5 Advantages of Magento Mobile Site in M-Commerce Era

There’s no doubt that mobile sites are being used more and more often. To accommodate for the shift, eCommerce sites are becoming mobile-friendly. This allows them to increase their reach and generate more sales than ever before. Below, we’re going to discuss the benefits of the Magento® mobile site. But first, we should understand what is the mobile commerce and why having a mobile site is necessary for any eCommerce business.

What is M-Commerce?

When we talk about M-Commerce, we’re thinking of shopping with mobile phones. Since nearly everyone carries phones in their pockets, using this tool will allow eCommerce merchants to expand their reach.

M-Commerce is thought to be the next trend in online shopping and it can be done through the use of tablets, cell phones, laptops, and any other mobile devices. Since Europe uses micro-browsers, the country uses it more than the United States even does.

Now, why is M-Commerce so popular? Customers enjoy the convenience of using mobile sites rather than having to displace themselves to buy items at the store. Of course, it is much more convenient to order anything from your phone rather than trying to reach the computer at home or work, because people always have their phones on the go.

One more point for the mobile shopping is that you can reach your customers via social network and than attract to your site. In this case, your efforts will be rewarded twice more. Customers may find your company on Instagram, for example, and then they can download the app or having a fast mobile version of your site and start order items.

The Growth of Mobile Shopping

There’s a growing number of people who avoid the shopping process in real life, but who enjoy shopping online. That’s because shopping online takes less effort for the shopper and it often provides more diversity regarding services and products.

Mobiles are used notoriously across the planet. Out of everyone who has a smartphone, more than half of these people pick up their phone within the first few minutes of their morning. Not only this, but smartphone apps make up for nearly 90% of mobile media while websites account for the rest of mobile media use. According to Statcounter, mobile usage market share is 53% comparing to 43% of desktop usage, and only 4% of the tablet worldwide. There are some more benefits of mobile-oriented sites and one of them is payment protection.

Advantages of Mobile Payments

There are two reasons why customers enjoy using mobile payments: convenience and safety. Since you can carry your money with your phone, you don’t have to worry about losing your cash; as such, mobile payments reduce the risk of you being the victim of theft. Also, since your credit card information is stored in the Cloud, and security standards are held, it is the safest way to keep your money. Mobile payment doesn’t store your credit card information so the possibility of this information being hacked is also reduced. Let’s move on to the stats and see much of advantage from the mobile-oriented business.

Mobile Commerce Statistics

AppJetty confirms that M-Commerce has already generated 132.69 billion dollars in sales this year. Not only this, but the site points out that there are 7.7 Billion mobile connections and 4.7 Billion mobile subscribers. By using M-Commerce, you can significantly expand your reach.

We see that the growth of mobile commerce is stable and will continue to bring profit to businesses. Now, what about Magento sites? Are merchants ready for changes? Did they start to follow the mobile commerce trend? Next, we will talk about the benefits of Magento mobile experience and which features exist to optimize your store for mobile devices.

5 Advantages of Magento Mobile Optimization

Magento has made significant strides in Magento mobile development. Because of this, there are also advantages that come with using Magento for M-Commerce.

Magento 2 Mobile Experience

No matter what, it’s important that your customers’ experiences are the best possible. When they visit your site, they need to leave feeling like they’ve made a good decision with their purchases; after all, that’s how they’ll keep coming back for more.

Omnichannel Experience

Magento allows you to optimize an omnichannel experience to ensure your customers are satisfied. You can use Magento to keep track of the inventory of your physical store and in your warehouse with the same dashboard. This ensures you won’t have the same item ordered twice and that you won’t sell more than you have in stock.

You can also connect multiple social media sites to your store with Magento extensions. If you have a Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube profile, you can link them all back to your store. When you do this, you can expand your reach and have your followers buy the products they want with more ease. Rather than looking you up on Google, they can click on a link and be brought right to you.

POS Mobile Version

The point of sale system (POS) is the moment when a customer buys a product from your company. It manages the transactions of your business and ensures that all of your sales go smoothly.

The major benefit of having a POS system is that all of your inventory is located in the same place. You can see both inventory and sales from the same dashboard, which makes it much easier to control.

Mobile API

Magento 2 has introduced a number of APIs to improve your store’s functionality, features, and designs.

Admin Panel

Magento 2’s admin panel is a major step up compared to Magento 1. Originally, users and merchants found it hard to create their sites without developers. That’s because customizing sites required more coding on their end than Magento 2. Now, you can use Magento mobile admin panel to customize your site and is easier, overall, for any backend users.

Mobile Marketing Features

Magento 2 has some of the best features that you can ask for if you have a mobile-adapted site.

• You can target your customers depending on the age, gender, history, and location to provide them with offers that might interest them.
• You can make every shopping visit unique by customizing and segmenting every experience.
• Set your promotions with certain limitations or conditions. That means offers can be set with timeframes to provide your customers with a sense of urgency; thereby, causing them to buy more quickly and increase your conversions.
• By setting up personalized categories, any website can be more convenient. If you have a clothing store, you can separate clothing into different categories and have subcategories to follow those.
• Merchants have the opportunity to customize their site on their own with Magento 2 because they have a drag-and-drop option that allows them to place items where they want.
• Magento 2 customizing emails ensures that every customer gets a newsletter that’s tailored for them. If you know that this person enjoys shopping, you can provide him or her with a discount. Since your customer is inclined to shop, this discount will likely get them to come to your store again.

