eCommerce is currently developing into a fresh and promising sales channel for furniture companies in addition to the traditional sales channel. Businesses must work hard to sustain and achieve breakthrough growth through eCommerce platforms, though.

As a result, numerous furniture companies started developing online furniture business websites and found surprising success, such Sieu Thi Noi That va Trang Tri Baya, Nha Xinh, Cozy, or Noi Phat Hoa Phat.

These websites’ success can be attributed to their early selection of an adequate and suitable eCommerce platform. Which platforms are appropriate for the furniture industry, then?

Main aspects of the eCommerce furniture industry

UI/UX standard furniture eCommerce website interface

​​The first criterion businesses set when developing an eCommerce website is a standard UI / UX interface, friendly to users who enjoy shopping for furniture online and other home goods to increase customer interaction.

Similar to eCommerce websites in other sectors like fashion, electronics, etc., websites in the furniture sector must feature stunning and high-quality photographs and videos.

This makes it simpler for companies to communicate product information to customers, especially with banner advertisements that have an easy-to-use interface and a pleasing style that will pique shoppers’ interests.

Businesses also need to consider other concerns including call-to-action button placement, cross-device compatibility, and layout designs that display a range of product designs from the navigation bar to page-by-page details.

Comprehensive functional system

Furniture firms need a functional system from basic to advanced to fully meet consumers’ buying expectations and maximize the user experience. This system should include:

• Catalog Management: Manage properties, pricing systems, inventory, photos, and videos to keep them running
• Content Management: Content development for CMS pages, image hosting, theme customization, and website design
• Customer Management: Control information, behavior, and consumption habits to build strategies for each specific customer group
• Sales Management: Set up and operate sales, order, payment, and shipping processes
• Marketing Management: Implement and optimize programs to attract potential customers with built-in support tools
• System Management: Seamless supply chain response with shipping navigation and automation management tools
• Store Management: Navigate and maintain your eCommerce business from online to offline
• Cart & Checkout: Manage shopping carts and process the next payment steps for customers
• Analytics and Reports: Monitor and measure eCommerce performance to give detailed reports to improve business efficiency

Businesses also need to develop some additional specialized features to address the furniture industry’s “own challenge,” such as:

• Omnichannel to track customer footprints across all channels from eCommerce platforms, and social networks, to eCommerce websites and mobile apps to deliver a seamless shopping experience.
• VR/AR or 360-degree view brings a visual experience and realistic visualization of the product, thereby enhancing the online furniture shopping experience.
• Customers who request customized products can specify the colors, materials, and sizes they want and pay a deposit. The supplier will then continue to produce the furniture items in accordance with the requirements and deliver them to the customer once they are finished. The consumer will then pay the supplier the balance at that time.

Integration with a variety of third-party services

Furniture businesses frequently integrate a range of payment options, shipping services, management software, and business analysis tools to optimize eCommerce business systems in order to provide customers with a comprehensive shopping experience.

Some popular payment methods businesses can integrate on the website to diversify payment methods to help customers have many choices such as card payment; eWallet; payment gateways.

Businesses might take into consideration software like ERP (SAP, Salesforce, Oracle), among others, when integrating back-office administration and operation software.

Finally, incorporating BI tools like Tableau, Looker, etc. will aid in the long-term analysis of business plans.

Scalability of the website

Businesses that are just starting to use eCommerce won’t concentrate on the website’s scalability in the future because platforms that provide this feature are sometimes hard to find. But tactically, spending money on a platform that facilitates this function will provide organizations an advantage over rivals in the market.

These aid furniture companies in making necessary adjustments, creating new features, and expanding their online systems to support several stores, languages, and currencies in the future.

Top 5 eCommerce platforms for furniture website development

Haravan

Haravan was founded in 2014 and is a very popular and popular eCommerce deployment platform in the Vietnam market with a variety of solutions for businesses and individual sellers.

Pros:

• Available and diverse themes for the furniture industry
• Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business
• Reasonable eCommerce deployment cost, various packages from 200,000 VND/month to 3,000,000 VND/month, making it easy for customers to choose.
• ​​Time to build an eCommerce website is fast, only about 30 minutes for businesses to own a website with all the necessary features to get started. However, for the website to work effectively, businesses need to spend more time researching and developing the system.

Cons:

• The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
• The system of specific functions for the furniture sector is still limited.
• Only integrated with services/utilities located in Haravan’s ecosystem.
• Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Haravan to expand the website in the future.

=> Rating: 2/4

Haravan is suitable for start-up furniture businesses or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with operations mainly in Vietnam.

Shopify

Shopify is a popular SaaS platform in the world that provides a variety of solutions for businesses of all sizes to successfully build eCommerce websites.

Pros:

• Available and diverse themes for the furniture industry.
• Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business.
• The initial cost is quite reasonable with a variety of options for businesses from $29/month to about $2,000/month.
• The time to build an eCommerce website is quite fast from 1-7 days, or more depending on the complexity of the system.
• Shopify has a large developer community to serve businesses.

Cons:

• The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
• The system of specific functions for the furniture sector is still limited.
• A wider range of 3rd party services than Haravan but still only integrated with services available in Shopify’s app store.
• Deployment costs are both advantages and disadvantages of Shopify when the initial cost is quite reasonable, but in the long run, businesses have to pay the cost of using the platform, interface, application, etc., regularly every month. This makes it difficult to manage cash flow
• Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Shopify to expand its website in the future.

=> Rating: 2/4

Shopify is considered suitable for start-ups or SMEs with global operations.

ZielCommerce 

ZielCommerce is an eCommerce platform with ready-made solutions specialized for the furniture industry.

Pros:

• Many themes are specific to the furniture industry, allowing businesses to customize according to their needs, helping to reflect the characteristics of the industry and position the brand image.
• Detailed internal eCommerce website construction challenges can be solved with the help of a comprehensive system of functions that combines the fundamental, sophisticated, and niche aspects of both customer and business needs, such as the best order processing system.

Cons:

• The ability to integrate with 3rd party services is still limited. This platform only supports add-ons available in its ecosystem, so businesses will not be able to link with the ERP, POS, CRM, BI, etc. Therefore, when using Ziel Commerce, businesses need to transfer all existing data to the platform’s servers.
• Although highly appreciated for the ability to expand the website system, this is still the disadvantage of Ziel Commerce in the long run. Accordingly, this platform will not support businesses to expand or develop new features because businesses cannot own the source code, so when affected, it will destabilize the entire website system.
• Ziel Commerce is not yet popular in the Vietnam market, so there is no Vietnamese version yet.
• Deployment time will depend on the complexity of the system, the average time is from 3-6 months.
• High implementation cost of about $50,000 per project.

