The late David Bowie stated eloquently, ‘Changes… turn and face the strange’.

While his statement was not consciously written to chronicle Magento and its recent remodel, Magento 2, the concept still inimitably applies itself.

Magento 2 is the latest release by the most popular open source eCommerce platform in the world. It assists B2B and B2C by providing omnichannel shopping experiences, enhanced performance and scalability with unrivalled flexibility.

Ultimately, the new and improved features of Magento 2 aim to provide higher conversion rates and ROI to all its clients.

The leading platform’s empowering self-declaration is to, ‘change the world of eCommerce’.

Now, the question remains; does it deliver?

acidgreen was one of the first Magento partners in Australia, and we definitely believe it does… here’s a few reasons why:

If you’re reading this, there’s a high chance you’re a current client of Magento 1. After all, with the excess of 240 000 shops run by Magento out there, it comfortably dominates at 25% of the worldwide eCommerce market. It’s not hard to understand why either- it’s SEO friendly, easy to extend, rich in features with optimal functionality and above all, developers and site owners have full control.

Magento 1 has had over eight years of proven success and it still remains effective. However, the new features of Magento 2 prove it to be even faster, better, harder and stronger.

Features of Magento 2:

No Wait Time 

One of its most obvious advancements is its improved cache system. In M1, optimizing caching was done so through extensions. Now, it is built in with support for Varnish caching- meaning no more third party installation. This reduces the amount of queries and instead relies on an internal database system

In simple terms, this means quicker loading times. Content is delivered to customers faster, therefore maximising the user experience and ultimately leading to higher conversions rates.

Plus, the database actually features statistics of lost conversions due to time spent waiting for page loads. So you’ll know if something isn’t functioning properly.

If you don’t fully understand the benefit, just consider this statistic: a 1 second delay on your site can mean a 7% loss in conversion. 

Streamlined Checkout

Think about when you’ve gone to checkout your items on an eCommerce shop. Ever been annoyed by the arduous sign up/’checkout as guest’ situation? As it turns out, this is a fatal flaw for many customers.  Luckily, this is no longer an issue.

The modern system has been broken down into two simple steps:

1. Collect customer info,

2. Collect billing info- billing address information is only needed if it is required by the payment method.

The system automatically assumes the customer is a guest and it will pick up on those already registered via the email field. They are then offered the opportunity to log in.

Its checkout system has further been upgraded through the integration of high performing payment gateways e.g. PayPal, BrainTree, Authorize.net, WorldPay (Enterprise Edition), CyberSource (Enterprise Edition) that weren’t previously supported.

M2 also features an improved order summary page by enabling the ability to incorporate product images and/or videos in the customer shopping cart. This makes for a more interactive, dynamic customer experience.

SEO Maximisation

A crucial feature for a successful web shop is a high search engine ranking. M2 has incorporated new improvements to help make sure you’re at the top of the list.

M2’s new XML sitemap improvement means you can set the priority and frequency for any page type i.e. products, categories and CM pages. Plus, as well including Google Analytics tracking, eCommerce tracking and AdWords (much the same as M1) it has also added Google Tag Manager. GTM allows you to quickly and more efficiently update tags and code snippets to your site.

Moreover, with the help of Rich Snippets- an addition that allows you to add product labels without the hassle of third party extensions, you can take use of your site structured mark-up data. This will inevitably make your product page stand out in Google search results.

Other Features of Magento 2:

• It has officially minimized and bundled JavaScript, thus reducing unwanted browser’s operations.

• With its new image compression function clients now have the option to optimize images directly on the server using M2’s built in tools, rather than having to do it manually.

• The M2 Admin Panel Dashboard displays statistics such as: Average Order, Last Orders, Lifetime Sales, Last and Top Search terms- therefore assisting you/the client in monitoring your state of business.

• Magento 2 is in full support of the latest versions of PHP which comprise new security fixes as well as improvements on functionalities that directly affected the web store’s speed.

Grasping an understanding of the new features of Magento 2 and its superior functionalities, it is easy to justify making the transition to the modern program. Particularly when the said transition leads to higher conversion rates and larger ROI.

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acidgreen is an award winning Magento ecommerce web design development company with over 15 years of web design experience. Our certified magento developers, digital marketing executives and designers are highly qualified to create aesthetically pleasing magento websites – that generate the highest amount of conversions and provide the best ROI. For more information on Magento 2 and how to get started with acidgreen’s web development services, contact us today.