These were the main features to use in the mobile version of the Magento store. Functionality is extendable due to the system’s flexibility. That is why everything depends on your primary goals. You can choose between mobile optimization, app creation or you will go with PWA version of your site. In any case, going mobile will be great for your business growth.

How to Add Custom Field in Magento 2 Registration Form

Custom field to Magento registration form can be added by adding custom block to the container form_additional_info to handle customer_account_create with this custom field. Example customer_account_create.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
   <body>
       <referenceContainer name="form_additional_info">
           <block name="customer.register.additional.field" class="Web4pro\Customer\Block\Additional" template="Web4pro_Customer::additional.phtml"/>
       </referenceContainer>
   </body>
</page>

After field is added, code for storing customer’s input should be implemented. It’s possible to with observer on event customer_register_success or by adding attribute to customer entity and adding it to customer_account_create form. If attribute value should be shown on customer edit form in admin, it should be also added to adminhtml_customer. Also field with attribute code should be added to view/adminhtml/ui_component/customer_form.xml in this case.

Tips to Improve your Magento 2 Store Performance

When it comes to Magento® 2 experience, owners of Magento 2 stores really loving the convenience it provides. However, we have also found users forcing the performance issues of stores. Basically, there are plenty of ways to fully utilize the amenities Magento 2 store can provide.

In this article, we will talk about some of the Magento performance optimization tips so that you can use it to increase the efficiency of your overall business model.

How to Manage Store in Magento 2

When it comes to increasing the profitability of a business, understand that efficiency is the key. We realize that it can be difficult at times to manage Magento 2 store especially if you are unaware of the utility of all its features.

First, let’s talk about some of the technical aspects. Modern servers along with latest PHP are a must to manage a store in Magento 2. Please pay attention to whether the Apache/Nginx version is the one that you need. When you are looking for hosting, you must look for clarification if that supports Magento or not. It makes the task of optimizing much easier. If you do not have budget constraints, we would recommend you to go with a dedicated hosting solution. Cloud hosting is usually used if you are on a budget, but it does serve the purpose to a certain extent.

Performance optimized template or conversion optimized template are some of the buzzwords that you will hear when you are affiliated with an eCommerce platform. Although do keep in mind that taking a high-performance template does not jeopardize with Magento 2 performance.

Updating Magento core and extensions are important. Before the update, we would strongly suggest that you keep a backup of all your important data.

Magento 2 Performance Toolkit

You would be pleasantly surprised to know the attributes you can utilize to improve performance. Magento 2 toolkit provides for a better experience for the website in terms of both front-end and back-end performance.

There is an inbuilt performance toolkit in Magento 2, but it is also compatible with Magento 1 version. Based on the profile that you choose you will have your data generated in that way. For benchmarking the backend performance, NewRelic can be a useful tool. For modification purposes, we would recommend Gatling or JMeter.

For the frontend performance, speed is of the essence. For Magento 2 performance boost, you need to ensure that your page loads fast and all the relevant information can be easily accessed by the customers. For a speedy performance of your website, go to the Magento dashboard to minimize and merge the CSS and JavaScript of your website.

Magento Product Management Tool

Magento product management tools basically facilitate merchants to automate various manual functions. In this paragraph, we will talk about some of the great features that you utilize to boost the overall performance of your site.

Multistore Selection

For an international eCommerce platform, you can clearly understand that having provision for multiple stores is always a plus point. We would recommend that you will have multiple stores in each country where you operate.

Magento 2 has out-of-the-box multistore feature, and you can run multiple websites easily. Everything is controlled from the admin panel. For the installation, you need a developer help. But you can also choose to create separate product descriptions and target.

Implement Bulk Import Option

When it comes to multiple product ranges, bulk import option is a boon to the Magento store owners. We would highly recommend implementing the bulk import option in your website. With some affordable extensions, you can easily import product data together in a CSV file. However, we would suggest that you clearly understand the formatting basics first before implanting this option.

Advanced Inventory Management

Magento offers the provision to create an advanced inventory management. If your product is unavailable most of the time, it becomes difficult to retain the customers. If a product is unavailable at the moment, showing a time frame of when the customer can order it again can be useful at times. You can also use the POS system and work effectively on both physical and online store, and track all your inventories.

Product Management

Product management means showing the right features of the product to the customers. Communicating the relevant information of the product is important. Make sure you update the product descriptions from time to time with the changing trends and customer needs. Usually, the product management tool shows all the products in the form of a table. It provides quite less provision in terms of modification features. You can go for an extended product grid that will help you categorize the data based on your own choice and edit the data with easy drag and drop options. This will help to better navigation on your site and overall look and feel, so customers would go to the certain sections and won’t search for a desired product for too long.

Mobile Experience Option

Adding a mobile version is now a must for eCommerce platforms. A large portion of online purchases is done through smartphones and tablets. Hence, creating a mobile app or making a mobile version of your website is extremely important. A normal web version of the site would take a considerable amount of time to load. You will need to speed up the timing for loading the page on mobile. You can do that through reducing page size through GZIP or simply creating an app suited for Magento 2 store.