=> Rating: 3/4

ZielCommerce will be the optimal choice for B2B, and B2C furniture businesses to deploy eCommerce websites or build mobile apps. However, this platform is not really popular in the Vietnamese market but is especially favored by foreign furniture retailers such as Frampo, Zeyka, etc.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that allows businesses to transform a regular WordPress website into a professional eCommerce website with full features and easy customization with just a few simple steps.

Pros:

• There are many free and premium themes from the WordPress and WooCommerce communities for the furniture sector which are easy to customize or businesses can use self-designed themes. 
• Functional system from basic to advanced for eCommerce business.
• Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
• Because it is an open-source code platform, businesses can plan to expand their website in the future.
• The cost of building an eCommerce website is not too high compared to other open-source platforms like Magento, with total annual costs ranging from $110 to $1,500+ for domains, hosting, themes, extensions, plugins, etc.
• eCommerce website implementation time with WooCommerce takes about 1 to 3 months to complete.

Cons:

• The functional system is still limited in terms of features specific to the furniture industry.
• The scalability is not as high compared to other open-source platforms such as Open Cart, Magento because it depends on the WordPress system.

=> Rating: 3/4

WooCommerce will be suitable for furniture businesses who are familiar with the WordPress platform and want to develop an eCommerce system.

Magento

Magento is a popular open-source commerce platform in the field of eCommerce, with nearly 200,000 websites in use. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free), and Magento Commerce (paid).

Pros:

• Many furniture themes from the global developer community and Magento website developers so businesses can use existing themes which easy to customize or use self-designed themes.
• Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
• High scalability: multi-language, currency, easy future feature development.

Cons:

• There is no repository of themes from Magento to support businesses.
• Implementation typically takes three to six months, but it might take up to a year due to a sophisticated functioning system.
• Although the platform is free to use, the cost of implementing eCommerce with Magento is quite high, about $50,000-$100,000 depending on the complexity of the project.

=> Rating: 4/4

Magento is appropriate for a range of furniture business types, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, as well as for various business sizes, including start-ups, SMEs, and major companies. However, large organizations use Magento because it is frequently relatively expensive to deploy.

Choosing the right platform is an extremely important first step when building an interior eCommerce website. Choosing the right eCommerce platform will help businesses save budget and time to build a website while increasing competitive advantage and sustainable growth. On the contrary, when choosing the wrong platform, it will cost businesses a lot of time and budget to deploy and switch platforms many times. Therefore, businesses need to consider the goals and problems in the current model to be able to choose the most suitable platform.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional eCommerce implementation solutions. 

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

Today, for businesses of all sizes, eCommerce websites play an essential role in reaching and buying products for a wide pool of potential customers on the Internet.

Thus, choosing the right platform to build an eCommerce website is incredibly important. A good eCommerce platform will make it easy for businesses to provide Omnichannel experiences, personalize customer experiences, offer a variety of services, products, and more to increase conversions and drive online sales.

Some commonly mentioned platforms for building eCommerce websites are Magento, Woocommerce, Bigcommerce, etc. Definitely, each business will have its considerations, but one platform that always appears as a top choice is Shopify. In spite of the fact that the platform is highly rated, businesses should still weigh the pros and cons of this platform before making a final decision.

As a result, SECOMM has prepared this review, helping businesses understand what Shopify is, how it works, implementation costs, and especially the pros and cons of using this platform to build a comprehensive eCommerce website.

What is Shopify?

Before becoming one of the most popular eCommerce platforms globally, Shopify started as an online ski store called Snowdevil in 2004. Later, the company transformed into an eCommerce platform named Jaded Pixel.

In 2006, It was officially founded in Ottawa by young programmers Tobias Lutke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake. Since then, the platform has gradually affirmed its position as a reliable and fastest-growing eCommerce platform in the last two years when most companies faced many difficulties because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Up to now, the number of Shopify users has increased significantly. As reported by StoreLeads, there are currently about 2 million websites using the platform to build and develop online businesses. In the second quarter of 2022, the number of newly opened stores reached 150,928, an increase of 10.8% compared to the same period in 2021. In Vietnam alone, there are about 2,000 websites using the platform in operation, up 9.8% in the second quarter of 2022 over the same period in 2021.

Total revenue in the second quarter of 2022 reached $1.3 billion, up 16% over the same period in 2021, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate for three consecutive years of 53%. Gross profit in the second quarter of 2022 increased by 6% to $655.6 million compared to $620.9 million in the second quarter of 2021 (According to Shopify’s report).

While it is one of the most popular and user-friendly eCommerce platforms available today, businesses still need to determine if this is what they need to expand their business, all the advantages and disadvantages of the platform, mostly the cost issue.

Pros of using Shopify for an eCommerce website

Cost-effective Deployment

For a start, businesses can enjoy a 14-day free trial without a credit card requirement. When the free trial ends, businesses are encouraged to opt for one of the solution packages with suitable features and appealing promotions.

Table list of price, and features of Shopify solution packages.

First and foremost, because it is a SaaS platform, the cost to get started is usually quite low. Despite the fact that businesses must pay monthly fees, transaction fees, theme fees, and extension fees, Shopify is still significantly less expensive than open-source platforms such as Magento, WooCommerce, and others.

The development of an open-source platform necessitates the assistance of experienced programmers and takes a long time to deploy, whereas the SaaS platform is the inverse. That is the reason why starting with a SaaS platform, specifically, Shopify, will save businesses both time and expense.

Another cost highlight is that SaaS platforms, in general, and Shopify in particular, require an ongoing monthly fee rather than a one-time purchase fee to use the platform. This reduces the risk of businesses investing too much money in the platform but not meeting their expectations during the implementation process.

Furthermore, the Shopify platform is appropriate for different-sized businesses in the market. The Starter, Lite, and Basic packages are appropriate for SME businesses engaged in eCommerce. Shopify, Advanced, and Plus packages are ideal for large-scale businesses that require advanced features to run an effective eCommerce website.

Ease of Use

The only way to adapt to the ever-changing market and quickly reach a wide pool of potential customers is for businesses to deploy eCommerce websites as soon as possible to avoid being left behind in the competition of the digital transformation race. One of the important factors when building an eCommerce website is choosing the right platform.

