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Which is better? Blue or Black, Chocolate or Brownie, apples or oranges, Iron man or captain America and here comes the big one – Magento or WordPress.
Running an eCommerce business nowadays seems to be quite perplexing. In fact, at present we have reached a level where success seems to be pretty far-fetched. Even if you are able to sustain it, it might be a dream come true. You see when done right, by using precise technology, it can surely do wonders for your business irrespective of size and industry verticals. We are fortunate enough to witness a wide range of technology-based options but at the same time having too many options can be quite difficult to deal with. And that’s when you require choosing the big players in the eCommerce market, especially Magento and WordPress.
The rivalry between eCommerce platforms might not be seen but it’s quite fierce, way more than you can even imagine. Everyone is trying to move into a higher gear and raise the bar. Now here comes the dilemma, which one is the best option to consider? Well, read the following post that emphasizes on some of the most prominent eCommerce platforms, i.e. Magento and WordPress. And you will surely get the answer.
Let’s get acquainted with each technology one by one.
Table of Contents
Magento
One of the most prominent eCommerce platforms built-in PHP called Magento is used by some of famous brands such as Land Rover, Graze, Fred Perry, BrewShop, Boodles, Cox and Cox and so forth. It turns out to be the best open-source platform that plays a pivotal role in making your website stand out from the crowd in the least amount of time possible. Other than being open-source, the platform offers a cutting-edge codebase, B2B functionality, and a unique, dynamic and cherishable user experience.
Now if you are a non-techie then you must be wondering what’s so amazing about open-source technology? Well, this means users do get precise ability to have a control on the overall look, function and the overall content without even compromising on the shopping experience. Moreover, here a wide range of tools and features such as in regards to Omnichannel experience, marketing, search engine optimization and catalog- management tools and of course, all this leads to improving customer relationships. Now what kind of extensions are available here, you must be thinking? Extensions in regards to customer services, payments, security, accounting and finance, shipping, site optimization and what not!
In addition to all this, your business gets to stay in one place and has quite potential to expand. Further below I would like to mention certain benefits of using Magento for your Business.
Some of the basic yet critical features offered by a Magento Platform include:
- Product Management
- Category Management
- Customer Service
- Inventory Management
- Payment Processing
- Search Technology
- Supports high-end promotional and marketing tools
- Analyze and Reporting
Benefits of Using Magento
- 100% Open-Source
As mentioned earlier, being 100% open source is quite beneficial here. You see from the developer’s perspective, they get the power to edit the source code and incorporate specific features and functionalities, add-ons and relevant extensions.
- Responsive and SEO-friendly
The next advantage of using Magento is that it turns out to be extremely responsive and SEO-friendly. Today it’s no longer just about developing a website. You need to maintain it and moreover, improvise product pages on a regular basis and this is pretty much easier especially when you are working on a platform called Magento.
In fact, this is one such eCommerce platform that is developed keeing SEO and responsiveness in mind. And by using so, the overall chances of your online presence being seen and acknowledged, increases to a great extent. Not to mention, since Magento is pretty responsive, your eCommerce store is suppose to work on all types of browsers, devices and in the end you can deliver best customer and user experience.
- Large Community Support
Since Magento is pretty well known across the globe, there is no surprise that the eCommerce platform has a large community support. The Magento community comprises the best, knowledgeable and well-experienced developers who ensure to share what they can and that too instantly. In fact, it may quite interet you to know that the Magento community is pretty much known for providing quick assistance. So in case, if any developer gets stuck or cries for help, the community can surely help. Also, you will find a wide range of dedicated forums and posts like these where programmers get relevant answers.
- Best-in Performance
The next advantage of using Magento to develop an eCommerce store is that it provides amazing performance. In fact, it is believed that if you want to up your eCommerce game then Magento is the sure-shot way to do that. It doesn’t matter whether you are working in a small store or any product positions, Magento turns out to be the ultimate solution to take into consideration.
- Personalization
The term eCommerce store is no longer just about buying or selling products. In fact, customers are craving for more features such as customization, personalization and so much more. And Magento certainly aces the race. Apart from all this, you see your competitor might offer a wide range of themes but overall they might seem pretty much alike whereas Magento actually offers themes distinctively. Creating a unique storefront is actually possible here.
In addition to all these, scalability, user-friendliness, security, supporting mobile commerce, third-party integrations, cost-effectiveness, are certain aspects that make Magento a cut above other eCommerce platforms in today’s times.
Enough said about Magento, now it’s time to focus on our next contender, i.e. WordPress. Time to get acquainted with WordPress as an eCommerce platform.