Improve Magento 2 Performance for Success

To improve Magento 2 performance, one of the most useful tools is gZip compression. Customers are the one who would help you sustain your online business. eCommerce store owners would realize how difficult it can become to retain customers. User-friendly web page and fast process are two of the most important criteria for successful customer gain and retention. Other than that image optimization and creating a good visual appeal is equally important for successful marketing and sales.

Choosing from Top Payment Gateways for Magento in 2019

Online payments are a central feature of online business. When transaction information is processed, it’s routed through payment gateways. These act as an interface between your online business and the provider. In simple terms, this means that any successful eCommerce site depends on a payment gateway that handles purchases with speed, security, and convenience. Plus, they must provide features that make them accessible to your clients.

According to Statista, in March 2017, preferred methods of online payment were e-payments, credit cards, and debit cards. Add in mobile purchases and the percentage climbs above 90%. Successful online businesses rely on the right tools to process these payments. Here are all the details you’ll need to know about how to choose the best payment gateway for Magento® 2 platform.

How to Choose Magento 2 Payment Gateway

To choose the best Magento 2 payment gateway for your site, consider four requirements: convenience, capability, security, and pricing. Keep your clients happy and their information safe, and you’ll have more conversions and a higher profit. Look up for our recommendations below.

Which Edition of Magento Store Do You Have?

Magento Commerce (previously known as Magento Enterprise) is a paid product which costs 22,000$ per year. Magento Open Source (previously called Magento Community) is a free platform. Magento Commerce requires a bit of an investment at the outset, but over time, it will give you more options and a greater ease of access.

The edition of your store is not only the one factor when choosing your store functionality including payment options. We will consider several points: which payment options are available for customers, security standards, your business type, etc. Let’s move on to the details.

How Customers Will Perform Payments on Your Site?

Specific payment options are offered by each payment gateway. Most customers will prefer credit card options. Other popular payment options include online wallets like PayPal and mobile payments. It is important to understand your customers’ preferences. This lets you equip your convenient and simple options. This ensures satisfied customers and prevents lost sales. Customers also want to be safe when entering payment details, so choose payment form options carefully.

There are several options to process the purchase and they differ by security level and steps to complete the purchase. These are payment form with details form your server or straight from the browser or redirect.

Payment Form (Details on Your Server)

The payment form makes it easy and fast for clients to enter their payment data. It is inputted on your site where it will then be routed to the processor. However, security can be challenging with this option. Compliance with PCI standards requires serious and costly security precautions. The payment form is only cost-effective for large companies.

Payment Form (Details Straight from the Browser)

A third alternative is a payment form which gathers data and sends it directly to the processor. The details never enter your site, and this lowers the security demands. However, you retain a measure of responsibility for your payment client details. It will be important to understand standards for PCI data security to ensure you are in conformance.

Redirect

The redirect is the highest security option. A checkout form can be inserted into a secure iFrame on the website. Alternately, you can redirect clients to a purchasing page hosted by a secure purchaser. However, the form may not fit the formatting of the remainder of the website. This option is suitable for all companies, large or small. The processor is then entirely responsible for the security of your client’s information.

What Is The Contract Duration with Providers?

In considering providers, look into contract details. Some try to lock your customers in for two or more years after signing. Customers are often turned off by the need of a lengthy contract and wish to use them monthly instead. To keep your clients happy, familiarize yourself with contract options before including a provider on your platform.

Will You Offer PayPal?

Given the convenience and widespread use of PayPal, it’s a good idea to include it as a payment option on your site. Not every customer will be able to use it, but thankfully Magento allows you to offer two or several payment options. This means that you may want to use PayPal as a secondary payment option. It’s secure and widely trusted by consumers. An added benefit is that it can work as a backup if issues arise with merchant accounts or primary payment gateways.

Are You In ‘Hi-risk’ Business Category?

If the niche falls into a category of high-risk, then you may be limited in the choice of providers. Many prefer not to accommodate companies engaged in credit repair, diet programs, e-cigarettes, ebooks, debt collection, tobacco, travel, gambling, and adult content. If your business specializes in these niches, then you’ll need to find a payment provider willing to accommodate you.

Which Payment Methods Are Used by Your Target Audience?

Take into consideration your clients preferences, match this up with the online payment methods offered by your provider, and you’re good to go. It’s best to make sure that your providers have options to process debit card and credit cards. They will also need services for mobile payments and electronic transfer. Also, make sure to work with providers that are accessible to your clients’ countries.

How Many Payment Gateways Available for Magento?

Magento 2 payment gateway integration makes virtually all payment gateways accessible. Magento 2 users can make use of WorldPay, Paybox Direct, CyberSource, First Data, DIBS Payment Services, PAYON.de, Ogone, PSiGate, and eWay Direct, among others.

Popular Payment Gateways for Magento 2

When you use Magento 2, it comes equipped with three default options of payment gateways. These are Braintree, PayPal, and Authorize.net. Gateway integration can be used to incorporate additional payment options. Here are reviews for the highest-rated gateways:

Paypal Payment Gateway Review

PayPal offers customized invoices and processes debit and credit cards. It is simple, quick, and safe, and authorization happens almost instantly. Plus, it offers currency conversion and is available in over 200 countries. However, PayPal can freeze an account without notice, and fees can be imposing for large sales volumes.