In particular, the top goal to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform is the ease of use. If a platform takes users too long to learn and implement or makes users dependent on external support, then the platform is not easy to use

Shopify has an easy-to-use interface for users with little programming knowledge. Moreover, Shopify is a SaaS eCommerce platform with a pre-designed system that offers hosting, interface, features, and technology infrastructure maintenance, allowing businesses to easily build and operate the website system with just drag and drop without worrying about technical issues.

Simple steps to get started with the eCommerce website implementation with Shopify:

1. Choose from one of the solution packages depending on the business needs
2. Choose a business domain
3. Choose an appropriate theme and template
4. Choose essential features
5. Optimize the eCommerce website and add products
6. Go-live

24/7 Available Customer Support

This is one of the most crucial factors influencing users’ decision to use Shopify. Difficulties and obstacles are inevitable when building an eCommerce website, so Shopify has assembled a reliable and trusted team to assist users.

As a result, if your business requires assistance, assistance is available 24/7. Businesses can reach Shopify via email, chat, and a hotline worldwide. What’s more, users can access community forums and useful documents for developing eCommerce websites on this platform, mostly through the Shopify Support Center.

Security and Data Backup

The Shopify platform runs on PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) compliant servers, allowing merchants to accept credit card payments. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is enabled on all Shopify websites to secure visitor data, while a backup system allows businesses to store and save data regularly by exporting data to a CSV file.

As an outcome, the platform encourages the addition of an advanced backup solution from the Shopify Store, such as the Rewind app, as it is seen as a lifesaver if users accidentally delete content such as products or images or a video demonstration. To keep your eCommerce website secure, simply back up your data on a regular basis and use a strong enough admin password.

Variety of Themes

The interface is the appearance of a business’s eCommerce website. The more appealing the website interface, the more likely it is to retain customers, attract more visitors, as well as generate more conversions.

Shopify understands the importance of a website interface, so it has made a host of available themes, both free and paid, suitable for a wide range of businesses and fields, making it simple for businesses to choose from.

The free Shopify themes are ideal for startups, small and medium-sized businesses, and individuals. Businesses can customize their eCommerce website according to their needs and brand features by using features such as responsive web design, product filters, and product color display templates.

However, free themes have some downsides, including a limited number of themes, limited design, and a lack of advanced and specific features, which makes website customization difficult.

In fact, free themes are great for launching an eCommerce website. Premium interfaces, also known as paid themes, will be more suitable for large-scale businesses or businesses on the rise, with an average cost of around $140-$180/theme.

Shopify’s paid themes include advanced integration features such as live chat support, newsletter popups, upsell features, faster page loading, and much more. Thereby, businesses can run an eCommerce website automatedly and smoothly.

The Cons of using Shopify for an eCommerce website

Not Easy to Keep Track of Expenses Incurred

The cost of using Shopify, besides the notable pluses, the platform has a small but enough minus to make some businesses hesitate to start.

In addition to the monthly fee for using the enterprise platform, businesses must pay for other costs such as themes, applications, extensions, marketing features, sales, and SEO on a monthly basis with no long-term possession.

For example, to use the Free Shipping & Hello Bar application that offers free gifts, free shipping, or other types of promotions, users will buy for $8.95/month, which means ongoing monthly in regards to other expenses, businesses will pay an additional $8.95 for this app until it is no longer used. 

When there are small expenses incurred each month, it is difficult to control cash flow for large-scale businesses that have to manage and operate many websites at the same time.

Meanwhile, open-source platforms require a one-time purchase fee rather than an ongoing monthly fee. Although the features are not yet available and take a long time to program, businesses can possess those features for eCommerce websites in the long run. Thereby, it makes cash flow management more convenient and effective.

Difficulty with Content Marketing

It is a great way to promote your eCommerce website. Users can use Shopify to blog and optimize SEO, drive free traffic, and improve brand positioning.

However, this blogging feature on Shopify is not as user-friendly as WordPress. Some of the criteria Shopify can improve regarding blogging and content writing include:

• The outdated editor.
• The blog layouts are inflexible
• No categories force users to use tags
• Cannot add related blogs
• Cannot embed products in blogs
• Not easy to integrate third-party add-ons

This will be a barrier for businesses when using Shopify to promote eCommerce websites by optimizing SEO if the content is a core element of the business’s marketing strategy.

Limited Customization

Another limitation of Shopify is that the platform’s interface is customized using the Shopify Liquid setup. Meanwhile, many website developers are already familiar with the PHP programming language to customize the themes and templates of the website, it is a common technique used by WordPress.

Therefore, users who do not have much experience in programming will face many obstacles when using Shopify’s tools to customize the interface of the eCommerce website.

However, businesses of all sizes can still use other useful Shopify features like Shopify Themes, Shopify App Store, Shopify Blog, 24/7 support team, and more to set up an eCommerce website quickly and effortlessly.

Cannot Possess Source Code and Data 

Because the entire business’s website system is hosted on Shopify’s server, the ownership and control of the website source code will belong to Shopify, not the business. Similar to other SaaS platforms such as BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix… Shopify has a Lock-in feature, which means that when converting a website from one platform to another, businesses will no longer be able to use the old website source code and have to rebuild from scratch on a new platform.

Similar to the source code, business data is also stored on Shopify’s servers, so data ownership and control are quite limited. This makes it difficult for businesses to connect data among internal departments or users’ personalization, etc. Especially when switching platforms, data loss or misalignment is often unavoidable.

Shopify will not assist in the event that businesses stop using the platform for any reason. The only asset businesses can keep and take away is a CSV report containing website information.

Hence, before starting an eCommerce website on the Shopify platform, businesses need to carefully consider the benefits and disadvantages of stopping using it to conclude whether Shopify is the best fit for business in the long run. 

Going by this article,  Shopify is one of the eCommerce platforms that many businesses would love to choose when deploying an eCommerce website. However, besides the outstanding advantages, there are still certain downsides, so businesses need to carefully consider and compare with other platforms before starting out. 

With many years of experience in implementing eCommerce in many countries, SECOMM provides free consulting services with professional eCommerce solutions.

Contact us today for free support and advice!

Magento is a specialized open-source platform for creating the most popular eCommerce websites today.

Currently, it supports two versions: Magento 1 and Magento 2. Some websites use M1 platform, such as CellphoneS, and Bach Long Mobile (Magento Open Source 1.9). Websites using M2 such as Di Dong Viet, and Kidsplaza (Magento Open Source 2.3).

So what is the difference between the two versions, and why have businesses not upgraded their websites to M2?

