response times and unlimited bandwidth. As a result, your retail website will be able to handle high amounts of traffic without crashing or slowing down.
- Lower ownership costs.
The biggest difference between Magento and Shopify Plus is the cost of ownership. Depending on your needs and requirements, the total cost of ownership on Shopify Plus comes out around 50% less than on Magento (over a 3 year period).
When you factor in the ongoing maintenance costs, the difference in cost widens. Regular updates to security patches and a larger team to manage all aspects of your store’s development can lead to a higher number of hours per week needed to maintain your site, leading to higher costs.
The operating expenses are also higher with Magento. Since it’s a self-hosted platform, you need to pay for hosting, which is not included in the standard license price. Unlike Magento, Shopify Plus has no additional hosting costs - it’s included in your monthly fees.
- You get 99% uptime.
Shopify’s engineering team works around the clock to make sure your website stays up and running when you need it most. And with our 99.9% uptime guarantee, you can rest easy knowing your store is always accessible to customers — even during peak shopping times.
With Magento, you have to worry about managing the infrastructure completely on your own or by hiring an expensive consulting firm to do it for you.
- Integrating apps and extensions is easier.
One of the best things about Magento is its extension marketplace. There, you'll discover all of the programs that allow your store to perform as a customized online store should.
But Magento apps aren't really ready-to-use. There are a lot of them that need some coding to get going. In this case, setting up these apps to work with your store will cost. For a lot of retailers, this is a very expensive way to do things. If you hire a development team to make these apps work, they usually charge more than the app itself does to make them work! Then, when you want to add another app, you have to go through the same expensive process again.
There are a lot of Shopify Plus apps that are easier to set up, which means you don't need to hire a development team. Shopify Plus has an app store where you can find apps that have been pre-built for Shopify, which means apps like Abandoned Cart and Product Reviews can be set up without the use of coding or hiring a developer.
- User-friendliness goes a long way.
Shopify Plus is better for users because it's easier to use. If you're currently using Magento, then you'll know exactly what we mean by this. Magento is built on archaic technology that makes it difficult to work with and has a clunky user interface that will make you look elsewhere.
Shopify Plus, on the other hand, is built with the user in mind. It's easy to use, has a clean interface, and can be picked up by your staff in no time. This means that your employees can focus on what they're good at: selling!
Shopify Plus and Magento are two of the most popular eCommerce platforms. One is user-friendly, the other not so much. While they're both good at what they do, there's no doubt that Shopify Plus is the best platform for today's businesses.
CONCLUSION
Magento is a world-class platform. It’s used by enterprise brands and it’s capable of scaling to meet these businesses’ needs. But, it comes with significant trade-offs. Ultimately, Shopify Plus' easy-to-use platform and monthly hosting fee is a huge win for small and growing businesses.
Unless you're a developer or an experienced user of the platform, Magento may be one of the worst options out there. It's expensive, and it takes a lot of time and effort to learn how to use it effectively. Shopify Plus is both more flexible and easier to use than Magento, allowing even inexperienced users to get their stores up and running quickly using templates and other pre-designed elements. It also has a slew of marketing tools that can help you promote your business.
If you're looking for a more cost-effective way to run your online store, one that's easier to use as well, then Shopify Plus could be worth considering.
Migrate from Magento to Shopify with Webinopoly.
If you’re ready to upgrade but need help navigating the process, then we can help. We’ll make sure that your data is transferred correctly, your integrations link up seamlessly and your traffic remains protected during the migration process. Because when it comes to eCommerce migration, there’s no room for error.
Webinopoly is an agency that doesn't only create and develop websites — we help them grow their businesses. If you want to know more about our services, reach out to our Shopify experts today. Contact us at 713-805-5888, email us at [email protected], or leave us a message here.
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