Magento Braintree Payment Gateway

Braintree is well designed and has no monthly fees, charging you only as per your use. It supports 3D secure and is accepted by 44 countries and using more than 130 currencies. It also offers optimized acceptance rates. The only real downside is that it doesn’t offer return fees for partial refunds.

You can configure PayPal and Braintree right from your admin panel. Just go to the Stores > Configuration > Sales Payment methods and then you will see all the available settings.

Stripe

Stripe works with debit card and credit card options. It also provides mobile payment and Bitcoin. The set-up is free and Stripe has no monthly or hidden fees. You can customize stripe with advanced reporting and unlimited plan options. However, it is not 3D secure, and you will be charged more if you customize gateway functionalities.

Google Checkout

One excellent payment gateway is Google Checkout. It offers fraud protection, simplicity, convenience, and extremely low fees. The fees begin as low as PayPal and become lower as sales increase over $3000 per month. However, clients must make their purchases through a Google account.

Amazon Payments

Amazon Payments are protected, simple, and quick, and they charge minimum transaction fees. An Amazon customer may use the data in their account to make purchases. It offers state of the art fraud detection and low transaction fees. Unfortunately, Amazon payments cannot be used outside the UK and the US.

Authorize.net

Authorize.net is an excellent solution, offering a free mobile app and 24/7 support. It accepts a wide variety of debit and credit cards and has fraud-fighting tools. It also securely stores client data so purchases are as easy as the click on a button. The downside is that it requires a fee of 25$ a month and the set-up of a merchant account.

Sage Pay

Sage Pay has the highest level of security and can accept all payment types, including PayPal. It also works with more than 25 currencies. It offers quick payments and a simple, easy to use interface. The downside is that it has a monthly charge, from $30-60 per month depending on the volume of sales.

Do You Need Custom Magento 2 Payment Gateway Integration?

PayPal, Braintree, and Authorize.net are offered with default Magento 2 integration. Custom payment gateway integration is needed for other providers. Compliance with PCI standards requires that no payment data is stored.

How to Add New Payment Method

With Magento 2, you can incorporate additional methods of payment with some additional steps. This requires the configuration of four elements: payment action, general payment method module options, payment method options, payment method facade. Methods of payment may be selected in the storefront or in the Admin, and they may be configured differently depending on the region. You can apply a method and behavior with keynotes.

Magento 2 Video Content Optimization

Magento® Product Video allows you to harness one of the most powerful features available on a website. A video can showcase products more effectively than pictures and text alone. Magento 2 video extensions offer a range of design options to customize the video content and thumbnails. It lets you build video galleries to display multiple videos on the same page. You can also customize each video gallery with sliders, grid panels, and thumb strips. This lets you pack loads of content onto a page while keeping it neat and clutter-free. Learn more about video content, options for Magento 2 store and how to work with it.

Why Is Video Content so Important for Sales?

The simple fact is that visitors to your site watch a video more than read a few lines of text. Plus, a few short minutes of video content can provide more information on your products than pages of text. Video content lets you showcase products from many angles.

By adding multimedia to a site, you can connect with more customers and dramatically boost conversion rates. Not only this, but most studies show that product or introductory video will likely to increase your sales. Check the related statistics below:

By including videos, you broaden the range of your site. Videos give you the option of offering recordings of events that showcase your products and services. Videos can also be used to provide tutorials, offering valuable content to your customers.

Videos are an excellent medium to offer consumer testimonials and user reviews. Customers will feel almost as if they are receiving live personal feedback. By using these multimedia features, you can build trust. And, trust is the single most important factor in promoting sales. Finally, multimedia content increases your search rankings, helping consumers to find your site more easily.

Magento 2 Video Types

There are some different ways to place the video on your site. You can insert video from the external sites or have self-hosted videos in your store. Let’s consider which type of video content is easier to add to your Magento 2 store.

Magento 2 Embedded Videos

Magento video extension tools work with almost any format. MP4 video files are recommended first, as they are simple and extremely reliable. However, Magento works just as well with JPEG and PNG. MPEG, GIF, FMV, and SWF can be used as well, and this list is far from comprehensive.

Any of these formats can be uploaded from any device without a hassle. Plus, Magento works with nearly all platforms for video hosting. You can upload Vimeo and Youtube videos, plus videos from a wide range of other sources, with the click of a few buttons.

Magento 2 Youtube Video

Magento Youtube Product Video allows you to include video embeds quickly and easily. The process is simple. Enter the Google Developers console to copy the Data API from Youtube. Next, go into Magento Admin, Stores – Settings – Configuration.

Then go into Magento catalog and enter the API key in the appropriate field from the product videos section.

This gives you the credentials to use the video on your site and configures Magento for the video. Save and refresh to lock the credentials in.

Finally, enter the URL, add a description and title, and voila! The video has been embedded in the site.

To take care of presentation details, use the options automatically offered next to customize the thumbnail and orientation of your video.