What is the difference between Magento 1 and Magento 2?

Technology infrastructure

M2 uses newer technologies than M1, resulting in more diverse performance, user experience, and functionality.

Extensions

Both platforms support a wide range of third-party extensions. However, many utilities on M1 will frequently repeat a piece of code, causing conflicts for the website’s functional system, and requiring a significant amount of time to manually fix it. Meanwhile, Magento 2 has supported a plugin that allows code to overlap, assisting in the issue’s faster and more effective resolution.

At the same time, M2 support utilities frequently use new technologies (HTML5, CSS3, Requirejs) at lower prices. Compared to M1, this makes it easier for developers to customize, upgrade, and build new functionality for the website.

Dashboard 

Magento 1 is frequently criticized for having a messy admin interface that takes a long time to adapt. In contrast, Magento 2 is more user-friendly for admin accounts because:

• The dashboard makes it easier to read revenue, profit, tax, and reports effectively
• Allows quick information searches
• Allows for easy product creation and management
• Easy access to backend components

SEO

Magento has long been known for its SEO capabilities, but developers can improve SEO even better with Magento 2:

• Canonical tag support: Fix repetitive content to help increase the SEO content score for the website.
• Enable Meta tags (Meta Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords) for individual pages, which will aid SEO for each detailed product page.
• New technologies are responsive and provide a better user experience across devices.

High Security

Since June 2020, Magento has stopped updating and releasing security patches and fixes for M1. Therefore, M1 websites easily become a target for cyber attacks.

Meanwhile, the publisher continuously updates M2 to increase the system’s security. For example

• Improved password encryption (SHA-256) makes the system more difficult to compromise.
• Argon2UD13 support through PHP sodium extension (version 1.0.13) helps protect the system’s database
• 2-factor authentication for the administrator account to limit impersonation to steal website data.

Why do businesses hesitate to upgrade their website to Magento 2?

Magento 1 still meets current needs

M1 continues to meet enterprise eCommerce systems’ interface, functional systems, and management system requirements. As a result, businesses continue to use M1 rather than upgrading to M2. At the same time, the Magento technical community continues to support the utilities for M1 enthusiastically.

Magento 2 appears to be quite new to businesses.

Although Magento 2 provides many improved utilities, its technologies are still relatively new for many companies, particularly those in countries that have lagged behind eCommerce market growth.

 It takes time and money to upgrade.

Upgrading from M1 to M2 is difficult because the technology infrastructure is entirely different between the two versions. As a result, website developers will require a significant amount of time to migrate all functions and data from M1 to M2, ranging from 1 to 3 months on average.

In addition, businesses require a technical team with expertise in new technologies to manage the system and efficiently upgrade the website. As a result, the upgrade costs more, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 or more, depending on the system’s complexity.

Although M2 outperforms M1 in every way, many businesses are hesitant to upgrade their websites to M2 due to various issues. However, upgrading the website to M2 is unavoidable in the long run due to the growing gap between the two versions.

Our company – SECOMM, has been partnering with many big enterprises such as An Nam Group (Vietnam), Jasnor (Australia), and Changi Airport Group (Singapore). As a result, we are aware of the challenges and worries firms face while developing an eCommerce website system as well as upgrading their websites from M1 to M2.

Get in touch with us now for FREE eCommerce development consultancy and solutions

With over 200,000 websites worldwide, Magento is today’s most widely used eCommerce platform. Magento is always the best choice for businesses to use because of the benefits of open source code and specialized features for the eCommerce market.

Businesses must carefully study the strategy and consider the needs of the website system when deciding between Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce to implement eCommerce on the Magento platform.

Magento Open Source là gì?

Magento Open Source was initially known as Magento Community Edition (CE), a free version of the Magento open source platform. This version provides a flexible framework for building eCommerce websites, which is popular among many businesses.

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What is Magento Commerce?

Magento Commerce, formerly known as Magento Enterprise Edition (EE), is a website system used by large businesses with complex website system requirements. 

This instance provides an on-premises solution as well as a hosted solution as a service (Magento Commerce Cloud), which aids in website performance and user experience. As a result, the annual fee for using this version is $24.000.

Comparison between Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce

Hosting

The platform will charge an additional $2.000/year for the included hosting service when using Magento Commerce to ensure that the business’s website system is constantly updated and upgraded, allowing it to handle high traffic and bills of lading more quickly.

Meanwhile, Magento Open Source is free to select a hosting provider that meets the business’s requirements and budget.

Feature

The following table compares the features that distinguish the two versions of Magento:

Magento Open Source has fewer features than Magento Commerce because it is a free version. Businesses, on the other hand, businesses can build the necessary functions themselves using extensions from the Magento ecosystem, the community of extension developers, or the project developers with whom Magento collaborates.

Cost

Magento Open Source will require a lower investment than Magento Commerce, from hosting and domains to website development. Nevertheless, the technology infrastructure is the same, so the costs of interfaces and extensions are calculated similarly.

Technical assistance

While Magento Commerce provides global technical support, including cloud service integration, Magento Open Source is not directly supported by the Magento technical team. However, the current Magento Open Source website developers continue to ensure expertise so that the business website is constantly updated and effectively operated.

Should businesses choose the Magento Open Source or Magento Commerce version?

Magento Open Source will be ideal for startups, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), businesses new to eCommerce, and even large corporations that do not yet require Magento Commerce’s advanced functionality system. Because using Magento Open Source is advantageous:

• Spending less money: Eliminate license costs, opt for more affordable hosting, and avoid paying for unnecessary specialized functions.
• Choosing to develop essential business features: Creating specialized functions to address industry and product-specific issues.
• Appropriate for all stages of business growth: Businesses can create basic features and then gradually improve them.

Meanwhile, Magento Commerce will be appropriate for large businesses because:

• Complex functional systems are available: such as Advanced Marketing, Bill of Lading, and Delivery Process Management, to meet global sales needs.
• Dedicated Hosting Service for Websites: Using the same service from Magento developers will ensure that the website works more efficiently.

Choosing the best Magento version will be determined by each company’s long-term eCommerce strategy. However, it is also critical to implement those versions. They must collaborate with professional Magento developers to consult on and implement the best eCommerce solution.

With in-depth experience and developing many complex eCommerce systems on Magento, SECOMM understands the obstacles in choosing a platform and implementing Ecommerce businesses face.

Get in touch with us now for FREE eCommerce development consultancy and solutions 

Along with the eCommerce market growth comes an increase in business demand for a separate eCommerce website system to maximize online business.