WordPress
Wait, what is WordPress as an eCommerce Platform? I get a lot of these when I recommend using WordPress for their eCommerce store. Yes, there was a time when WordPress was known just as a blogging platform. With time passing by, technology seems to have evolved to a great extent. Due to its high-end ability to confer simple usability and high-end features/functionalities to a wide pursuit of websites irrespective of its types. Though WordPress is not the best solution for an eCommerce store, it’s quite a doable job. And you never know sometimes even a simple pawn being promoted has the potential to change the entire game.
WordPress is an open-source platform that can be expanded to a great extent and it fit almost any eCommerce needs. In fact, WordPress seems to have already proven its worth by working at its best for some of the leading businesses and websites. Also, the eCommerce platform requires a pretty small budget and less technical skills in comparison to Magento. You see Magento demands a lot of resources and offers a lot of power in return, while WordPress is more of a sliding scale. This certainly doesn’t mean that WordPress will make you any less powerful or less competitive. All In all, it’s worth considering if you are focused on marketing your site with great content.
Further I would like to mention certain benefits of using WordPress as an eCommerce platform
Benefits of Using WordPress
#1 eCommerce Functionality can be achieved
The first and foremost advantage of using wordPress is that it comprises a wide range of plugins that assist well in adding eCommerce functionality. Now what exactly do these plugins do, well they certainly perform assistance in crafting an eCommerce site featuring a wide range of functionality especially that is required for the business. Now here it’s certainly not necessary to develop an eCommerce site, you can make use of all the eCommerce plugins available here and then sell products easily. For example, you can consider having WooCommerce, the plugin offers several options such as:
- Creating an eye-catching storefront
- Optimizing pages for the search engine
- Customizing product pages
- Choosing different Payment Gateways
- Setting your shipping options
- Calculating taxes
#2 SEO-friendly
Much like Magento, even WordPress is quite SEO-friendly. In fact, the best aspects of creating a WordPress eCommerce website is that it turns out to be a search engine optimization friendly site. So if you want people to find your products as soon as they search for them through your website then wordPress is the best option worth considering. In fact, along with WordPress, several plugins can be well-implemented for your site to rank in search results. For example, you can use Yoast SEO for creating SEO-friendly sites. By doing so, all the pages get well-optimized on the site.
Since your pages are SEO-friendly, you increase the likelihood that you’ll rank in relevant product searches and drive qualified prospects to your page.
#3 Cost Effective
Another crucial advantage here is the cost-effectiveness. You see developing an eCommerce store won’t be your only project so you cannot spend time and money extravagantly. With more and more emerging technologies, the cost of developing a website seems to have reduced to a great extent these days and WordPress is no exception. Also, here you will find numerous WordPress themes available are very affordable for new businesses and ongoing maintenance won’t be a drain on finances due to the simplicity of the dashboard and the ability for the users to install plugins, which enable the expansion of the website.
#4 Security
The next advantage in line is the security. Today eCommerce websites demand lots and lots of security measures. One of the sole reasons is because these websites contain some of the most vital customer login credentials, payment information, and other sensitive details. One cannot afford to get ripped. This won’t just lose your customers but also ruin your reputation and credibility.
The WordPress Security Team has 50+ expert security researchers to provide security to the users. WordPress’s community team releases major and minor updates for security on a regular basis. Each revised version of WordPress provides stronger protection from malicious threats.
#5 Speed
After security comes the speed. WordPress is one such eCommerce platform that enables developers to create a website in the least possible time. All they have to do is simply upload all the relevant images and information for the website. Of course, you may come across several naysayers stating that there are several other solutions available but to be precise, none of these options tend to deliver so many benefits and that too all at once. So if you are looking for a platform that offers security, high-end efficiency and versatility then WordPress is the right solution.
Magento vs WordPress – A Head to Head Comparison
Magento vs WordPress is quite a debatable topic, no two ways about it! Further below I would like to mention some of the most crucial aspects that make a precise difference here.
| Factors | Magento | WordPress |
| Definitions | Mainly considered for developing eCommerce websites | Mainly known as a blogging platform but also quite recommendable for developing eCommerce websites |
| Pros | The concept eCommerce is a built-in feature and so taking care of all your sales and inventory and payment gateways is not that difficult | There is no such feature called eCommerce but there are several themes and plugins available that can be used for developing nothing less than the best eCommerce website |
| Cons | Magento is not beginner-friendly | WordPress is quite easy to use and does offer an infinite amount of possibilities. |
Conclusion
So after reading all this, which one will you choose? Well the ultimate answer depends on your situation. For example, if you are willing to sell a wide range of products and require strong operational capability then Magento turns out to be the ultimate choice whereas if you are mainly focused on content marketing then consider WordPress. Do be overwhelmed, calm down. Both are best in their own ways, So you can never be wrong here. However, do tend to choose wisely!
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