In most cases, this will work with no other adjustments. However, you may want to check the frame rate of the original and the embed. You’ll get a higher quality video if the frame rates match. Keeping the resolution in mind is important. It’s best to use a 16:9 resolution with 1080p or 720p. MP4 videos often work best when they are encoded with H.264. Other file formats will work as well, but these will give the most immediate results and no hassles

Vimeo Videos and Other Video Hosting Platforms

To embed a Vimeo video, simply follow the same process as described above for Youtube videos. Regardless of the video source, Magento allows you to customize thumbnail images for all uploads and embeds. It also offers another powerful feature: several embeds can be loaded onto a single products page in a video gallery.

Video galleries can be designed with grid panel, strip panel, and slider options. Each of these designs can be customized. You can select from multiple scrolling options, transition times and durations, and panel background colors, among loads of other features. Other video hosts will work with Magento video extension, in the same way, making it a breeze to embed any video you like to your site.

Magento 2 Self-Hosted Videos

With Magento video tools, you can also embed self-hosted videos on your eCommerce site. However, since these videos often come in a range of resolutions and file formats, you will need to use a video converter to optimize them.

A video converter lets you adjust the format and settings of the video so that the embed works best with Magento. Remember that playing a video use bandwidths. Low bandwidth can reduce the video quality and presentation on your site. To keep it as high as possible, it may be necessary to lower the bitrate of your embed. It may also be necessary to make some compromises with regard to quality.

To use self-hosted videos, you’ll first need to find a quality video converter that supports your desired video format. According to TechRadar, the best free online video converter for 2018 is Apowersoft Free Online Video Converter. To obtain this, simply go to the Apowersoft site. Download a launcher plugin and install it onto your desktop. Once this is done, the video converter can be operated completely through your browser. Apowersoft accepts nearly all video file formats and is capable of providing almost any output formats. Plus, once the file is converted, it can be downloaded or uploaded to a site with no more than a few clicks.

Magento 2 Features to Sell Products Successfully

Magento® 2 is a one-stop-shop to create the store of your dreams. You can use Magento 2 key features to sell more products with your eCommerce store. These Magento 2 features will help you generate leads and conversions so that your store performs its best. For a detailed guide about the best features to sell products, read below!

Magento 2 Feature List to Sell Products

Now we can get into Magento 2 best features. These will help you to sell more products so that you create the best store possible.

Magento Content Management

Magento 2 allows you to manage your content with ease and precision. When you begin an eCommerce store, you’ll always be at a slight disadvantage. That’s because potential customers aren’t able to feel or see the product with their own eyes; as such, you should make sure your products inform your customers about why do they need them and what are the advantages of these products for buyers, and you should make sure that they sell themselves.

You can easily do this with Magento 2 because you can optimize your products and edit them however you see fit. Merchants can create detailed product descriptions; thereby, improving your overall SEO and ranking higher on Google.title=”Magento 2 Marketing Features: How to Attract Potential Customers ” link=”https://web4pro.net/blog-news/magento-2-marketing-features/”

Magento Omnichannel

Simply put, your customers are more likely to stay with you if you run an Omnichannel store. That’s because they have more variety and control over their orders. When you allow your customers to shop online and pick up their orders in the store, they’re likely to buy 30-40 percent more!

Having an Omnichannel eCommerce business allows you to stay in the competition. That’s because IDC believes that around 50% of retailers will see a profit increase of 30%. This is because, at this time, companies are expecting to have higher revenue.

You can decide to grow your business by creating more flexible orders and by turning your partners into centers of distribution. With this method, you’re able to run your business(es) from the same dashboard.

Magento 2 is built around the idea of being an Omnichannel platform. With Magento 2, merchants are able to create services that work for laptops, mobile devices, and tablets alike.

Instant Purchase Checkout

By using Instant Purchase Checkout, you can ensure that your customers are able to buy their products quickly and efficiently. Your potential customers likely enjoy the ease of shopping online compared to shopping in a store.

When you use Instant Purchase Checkout in your store, potential customers have less time to debate whether they should buy something; instead, they can click right away to purchase the items in their carts.

Magento 2 Featured Product

Using featured products on a website is a great way to make your eCommerce business to look sleek and efficient. You can show your most popular products on the front page so that they’re more likely to be sold. You can also decide to showcase your least popular products so that they get more exposure.

Featured products show specific items to your customers so if they’re interested, they can click right away and add them to a cart. This can be done right from the front page and your feature can be formatted however you need.

Whether you want to have your feature products appear in a grid or in a slider, Magento 2 has everything you need to get started!

Newsletter Management

Newsletters allow you to keep your customers up-to-date with your business. By using Magento 2’s various Newsletter management features, you can remind customers about your store, which may entice them to buy from you.

Here is what you can do with newsletters:

• the best way to start your newsletters is to have people subscribe to your emails,
• sending emails to your customers and schedule them, weekly, biweekly, or monthly;
• remind customers about their abandoned carts,
• showcase your top products and others that might not be popular, but with the right email structure and buttons with links to the store, they will go out of stock in minutes.

When you compare product in Magento 2, you’ll find that companies with newsletters tend to sell more because it increases exposure to customers.

Promotions

Magento 2 provides you with the opportunity to give promotions to your customers. At the end of the day, everyone loves a discount or sale, and this is one of the best ways to attract people to your business.

You can use various Magento 2 features to offer your customers various discounts and coupons. You can create pricing rules to set promotions or create coupons for specific stores, customer segments, time periods, products, and categories. Merchants can manage all of these coupons from Magento 2’s omnichannel platform and can even receive reports based on these coupons.

