Development

Our clients often are more interested in a more starting an e-commerce website then a normal website and the questions asked are which e-commerce platform is right for us.

Over the years we dealt with many, some have come and gone and others well lets not get into that. A new player (relatively new anyway) has emerged. Magento E-commerce.

As proudly displayed by the creators, Magento is the future of e-commerce and  I am inclined to agree. Magento is featured packed you would be hard pressed to find a more feature rich open source solution. Magento does offer paid support so those fearful of the open source stereotype don’t be.

Magento is highly flexible and the layout can be highly customised to suit the owners needs and themes.

Open Source projects are great as you virtually have thousands of developers out there that can help you as opposed to a closed sourced project that relies on quite often a much smaller team with a cost that can be vry high for a small business.

Here are some screen casts that should help demonstrate the cool  features. I will point out Magento has been in development for over 2 years and most of the issues come from performance. I have not seen this as I offer my clients professional hosting on modern under stressed servers. Those who want to have a professional e-commerce solution should not neglect the hosting. If you want to handle hundreds and thousands of customers a day hosting in extremely important.

Here is a list of it’s features that come with it out of the box

Site Management

* Control multiple websites and stores from one Administration Panel with ability to share as much or as little information as needed
* Multi-Lingual
* Support for localisation
* Support for multiple currencies
* Administration Permission System Roles and Users
* Web Services API for easy integration between Magento and any third-party application
* Flexible tax rate management with support for US and International markets
* Fully 100% customisable design using templates
* Customer Groups
* One-Click Upgrades
* Content Management System for Informational Pages
* Google Website Optimiser Integration for A/B and Multivariate Testing

Mobile Commerce

* iPhone Optimised

Marketing Promotions and Tools

* Flexible Coupons (pricing rules) with ability to restrict to stores, customer groups, time period, products, and categories. For example: Percent Discount | Fixed Amount Discount | Free Shipping | Buy x, get y free. | Buy x, get y with percent or fixed amount discount | Buy x, get free shipping on order | Buy x, get percent discount | Buy x, get fixed amount discount.
* Catalogue Promotional Pricing by percentage or fixed amount with ability to restrict to stores, categories, products
* Free Shipping Option
* Multi-Tier Pricing for quantity discounts
* Bundled Products
* Customer Group-specific pricing and group-specific tier pricing
* Landing Page Tool for Campaigns
* Search Engine Friendly URL’s
* URL Rewrites
* Recently Viewed Products
* Recently Compared Items
* New Items Promotional Tool
* Up-sells in Shopping Cart
* Cross-sells on product pages
* Send to a Friend for all visitors, or registered users only
* Send Wish-list to a Friend by Email or RSS
* RSS Feeds for New Products, New Specials and New Tags
* Auto-generated Site Map
* Google Site Map
* Polls
* Newsletter Management

International Support

* Multi-Lingual
* Support for Multiple Currencies
* Tax rate support
o Includes support for WEEE/DEEE in EU
* Localisation
* Configurable List of Allowed Countries for:
o Site Registration
o Shipping Destination Addresses with ability to specify per shipping method
o Billing Addresses with ability to specify per payment method

Search Engine Optimisation

* 100% Search Engine Friendly
* Google Site Map
* URL Rewrites give full control of URL’s
* Meta-information for products and categories
* Auto-generated Site Map for display on site
* Auto-Generated Popular Search Terms Page

Checkout

* One-Page Checkout
* SSL security support for orders on both front-end and back-end
* Shipping to multiple addresses in one order
* Checkout without account/Guest Checkout
* Shopping Cart with tax and shipping estimates
* Checkout with account to use address book
* Option to create account at beginning of checkout
* Accept gift messages per order and per item
* Saved Shopping Carts with configurable expiration time

Shipping

* Integrated for real-time shipping rates from:
o UPS, UPS XML (account rates), FedEx (account rates), USPS and DHL
* Shipping to multiple addresses in one order
* On-site order tracking from customer accounts
* Multiple shipments per order
* Ability to specify allowed destination countries per method
* Flat rate shipping per order
* Flat rate shipping per item
* Free Shipping
* Table rates for weight and destination
* Table rates for product sub-totals and destination
* Table rates for number of items and destination

