If you haven’t already heard, the clock is ticking on the Magento Go e-commerce platform. The clock is also ticking for current Magento Go users: on February 1st, 2015 the program will shut down for good. This means that each user will need to migrate to a new service for his or her online shopping cart needs.
Answering The Big Question
The big question out there for a lot of folks is this: What happened to Magento Go?
A few things happened to Magento Go. First, the Magento lineup of e-commerce software has been facing a lot of competition and pressure from alternative options for online storefronts. There are a variety of options out there for retailers with online shopping cart needs, and each of these alternatives has arguably had an adverse impact on Magento Go’s bottom line. Consider a few examples:
Bigcommerce
A well-known alternative to Magento Go, Bigcommerce features highly customizable storefronts and e-commerce capabilities, plus lots of analytical tools, promotional tools and options for maximizing on SEO, a high priority for local storefronts with an online presence.
Bigcommerce is known for catering to smaller-scale businesses, and during this period of Magento Go shutdown, they’re especially happy to assist Go users in their transition to a new e-commerce solution.
Plus, we partner with them and can help you get set up.
Shopify
Shopify is another well-known alternative to the Magento programs, featuring many of the same options for small businesses and retailers. They’re known for their value to small-scale businesses and local storefronts, and have built a reputation for being easy to use for the average small retailer.
Additional Magento competitors include Volusion, 3DCart, X-Cart and Pinnacle Cart. Even Amazon and Yahoo! have introduced their own platforms, so it’s not difficult to see why Magento might be feeling the pressure.
What Magento Go Had
Magento Go was known for being great with customer support, as well as ease of functionality for the user. These two things were valuable to small-scale retailers and are both traits these folks have become accustomed to. However, these are traits that most other e-commerce programs are equipped with and are improving upon, which gives online retailers more of a selection.
Luckily, both Shopify and Bigcommerce also provide solid customer support options, and are customizable to the details you want to get down to. Plus, we partner with both of them and can help you make the switch for your online shopping cart.
What’s Next?
Magento e-commerce solutions will soon only include two tiers of software: Community and Enterprise. The decision was made by the Magento team that the focus for the future will be placed on these older and more established platforms. Unfortunately, Magento Go was the primary program tailored to small-scale retailers: Community and Enterprise are designed more for larger online sellers.
The good news is this: Magento is partnering with Bigcommerce to migrate users over during the shutdown period of Magento Go, and Bigcommerce is ready to help with any transitioning questions or concerns coming from affected users.
If you’d like to more carefully examine your selection for migration in an online shopping cart solution, contact us and let’s talk about it. We’ve worked with businesses big and small to more effectively navigate their shopping carts, and we can help you to weather the transition with your bottom line intact.