In Enterprise edition you can personalize shopping experience with targeting your customers into groups and offering them various discounts, shipping options (i.e. free shipping, fixed amount, etc). Set automated reminders and combine the power of email marketing and offers.

Shipping

This is one of the most overlooked aspects of eCommerce. Your clients depend on getting their products in on time, and they want to do so without having to pay extra.

eCommerce stores are more likely to sell when they price items slightly higher with free shipping compared to providing them with lower product prices and higher shipping costs. That’s why Magento 2 offers merchants a number of shipping options for their stores.

With Magento, you can use the following shipping methods and features.
UPS. Merchants can open an account with UPS to ensure that international orders are placed on time and arrive when they’re expected.

USPS. USPS is an independent U.S. agency that allows eCommerce business owners to ship packages across the United States.

Royal Mail. This is the perfect mailing service for merchants in the United Kingdom because you can ship packages worldwide from your own home.

DHL. This company is based in Germany and is perfect for companies that need international shipping from their business.

FedEx. FedEx can deliver packages from 9 AM to 8 PM from Monday to Sunday. Magento 2 allows you to incorporate this into your store.

International shipping. International shipping is useful for anyone who wants to expand their reach because products and services can be shipped to anyone.

Free shipping. Many customers are willing to pay more for a product if the overall order has free shipping, which makes it ideal for stores that want to increase sales.

Free shipping labels. Shipping labels allow customers to track their shipments, which is a very in-demand feature. Customers want to know how far away their products are so that they can ensure that someone is home to receive the package when it’s supposed to arrive.

WEB4PRO Proves Potential

WEB4PRO boasts a successful history of strong projects and satisfied clients, and we take great pride in the value of our eCommerce and web development projects, as well as our web and UI/UX design talents.

Our team excels at creating solutions for our customers’ challenges, and our expertise, attention to details, and effective project management have long paid off in helping our clients, and their businesses exceed expectations and recently garnered us recognition from Clutch and The Manifest for our consistent track record.

Clutch and the Manifest Research and Review Platforms

The two Washington, D.C. business research, and insight firms have featured WEB4PRO among other top web developers, highlighting our performance and skills as a team. With Clutch and The Manifest analyzing various aspects of our operations, such as our previous experience, market presence, and client satisfaction, our team takes pride in having the all-around reputability and excellence of our products, strategies, and customer satisfaction acknowledged and affirmed by the professionals.

WEB4PRO Client Reviews on Clutch

Beyond this showcase of WEB4PRO, we wanted to thank our clients for their partnership in collaborating with our team to fulfill their development and design needs. In the reviews that previous customers left on our Clutch profile, they touted our dedication to building and sustaining strong client relationships, exceptional service, and excellent products.

“They’re highly responsive and ready to deal with emergencies any time of day or night. They address immediately any issues or bugs, striving to meet all expectations. Their affordable rates and high-quality work make them stand out among other vendors, contributing to a long-term partnership,” praised one client. “They offer a rare mix of timeliness, professionalism, rate, and all-around work in the industry.”

“The team at WEB4PRO was trusted with the execution of clear directives, as well as with the room to innovate towards the best possible end product, and their initiative has paid off. The team is capable and ambitious,” emphasized the second client. “They can handle work that is not necessarily cookie cutter; they can do the cookie cutter features, but they didn’t shy away from the custom features that I asked them to build. They did them well, and they are seamless. The custom features ended up flowing well with the rest of the website.”

“They’re excellent,” underscored the third client. “They’re very friendly, courteous, and professional. They do an amazing job. There’s nothing we’ve asked them to do that they have balked at, so we enjoy working with them.”

Choosing Magento 2 Version for Your eCommerce Store

If you own an eCommerce store, you’ve probably known about Magento® 2 version. Anyone who has used the platform has raved about Magento 2 benefits. Still, what exactly is Magento 2 and how can you benefit from using it? Below, we’re going to discuss why Magento 2 is the solution you’re looking for.

Benefits of Magento 2 Over Magento 1

Before we get into the specific advantages of Magento 2, we’ll talk about the transition of Magento 1 to Magento 2. This transition is causing Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration.

Flexibility

Magento 2 is much more flexible than Magento 1. That’s because it has more extensions at the disposal of merchants. These extensions make it possible for eCommerce stores to be completely customizable. From sales to inventory, you can have the store you want with ease and precision.

Extended Functionality

Magento 2 functionality has undoubtedly improved compared to its previous version. Magento 2 allows you to optimize SEO to generate leads and increase conversions.

Magento 2’s upgrade can introduce eCommerce stores in countries all around the world, and can also do so in different currencies. Merchants can expand their reach to a broader range of people.

Magento 2 offers B2B functionality to ensure that your clients have an easier time during their shopping experience. With things like self-serve and instant-purchase, your customers will undoubtedly find their shopping experience easier.

Fewer Module Conflicts

Magento 2 is an open-source platform; which means, eCommerce sites that build with Magento are completely customizable. While other programs are limited in features and non-flexible core system to customize, you can create a store that suits your needs with Magento 2.

Magento 2 introduces fewer module conflicts by allowing developers to use the themes and the extensions they want. This demonstrates that as Magento evolves, it becomes more user-friendly and more user-concentrated.