Payment

* Configurable to authorise and charge, or authorise only and charge on creation of invoices
* Integrated with multiple PayPal gateways:
o Website Payments Standard, Website Payments Pro (Express and Direct), Website Payments Pro UK (Express and Direct), and PayPal PayFlow Pro
* Integrated with Authorize.net
* Integrated with Google Checkout (Level 2)
* Saved Credit Card method for off-line payments
* Accept Checks/Money Orders
* Accept Purchase Orders
* Payment Extensions Available through Magento Connect:
[ + ] view all supported payment gateways
o Fontis Australia
o Cybersource
o Protx
o Tweakmag Payment
o SPPLUS
o Fontis New Zealand
o eWAY
o ChronoPay
o ePay
o iDEAL
o Flo2Cash Web Service
o Protx Direct Payment Module
o PagSeguro Payment Module
o CyberMUT Paiement / Paiement CIC
o Payone
o Moduł platnosci.pl dla Lento
o PaySimple
o UOS Paymentmodule
o Fontis Paymate
o Fontis Payment Express
o Dibs Payment
o WorldPay
o Bank Prepayment
o VCS
o Datatrans Paymentgateway
o SecureTrading XPay Module
o Ogone Payment
o Payment Module: ECS Clearing Interface
o Modulo Banca Sella 2.0
o Magento LinkPoint API Payment Module
o LinkPoint API Payment Module for Magento
o Fontis SecurePay
o Cash On Delivery
o PSiGate API Payment Module
o Platnosci.pl (STO)
o Nedbank iVeri Paygate
o PayPoint.net (SECPay) Payment Gateway Module
o Metodo de pago Servired
o Servired
o 2Checkout.com payment module
o Fast Transact Integration module
o ClickandBuy
o BBS Payment Gateway
o Fontis Westpac PayWay
o Fontis NAB Transact
o Barclays ePDQ
o Optimal Payments Firepay
o FIA-NET ReceiveAndPay
o MultiSafepay Payment Module
o Novalnet Payment Module
o Fontis Commonwealth Bank CommWeb
o 1&1 ipayment
o sofortüberweisung.de
o PayPoint.net (MetaCharge) Payment Gateway Module
o Mokejimai.lt payment gateway
o Magento FirstData API Payment Module (Originally LinkPoint)
o QENTA QPAY
o HSBC Remote Payment Gateway Module v0.8
o Datatrans
o Exanto Heidelpay
o Contra reembolso personalizado
o Bankeinzug / Lastschrift (Debit Payment)
o IPPay Credit Card Gateway
o Interac Payment (Beanstream)
o Quantum Gateway Transparent db engine
o Verified by Visa and MasterCard Secure payment via FirstData Global Gateway Alternative Payments Platform
o mjr_PayInShop
o Mediafon Gateway
o Payjunction API Payment Module (Trinity Gateway) QuickLink
o NETBilling Direct Mode API Payment Module
o Magento SecurePay SecureXML API Payment Module (Australian)
o Realex Payments Module
o Plug ‘n Pay API Payment Module
o eProcessingNetwork Payment Module
o Beanstream Payment Module
o goEmerchant Payment Module
o BankCardCentral VerePay Payment Module
o USAePay(http://usaepay.com/) payment module for seamless single page checkout.
o Amazon Flexible Payment System( FPS) Payment Module
o Pasat 4b Payment Module
o ACH Payment - ACH Direct Payment Module
o Paybox
o Paystation Payment Module for Magento (paystation.co.nz)
o Fontis St. George IPG
o PaymentFilter for Products and Customer Groups
o Moneybookers
o Alertpay
o Shine Software IWSmile
o TrustCommerce Payment Module
o Payer payment
o Buckaroo
o Ogone
o TWYP
o iPay88 Online Payment Gateway
o Eurobank ProxyPay3 API
o GSPay (gspay.com) Payment Module
o Payease payment fro magento
o NPS Payment Module for magento
o Eurobank ProxyPay3 Secure 3D
o Piraeus Bank WINbank gateway
o Post Affiliate Pro Connector
o Deltapay Alpha Bank
o SF9 PayOffline Payments Module
o Eigen Development (MiraPay) Credit Card Payment Module
o Fontis ANZ eGate
o Wire Transfer
o Netcash Payment Gateway
o ATOS/Sips
o Magento YourPay.com API Payment Module
o I2D TransCentral Transfirst payment module api
o Webmoney
o Mygate Payment Gateway (MyVirtual)
o mPAY24 Payment Gateway
o Luxe Globill.net
o Saferpay Payment Module