The platform’s role in developing and operating an effective eCommerce website system is enormous because choosing the right platform will help businesses save time in building a team, saving system development costs, reaching potential customers, boosting sales, and seizing long-term sustainable development opportunities.

Among today’s popular platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and others, Magento is widely regarded as the best platform for developing eCommerce websites, with over 186,000 websites in use worldwide.

What is Magento?

This is an open-source platform designed specifically for the eCommerce industry. In addition, it is the most challenging source code platform in the PHP programming language. As a result, Magento can handle a company’s specialized needs in a constantly changing and evolving market like eCommerce.

Many major brands and corporations, including HP, Asus, Puma, and Walmart, have used the platform. In addition, some famous brands in Vietnam use Magento websites, including CellphoneS, Vua Nem, Kids Plaza, Mobile Viet, and so on.

Classification

Magento currently offers two versions: Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce.

Magento Open Source

Magento Open Source was initially called Magento Community Edition, a free version of Magento. This version provides a “framework” to build eCommerce websites flexibly, so it is very popular with many businesses.

Some websites use Magento Open Source in Vietnam, such as Canifa, Kids Plaza, Bach Long Mobile, etc.

Magento Commerce

Magento Commerce was previously known as Magento Enterprise Edition. This version is appropriate for significant businesses that require a website system with complex functions.

In addition, this edition provides an on-premises or a hosted solution as a service (Magento Commerce Cloud), which aids in website performance. The minimum fee for using this version is $24,000 per year.

The brands using Magento Commerce in Vietnam are CGV, Bibo Mart, Rohto, etc.

The Pros

Functional systems from basic to advanced

Magento includes all of the features required for a complete eCommerce website, including category management, content management, sales management, marketing management, and customer management, as well as analysis and reporting. 

In addition, Magento owns many extensions with advanced features such as Headless Commerce, PWA (Progressive Web Apps), MSI (Multi-Source Inventory), ElasticSearch, etc to meet all eCommerce needs for businesses.

Furthermore, Magento has a global technical support community comprised of many experienced experts and professional development units to assist with meeting all business requirements.

Flexible customization capabilities

Magento possesses all the advantages of an open-source platform with flexible customization capabilities. Owning and controlling the entire source code, in particular, allows businesses to customize parts of the code in the system, easily update, or even develop new functions based on each business specificity.

High scalability

In addition to customizing, Magento also has very useful website scalability. Magento allows businesses to scale from one website to many websites, one store to many stores, but the management is still on the same system. Besides, Magento supports multi-language and currency conversion, helping businesses expand globally.

Superior security capabilities

Magento’s high security is also an outstanding advantage, with the ability to control the system regularly, propose security solutions, improve security for administrators, and prevent bots or unauthorized malware, among other things. As a result, this platform assists businesses in reducing potential risks associated with the data and transaction processes.

The Cons

High development cost

The cost of owning a Magento website is high due to its many outstanding benefits, such as the functional system, customizability, scalability, and good security. However, depending on the system’s complexity, a website built on the Magento platform costs between $10.000 and $100.000.

Take time to implement

A comprehensive Magento project requires implementation time ranging from 3 months to 1 year. A complete Magento project requires implementation time ranging from 3 months to 1 year. As a result, it slows down businesses’ digital transformation processes and makes it difficult for them to keep up with competitors’ development rates and market trends.

A team of qualified technicians is required

Businesses require a technical team with high expertise and experience with the Magento platform to build and operate an intensive eCommerce website system customized to the unique characteristics of each product and category.

As a whole, Magento is an eCommerce platform that is appropriate for all types of businesses, including startups, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and large corporations. However, budget, time, and professional team issues have caused many SMEs businesses to be hesitant to use Magento to develop eCommerce websites. That is why Magento frequently be used in large corporations to build complex eCommerce systems.

Our company – SECOMM, has been partnering with many big enterprises such as An Nam Group (Vietnam), Jasnor (Australia), and Changi Airport Group (Singapore). As a result, we are aware of the challenges and worries firms face while developing an eCommerce website system. 

Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on detailed eCommerce system development solutions!

When deploying an ecommerce website, Magento is the top choice of platform that businesses are aiming for, including global giants like Nike, ASUS, HP, and Burger King, as well as leading Vietnamese enterprises such as Canifa, CellphoneS, Trung Nguyen, and CGV Vietnam.

With outstanding advantages ranging from a diverse ecosystem and flexible customisation capabilities to absolute security, Magento is considered the ‘ultimate boss’ among ecommerce website development platforms today.

So, what are the superior points of Magento?

A ecommerce platform functions from basic to advanced

Magento possesses all the features for a complete ecommerce website:

• Category Management: Control all data and functions related to products, categories, attributes, pricing systems, inventory, images, and videos.
• Content Management: Develop and optimise content for CMS pages (Content Management System), store images, customise themes, and website design.
• Sales Management: Control and operate sales processes, orders, payments, and shipping.
• Marketing Management: Support the building and implementation of marketing programmes with available support tools.
• Customer Management: Manage and collect customer information to enhance the user experience.
• Inventory Management: Continuously meet goods supply for the supply chain with inventory management tools and shipping route navigation.
• Reporting: Exploit data through reporting features on the system to improve and enhance business efficiency.
• Analysis: Support tracking and measuring system performance through integrated tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixels, and Google Tag Manager.

In addition to the basic features of a complete ecommerce website, Magento also owns a diverse system of extensions with many advanced functions in themes, products, marketing, optimal payment solutions, shipping, etc. to meet every operational need and ensure sustainable development of ecommerce for businesses.

When building an ecommerce website, Magento also supports businesses to integrate and link third-party services for efficient ecommerce website operation, such as:

• Payment: Support all forms of payment, from COD, card payments, and e-wallets to online payment gateways, helping businesses diversify the payment experience for customers.
• Shipping: Easily integrate with many shipping units and popular shipping tracking applications to optimise the shipping process for customers.
• Management and operation software: Support the integration of back-office software such as ERP, CRM, POS, etc. to operate human resources more efficiently.
• Business intelligence (BI) analysis tools: Support the integration of business analysis tools such as Power BI, Tableau, and Looker… to improve business strategies for enterprises.
• Omnichannel: Unify all sales channels on the same Magento system to process and control data and seamlessly handle business processes from offline to online.

Furthermore, Magento also has a global technical support community, including many rich experts and professional developers to meet all the requirements of businesses.