Better Performance

This is one of Magento 2 biggest perks. It performs significantly better than Magento 1 did. Magento 2 runs 20% quicker than Magento 1 did. As time goes on, it becomes more apparent that speed is the most sought-after feature in eCommerce stores.

Not only this, but Magento 2 uses a Javascript library; thereby, making it an easy platform to use. This feature makes it extremely sought-after among developers.

Advantages Of Magento 2 From Different Perspectives

When you upgrade to Magento 2, there are many more advantages than those listed above. Below, we’re going to discuss Magento 2 CMS and the benefits of using this platform from different perspectives.

Scalability

Magento 2 can meet your needs whenever you need it to. This is especially demonstrated with Magento 2 scalability. Scalability is useful because as times change, your site needs to change as well. If you have an eCommerce website, you’ll appreciate Magento 2 because it’s much easier to add storage, RAM, etc. with this eCommerce platform compared to others.

Magento 2 uses PHP and works with the newest versions. It will also work with the following frameworks:

• MySQL
• Hadoop

Advanced Reporting

Magento 2 allows merchants to have access to advanced reporting on all Magento 2 sites. With the platform’s many extensions, you can have access to all statistics right from your admin panel.

With advanced reporting, you can:

• Personalize customer experience
• Have access to advanced statistics
• Generate more leads
• Increase conversions

By knowing what your customers are searching and buying, you can determine which items are working best in your store and which services are needed the most. Because of this, you can personalize the customer experience by offering your customers and clients products that you think he or she will be interested in. Send emails to your customers and potential clients to guide them to parts of your website.

Strong Security

Magento 2 is more secure than all previous versions. The company has changed directories so that it has five folders in the root. Magento 2 has also deleted a skin folder from the root directory.

These changes in Magento’s code make it harder to hack. Magento 2 has also created a new directory called “Pub.” In Pub you can find the following folders:

• JS
• Skin
• ERROR

Big Community

Part of Magento’s appeal is its community. With so many people using Magento, you can find plenty of tutorials online and even more ideas on how to organize your eCommerce store. You can also find support at any time. If Magento doesn’t answer you right away, someone in the community will be able to.

With the pairing of Magento and Adobe, you can expect the Magento community to expand anymore. By including cloud services in Magento, your entire site will work more quickly and smoothly.

Full Page Caching

Magento’s first version didn’t provide full-page caching. The moment Magento 2 featured this, it made a major difference in the speed at which the page loaded.

With full-page caching, you and your clients can load pages much quicker. Your customers don’t want to be waiting around for shopping carts and pages to load, so this feature is sure to increase conversions. You’ll run more quickly than the competition.

Easy Integration

Magento stores provide merchants with easy integration. This is because of the various add-ons and extensions, which allow you to connect your store with other platforms.

You can, for example, use a variety of Instagram integration extensions so that your Instagram will have direct access to your store. Not only this, but you can use Amazon or eBay integration to update your customers on what your store is up to! By using integration in Magento 2 extensions, you can expand your reach to a broader number of people.

Great Usability

The best part about Magento is how easy this CMS is for you to use. You don’t need to know to code to get your store started. All you have to do is open your account, install the extensions you’re interested in, and you’re ready to go! Also, you can set up your store look and change setting the way you want.

Supportive Products

You can use Magento’s step-by-step product creation guide to ensure that your Magento store supports your products. From here, your guide will allow you to make the best catalog you can so that your products will be more likely to sell.

You can use a supportive video to sell your products. Short videos allow you to provide your customers with more insight into your products and your business in general.

Perfect For Midsize Businesses and Enterprises

Magento 2 is the best for midsize businesses because it allows everyone to create the store they want, within the budget that they can afford.

Not only this, Magento 2 is the perfect opportunity for companies to expand their platforms until they can upgrade to the Enterprise edition. If your business needs to build more clientele and have a professional platform to offer services, this is the best for you. Below, you can see that Magento 2 has clear excellence comparing to Magento 1.

What Else to Consider?

Now that you know all about Magento 2 and the advantages of using it for your online store, here’s a short Magento 2 feature list.

• Professional developers
• Extensions
• Scalability
• Fewer module conflicts
• Advanced cloud features when you combine Adobe and Magento

As you can see, Magento 2 has more features and opportunities to expand your business and online presence. For us, it is a clear leader in this comparison guide.

Magento Omnichannel Features

By expanding your business with omnichannel capabilities, you give customers an integrated in-person and online experience. Omnichannel unites traditional commerce with online commerce, helping you to reach more customers and enhance customer experience. It offers consumers the opportunity to explore your entire stock at their leisure and enter your shop knowing what they would like to purchase. Magento® omnichannel helps your business to step into this trend, giving customers a way to browse and buy without limits.

Define Omnichannel Business Model

The omnichannel approach integrates online, traditional, and phone shopping. It lets consumers access your goods in any way they like. Going Omnichannel can bring your business to the top of the competitive edge. It lets your customers find your goods the way that is easiest for them, guaranteeing higher sales. Omnichannel allows consumers to browse and shop on any device and with a range of delivery options.