Order Management

* View, edit, create and fulfil orders from admin panel.
* Create one or multiple invoices, shipments and credit memos per order to allow for split fulfilment
* Print invoices and packing slips
* Call Centre (phone) order creation
o Includes ability to create new customer, or select existing customer and view shopping cart, wishlist, last ordered items, and compared products list, as well as select addresses, give discounts and assign custom prices
* Create re-orders for customers from administration panel.
* Email Notifications of Orders
* RSS feed of New Orders

Customer Service

* Contact Us form
* Feature-rich Customer Accounts
* Order History with Status Updates
* Order Tracking from Account
* Forgot Password Email from front-end and administration panel
* Order and Account Update Emails
* Customizable Order Emails
* Create and Edit Orders from the Admin Panel

Customer Accounts

* Order status and history
* Re-orders from account
* Recently ordered items
* Downloadable Products
* Address Book with unlimited addresses
* Default Billing and Shipping addresses
* Wish-list with ability to add comments
* Email or Send RSS feed of Wish-list
* Newsletter Subscription management
* Product Reviews submitted
* Product Tags submitted
* Account Dashboard for overview of: recent orders, personal information, newsletter subscription status, primary billing address, primary shipping address, shopping cart, wishlist, recently ordered items, recently reviews and recent tags

Catalogue Management

* Inventory Management with Back ordered items, Minimum and Maximum quantities
* Batch Import and Export of catalogue
* Batch Updates to products in admin panel
* Google Base Integration
* Simple, Configurable (e.g. size, color, etc.), Bundled and Grouped Products
* Virtual Products
* Downloadable/Digital Products
* Customer Personalised Products - upload text for embroidery, monogramming, etc.
* Tax Rates per location, customer group and product type
* Attribute Sets for quick product creation of different item types
* Create Store-specific attributes on the fly
* Media Manager with automatic image resizing and watermarking
* Advanced Pricing Rules and support for Special Prices (see marketing tools)
* Search Results rewrites and redirects
* Approve, Edit and Delete Product Tags
* Approve, Edit and Delete Product Reviews
* RSS feed for Low Inventory Alerts

Catalogue Browsing

* Layered / Faceted Navigation for filtering of products in Categories
* Layered / Faceted Navigation for filtering of products in Search Results
* Static Block tool to create category landing pages
* Ability to assign designs on category and product level (unique design per product/category)
* Configurable search with auto-suggested terms
* Recently viewed products
* Product comparisons
* Recently compared products
* Cross-sells, Up-sells and Related Items
* Popular Search Terms Cloud
* Filter by Product Tags
* Product Reviews
* Product listing in grid or list format
* Breadcrumbs

Product Browsing

* Multiple Images Per Product
* Product Image Zoom-in Capability
* Product Reviews
* Related Products
* Stock Availability
* Multi-Tier Pricing Up sell
* Product Option Selection
* Grouped Products View
* Add to Wish-list
* Send to a Friend with Email

Analytics and Reporting

* Integrated with Google Analytics
* Admin Dashboard for Report Overview
* Sales Report
* RSS feed for New Orders
* Tax Report
* Abandoned Shopping Cart Report
* Best Viewed Products Report
* Best Purchased Products Report
* Low Stock Report
* Search Terms Report
* Product Reviews Report
* RSS feed for New Reviews
* Tags Report
* RSS feed for New Tags
* Coupon Usage Report
* Total Sales Invoiced
* Total Sales Refunded
* Best Customers Report by Total and Number of Orders

Comparison Features

Product Comparison from MagentoCore on Vimeo.

Single Page Checkout

Single Page Checkout (Guest Checkout) from MagentoCore on Vimeo.

Full Features