High customisation and scalability

The Magento ecommerce website platform possesses all the advantages of open-source software with flexible customisation capabilities to operate the ecommerce website more effectively.

• Customisation: Owning and controlling the entire source code makes it easy for businesses to customise code sections in the system, enabling them to build innovative and improved solutions according to the specific business characteristics of each enterprise.
• Scalability: Magento allows businesses to expand from one website or store to many different websites or stores on the same system. Besides, Magento supports language and currency conversion, helping businesses expand their market to many countries.

High security

High security is also a superior advantage of Magento compared to other ecommerce website platforms, helping businesses minimise potential risks from data systems and transaction processes on the system. 

Some outstanding points of Magento’s security features include:

• Regularly control the system, propose security solutions, and improve website performance.
• Enhanced security for administrators.
• Advanced security for user accounts.
• Ability to block unauthorised bots and codes.

With the advantages of having all ecommerce website functions, from basic to advanced, high customisation capabilities, and high security, Magento is the top choice for businesses when deploying an ecommerce website system. However, issues related to costs, time, and the requirement for a highly specialised technical team make it challenging for many businesses to implement an ecommerce website system with Magento.

Contact SECOMM now for FREE CONSULTATION SUPPORT!

Faced with various market influences, the demand for developing eCommerce systems among businesses in Vietnam is gradually becoming more defined and undergoing a stronger transformation. The Covid-19 crisis, in particular, has been a significant catalyst accelerating this transformation process rapidly.

So, how should businesses chart their journey in developing an eCommerce system to not only adapt to market and customer changes but also seize opportunities and excel in this highly competitive arena?

In general, the development journey of eCommerce systems for Vietnamese businesses, from the initiation of business to expanding the scale with a specialized eCommerce system, typically goes through three important milestones.

Businesses need to thoroughly understand these milestones and coordinate with a detailed examination of goals, budgets, and the current state of the business to devise an appropriate and tailored development journey.

Operating on eCommerce Marketplaces

The emergence of the eCommerce marketplace has efficiently addressed the online buying and selling needs not only for small online shops, startup businesses, and small to medium-sized enterprises but also for large brands.

With an extensive operational system,  eCommerce marketplaces create many favourable opportunities for businesses and individual small-scale entrepreneurs with budget constraints. By only incurring basic expenses for setting up a storefront and annual maintenance fees, businesses and store owners can quickly have their shops.

Additionally, processes such as payment, shipping, customer care, post-delivery issue resolution, and marketing programs are simplified with comprehensive support from eCommerce marketplaces. Choosing an eCommerce marketplace to initiate business is a suitable start, helping businesses increase brand coverage, competitive ability, and sales volume at cost savings.

Even large brands/brands that have developed offline are currently utilizing eCommerce marketplaces to penetrate and expand the market. For developed brands and traditional businesses looking to transition to online business,  eCommerce marketplaces are the right starting point to test eCommerce business.

From there, businesses can build a comprehensive eCommerce development strategy, from eCommerce marketplace to social commerce, brand.com website development, and implementing an omnichannel approach.

In Vietnam, popular eCommerce marketplaces such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, etc., are favoured by many businesses. With a massive monthly user base and attractive promotion programs, diverse service systems, eCommerce marketplaces maximize support for sellers in swiftly bringing their brands and products to the market through simple steps:

• Create a new storefront and optimize the brand: Consider deploying an official or flagship store (Shopee Mall, Official store, Lazmall, etc.) to enhance brand credibility and product quality.
• Perfect the product system with complete information, authentication, and beautiful and appealing images.
• Utilize the features and services provided by the eCommerce marketplace to develop sales activities. Additionally, invest in advertising programs and special events on the platform to boost sales.
• Maintain business efficiency by taking care of existing customers with exclusive discount programs, promptly addressing order issues, and post-purchase complaints to improve the customer experience and enhance store reputation.

Despite the significant benefits of doing business on eCommerce marketplaces, businesses and individuals are subject to substantial dependence on policy and operational changes. They also face limitations in accessing and leveraging potential customer data to improve marketing efficiency or personalize the customer experience. Furthermore, businesses must directly compete with a large number of similar stores and brands on the platform regarding pricing and product quality.

Developing a Basic eCommerce System

In addition to doing business on eCommerce marketplaces, businesses can independently develop a basic eCommerce system, getting closer to potential customers and implementing their own eCommerce Marketing programs.

Developing a basic eCommerce system does not require excessive investment in time, development costs, or website programming. Businesses only need to use free website-building tools with available interfaces and features to easily create a website through simple drag-and-drop operations.

Some popular website building tools in the current Vietnamese market that support the development of a simple eCommerce system include Sapo, Haravan, and Nhanh.vn.

Sapo

• The Sapo web solution supports building a responsive and visually appealing website interface with a diverse range of available interfaces for various fields.
• A diverse product ecosystem that seamlessly supports Sapo web business: Sapo POS, Sapo Go, Sapo Omni, Sapo Express, Sapo Pay, Sapo Enterprise…
• Integration of effective features, analysis tools, marketing, advertising, and conversion promotion.
• Linking sales on eCommerce marketplaces and selling through Facebook social media.
• Integration of multiple payment methods: manual payment (COD, bank transfer) and automatic payments such as e-wallets (Moca, Momo, Zalopay), payment gateways (VNPay, Paypal), card payments…
• Collaboration with major delivery partners in Vietnam such as Giao Hàng Nhanh, Ninja Van, J&T Express…
• Cost-effective eCommerce system development with three main solution packages:
  • Basic: 299,000 VND/month
  • Pro: 499,000 VND/month
  • Omni-channel: 599,000 VND/month

Haravan

• Similar to Sapo, Haravan also offers a diverse range of interfaces for various fields, both free and paid, with compatibility across most devices.
• Integration of a diverse range of applications, supporting various eCommerce business models, especially Print on Demand or Dropshipping.
• Support for eCommerce functions with an application system that seamlessly operates marketing, order processing, payment, and shipping.
• Collaboration with many popular domestic and international shipping partners: Giao Hàng Nhanh, ViettelPost, DHL, AhaMove, GrabExpress,…
• Integration of payments through e-wallets (Momo/Zalopay), domestic ATM cards, international payment gateways (Paypal),…
• Support for multi-channel business with eCommerce marketplaces (Shopee, Tiki, Lazada),…
• Development of eCommerce business support solutions: Harafunnel chatbot solution and Harasocial Facebook sales management solution.
• Cost-effective and tailored to the business needs of each enterprise:
  • Business startup and Omni-channel management package:
    • Standard: 200,000 VND/month
    • Pro: 600,000 VND/month
  • Business growth package:
    • Grow: 1,500,000 VND/month
    • Scale: 3,000,000 VND/month