What Omnichannel Customer Experience Looks Like

The appeal of omnichannel is that it reflects and expands your physical store, letting customers view your products the same way they would in person, and buy from wherever they are. Mainly, you can take the inventory of your shop and present it online, allowing customers to access your full stock from the comfort of their home. When they see something they like, they can buy it online or by phone. The goods can then be delivered right to their door. Customers can also browse on the net and finalize the sale by visiting the physical location of your business. This lets you combine eCommerce with in-store experience, giving customers everything they’re used to and more.

How Is Magento Omnichannel?

Magento provides innovative eCommerce solutions to present your goods to consumers. It offers solutions for sales preference, inventory tracking, and a host of other features. Essentially, Magento expands a real business into the world of eCommerce. You can offer your customers a mobile point-of-sale, letting them buy whenever and however they like. Magento can centralize your global inventory, lower costs, and enhance the shopping experience. It makes your store more flexible so that you can stay competitive.

Magento Omnichannel Experience Benefits

Magento omnichannel services offer a host of benefits to both the buyer and seller. When consumers can explore your products before entering the store, they spend 30-40% more time in the shop on each visit.

Magento allows you to reach shoppers worldwide, helping you to manage your business and offer simple solutions for order fulfillment. It increases business efficiency and offers consumers a world-class experience.

How does Magento Implement Omnichannel eCommerce?

Magento Commerce allows you to present your products online. It lets consumers explore your goods and buy without hassles. They can explore your stock as they like, without having to worry about aggressive sales tactics or even the confusion of physical inventories.

Omnichannel commerce makes it easy for consumers to find your products. Magento brings this new trend, making it simple for you to connect with your consumers with any device and across a wide range of channels.

Magento Order Management

The most significant challenge for a physical shop is to have the right stock in the right location when it is needed. Magento order management and omnichannel sales make this headache a thing of the past. Magento allows you to seamlessly link offline and online offerings, intelligently source order products, and centrally manage your global inventory. With one simple platform, you can raise efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance customer experience.

Magento 2 POS

Magento 2 version comes equipped with a Point-Of-Sale application that multiplies the sales outlets for a physical shop. It simplifies the process of buying online. Plus, the sales are visible to both your admin staff and salespeople. This helps you to manage and process the orders quickly. At the same time, all orders are cross-referenced with local and global inventory. This practically eliminates the hassle of inventory paperwork and keeps your business on-track effortlessly.

Magento Business Intelligence

Companies succeed by knowing their customers. They provide the customers with the goods they want at the highest level of customer service. Magento Business Intelligence is designed to do just this. It crunches the numbers for you, providing information about the highest-value customers and helping you find out how best to reach them. It lets you know how merchandising and advertising impact sales, helping you to grow more quickly and efficiently. Magento offers a holistic analysis of customer behavior, facilitating the optimization of your business.

Which Magento 2 Edition Has Omnichannel Functionality?

Magento Community is a hot solution for omnichannel functionality and general consumer experience. More than 4 million users have opted for this edition. It offers custom website design, website optimization tools, and integrated content management, alongside a host of other features to help you achieve the highest levels of success for your business. Shipping functionality, SEO, if you opt for Magento Community, you’ll have everything required to blend eCommerce with your in-store approach seamlessly.

Magento Commerce takes this one step further with features like Magento Commerce Order Management, order fulfillment solutions, and inventory management. It is an ideal solution for existing businesses, allowing the integration of services offered by your physical shop with trending eCommerce. Magento Commerce helps you to interlink all channels, providing your business with interactive omnichannel capabilities.

How to Call Static Block in Magento

Static blocks are blocks that help to display different type of content on one or multiple pages for advertising purposes. It can be a banner, sidebars, images or other pieces of content.

If you want to call static block, please follow our small guide.

How to Add Static Block In XML File

To add a static block in XML file use:

<referenceContainer name="content">
  <block class="Magento\Cms\Block\Block" name="block_identifier">
    <arguments>
      <argument name="block_id" xsi:type="string">block_identifier</argument>
    </arguments>
  </block>
</referenceContainer>

How to Call Static Block in Magento 2 CMS Page

To create static block in Magento CMS page, use the following steps:

Step 1. Go to the Admin Panel of the Magento store, navigate to the Content tab from the left corner of the page and then click on the Pages option.

Step 2. Click the Edit on the [Your Page].

Step 3. Go to the Content section and add block code:

{{block class="Magento\Cms\Block\Block" block_id="[Identifier]"}}

Step 4. Click Save.

How to Call Phtml File in CMS Page in Magento

This will help you to call a Phtml file in CMS static block as well. To do it, you need:

Step 1. Go to the Admin Panel of the Magento store, navigate to the Content tab from the left corner of the page and then click on the Pages option.

Step 2. Click the Edit on the [Your Page].

Step 3. Go to the Content section and add block code:

{{block class="[BlockClassFullName]" template="[VendorName]_[ModuleName]::[YourTemplateFileLocation].phtml"}}

For example:

{{block class="Magento\Bannerslider\Block\Slideshow" template="Magento_Bannerslider::bannerslider.phtml"}}

Step 4. Click Save.

How to Add Static Block in Magento via Phtml File

To call static block in Magento via Phtml file, use the following block code:

<?php echo block->getLayout()->createBlock('Magento\Cms\Block\Block')->setBlockId('block_identifier')->toHtml();?>

Now you know how to call static block in Magento using Phml file, XML file, and CMS page.