Nhanh.web

• Supports rapid website design tailored to each industry with a diverse interface repository.
• Provides essential SEO and Marketing features, including Email and SMS, live chat, and analytical tools.
• Integration of various payment methods: Bao Kim, OnePay, VNPay…
• Collaboration with major shipping partners: Giao Hàng Nhanh, ViettelPost, Giao Hàng Tiết Kiệm,…
• Supports sales on Facebook and seamlessly integrates sales management software from online to offline.
• 3 options for developing an eCommerce system with Nhanh.web:
  • Basic package: 3,600,000 VND/year
  • Optimal package: 7,200,000 VND/3 years
  • Savings package: 10,800,000 VND/5 years

Based on criteria such as simplicity, availability, time and cost savings, most of these tools will meet the basic needs of developing an eCommerce system. However, available website design tools also pose several challenges, limiting business operations and eCommerce expansion:

• Limited customization capabilities as choices rely on available options, leading to interface and design concept duplications among websites in the same industry. This makes it challenging to create a unique brand identity and store. Additionally, it complicates the development of features aligned with the customer journey, optimization of customer experience, and integration with internal systems used by the business.
• Although the initial fixed website development costs may seem reasonable every month, businesses often incur additional costs for using extensions or invest a significant amount in developing new functions and specialized features for their systems on these platforms.
• Lack of website source code ownership makes it difficult for businesses to control and poses a risk of losing the entire existing website. Furthermore, this situation complicates the transition of an eCommerce system to new platforms, especially concerning data migration.

Developing a Specialized eCommerce System

Typically, after a period of doing business on eCommerce platforms or using available website design tools, businesses gradually recognize the need to develop a specialized eCommerce system designed to propel a sustainable eCommerce journey.

Developing a specialized eCommerce system requires both experience and substantial investment in terms of costs and deployment time. However, this approach proves to be a cost-effective solution for the long-term business plans of companies, delivering sustainable business efficiency, and serving as a perfect transition for an independent and comprehensive eCommerce system.

Developing a specialized eCommerce system will maximize meeting various needs, such as:

• Abundant Built-in Features: Comprehensive eCommerce functionalities including Product Category Management, Sales Management, Marketing Management, Customer Management, Store Management, Inventory Management, etc.
• Easy Customization and Development: The ability to customize and develop in-depth functions, especially those related to industry-specific requirements, brand development, user preference changes, and optimizing the customer experience. This ensures meeting the business development needs and customer usage demands while allowing for the quick adoption of new technologies to stay competitive in the market.
• Diverse Payment Integration: Proactive integration of various payment methods, from cash payments to payment gateways and e-wallets, enhancing convenience and diversifying the payment experience. Easy collaboration with multiple shipping partners in the market and internal shipper management provides customers with various delivery options.
• Advanced Integration Capability: Enhanced integration with the systems the business is currently using, such as ERP, CRM, BI, optimizing the system and analyzing customer data, and sales data, contributing to revenue improvement, and promoting personalized features to maximize the customer experience.
• Scalability: Easy scalability of business scope, deployment, and management of multi-channel eCommerce: website, eCommerce platforms, and social media, all within a unified system.
• Data Ownership: Possession of all customer data without dependency, enabling businesses to proactively reach potential audiences with suitable marketing programs to optimize user experience and increase conversion rates.
• Full Source Code Ownership: Owning the entire source code of the website system provides flexibility in developing and upgrading necessary features for customers, aligning with the business development needs.
• Optimized Website Performance and High Security: Ensuring optimal website performance and high-security standards for eCommerce transactions.

Among the specialized eCommerce platforms widely used by businesses today, such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, Magento stands out with significant advantages and caters to all business needs from simple to complex. Many multinational corporations currently leverage Magento to build sophisticated eCommerce systems, including names like Samsung, Nike, Coca-Cola, Lenovo, Olympus, Port, Pox, Nestle, BevMo, Burger King, and Murad, among others. Additionally, millions of small and medium-sized eCommerce sites worldwide are also built on this platform.

• Magento (Adobe Commerce) possesses an extensive and diverse ecosystem. With a comprehensive set of built-in features for eCommerce, Magento also can integrate with third-party technologies, an extensive system of extensions with many advanced support features to optimize the efficiency of eCommerce operations on the system. In addition, the platform supports integration with most existing partners in payment, shipping, and management software,… and provides quick technical support from the global technical community.
• Owning all the advantages of an open-source platform, Magento has the ability to customize designs and develop specialized functional systems for each industry, business model, and enterprise needs. At the same time, Magento’s high scalability allows businesses to operate multiple stores simultaneously with multiple languages on the same system.
• High security ensures the safe and efficient operation of all eCommerce processes, increasing the reliability of the website and maximizing the protection of the rights of eCommerce users.

With all the outstanding advantages of a specialized eCommerce platform, Magento is undoubtedly a suitable choice for both B2B and B2C businesses, catering to businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.

Contact SECOMM for a detailed consultation on the comprehensive and sustainable development journey of your eCommerce system for businesses. 

Also, explore Magento solutions tailored specifically for SMEs in Vietnam!

SaaS eCommerce Platform

A SaaS eCommerce Platform is a service delivery paradigm for developing a software-based website system. Data is kept on the provider’s server system under this approach, and that platform is in charge of dealing with technical concerns for the business.

Advantages of SaaS eCommerce Platform

Available eCommerce system

The provider pre-designs the SaaS platform for the full system, from hosting, interface, and features to technological infrastructure maintenance. As a result, organizations can quickly create and manage a website system without worrying about technological concerns.

Furthermore, the platform developer offers firms 24/7 assistance through live chat, desk help, or a hotline while the platform is in operation.

Various interfaces and functionalities

The SaaS eCommerce Platform includes a multitude of functionality and appealing UX/UI interfaces, making it suitable for a variety of businesses.

Furthermore, these platforms include a wide range of essential eCommerce functions, including product administration, order management, customer management, marketing, business analysis, and reporting to let firms quickly develop an e-commerce website. Moreover, extensions such as Omni-channel, Affiliate Marketing, E-Payment, E-Logistic, and so on are constantly added to these platforms to strengthen the e-commerce system.

Quick implementation

The time it takes to establish a website on a SaaS eCommerce Platform is quite fast, ranging from 1 to 7 days on average, depending on the website’s setup.

Affordable investment budget

The initial building cost is pretty cheap because firms would pay monthly or yearly use fees (subscription-based) to establish a website using SaaS eCommerce Platforms, such as:

• Haravan: 
  • Standard (200,000 VND/month): Appropriate for independent sellers
  • Pro (600,000 VND/month): For organizations who wish to implement Omnichannel
  • Grow (1,500,000 VND/month): For firms need automating processes to take care of and resell current customers
  • Scale (3,000,000 VND/month): Help establish loyal customers
• Shopify:
  • Basic Shopify ($29/month): Suitable for new businesses with small sales.
  • Shopify ($79/month): Appropriate for growing online enterprises
  • Advanced Shopify ($299/month): Ideal for firms that need to expand and want advanced reporting capabilities.
• BigCommerce:
  • Standard: $29.95/month for businesses with more than $50,000 in revenue
  • Plus: $79.95/month for enterprises with more than $180,000 in revenue
  • Pro: $299.95/month for companies with more than $400.000 in revenue
  • Enterprise: For firms with high sales volumes, costs will be calculated depending on the brand’s online sales

Aside from the monthly/yearly licensing charge, businesses must pay extra expenditures such as interface fees, new features, expanding the number of backend users, and POS (Point of Sale) to grow the eCommerce system.

Disadvantages of SaaS eCommerce Platform

Having no control over the source code and data

Because the enterprise’s whole website system is housed on the provider’s server, ownership and control of the website source code will belong to that platform, not the firm.  Businesses who transfer platforms can no longer utilize the previous site source code and must rebuild from scratch on the new platform. Moreover, data loss or misalignment is usually unavoidable.

The enterprise’s data, like the source code, is likewise kept on the provider’s server, thus ownership and control over the data remains constrained. There are many difficulties for not owning and controlling data, such as linking data between departments, customizing users, and so on.

Poor scalability and flexibility

Because the website system depends on the SaaS platform, customization and expansion are currently limited. When it comes to upgrading existing features, developing new functions for the company’s development, in line with the particular requirements of the product and industry, and optimizing the user experience, SaaS platforms are frequently unable to adapt. As a result, switching platforms after a period of usage is unavoidable, and of course, this change will take significant time and money for the company.

Usage costs increase over time

Because you must pay monthly or yearly license fees, the longer you use the higher the overall cost of use. Furthermore, the SaaS eCommerce Platform charges on the revenue online sales.

For example, various Shopify apps, such as DCart (Create Discount Codes on Cart), OctaneAI (Similar Product Suggestions), Ali Reviews (Product Reviews), and others, would charge a monthly fee, average $10 /month/features. The more applications that are installed, the more the monthly or yearly expenses will be.

Businesses can use the SaaS platform if they wish to enter the e-commerce industry rapidly, have minimal need for customization, and do not need to enhance the system. As a result, SaaS systems are frequently selected by startups, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and businesses just getting started in the e-commerce industry.

Open Source eCommerce Platform

Open Source is software whose source code is publicly available and freely used by anyone.

Because the data and source code will be housed on a separate server system, Open Source eCommerce Platforms have the opposite aspects of SaaS platforms. Businesses that use open source platforms must collaborate with professional website developers or build a highly specialized in-house team for the website system to achieve maximum efficiency.

Advantages of Open Source eCommerce Platform

Control the data and own the source code.

Businesses have complete ownership and control over the source code and data on the system due to the characteristic of being housed on a separate server system. As a consequence, while deploying an eCommerce website, companies only need to pay development expenses in order to utilize the source code, rather than monthly/yearly license fees just like SaaS platforms. At this point, you could reuse the previous source code if you change developers or platforms. Furthermore, security is improved, reducing hacker attacks, server failures, and technical faults from staff and consumers.

Customize the interface to meet your requirements.

Businesses have more choices in developing their website’s interface to boost brand image and maximize revenue since they use Open Source eCommerce Platforms.

Currently, there are three methods for designing interfaces:

• Use pre-existing themes: Like SaaS platforms, organizations can select and use pre-existing themes from the market, development community, or cooperation unit. This method will help businesses save the most money since a standard UX/UI theme costs between $50 and $200 on average.
• Customize the interface based on an existing theme: Similar to the preceding method, but instead of purchasing and using the same theme, firms may design their own traits by rewriting the website’s code at the front-end. Since then, organizations have cut expenses while also expressing their own distinct characteristics.
• Create your own user interface: To effectively position the brand on the website, the interface should be created individually. This is typically more expensive than utilizing a theme, but it addresses the most particular and specific requirements of the company.

Full of features and add-ons

In terms of website system features, Open Source eCommerce Platforms are quite superior to SaaS platforms. Not only have basic functions, but Open Source eCommerce Platforms also have many advanced features such as quick search, similar product suggestions, abandoned cart notifications, real-time products, and so on.

In addition, the Open Source eCommerce Platforms also has many add-ons that are improved, provided, and shared by the developer community.

Great flexibility

Because organizations control their own source code, they can simply update the functional system, build new features, or expand the system to suit business demands and meet consumer needs. At the same time, the open-source code’s flexibility allows businesses to easily link with third-party utilities in order to run the system.

Disadvantages of Open Source eCommerce Platform

Require a professional team or experienced developer

It is hard to build “tailor-made” systems for each firm with a system of various e-commerce features ranging from basic to complex, therefore systems developed on open source e-commerce platforms frequently have high accuracy.  As a result, in order to build and function efficiently, a specialized team or development organization must have strong knowledge and several years of experience.

Prolonged setup time

Deployment times for open source e-commerce platforms are frequently lengthier than those for SaaS platforms. Depending on the complexity of the functional system, the average amount of time for the IT team to build a website varies from 3 months to 1 year.

Expensive development

Using an open-source platform is basically free, but having a full e-commerce system from website to mobile app needs a significant commitment of your own labor. The in-house IT team will design interfaces and functions. As a result, the initial cost of developing an e-commerce website using an open-source platform is pretty expensive, an average of $10,000 per project.

The Open Source eCommerce Platform is suited for all sorts of enterprises due to its numerous features. However, budget and implementation time restrictions have kept many small and medium-sized businesses from utilizing it. Large firms frequently engage in these platforms to construct specialized and specialized eCommerce systems.

In general, the decision of which eCommerce platform to select will be determined by each firm’s business plan, budget, and time of eCommerce development.

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