How to Write a Request for Proposal to Get a Clear Quote?

As you may already deal with RFP, you know that you need it to find a service provider who will perform your project and meet your expectations by price, quality and time. To understand the whole process at the first stage, we suggest you our insight on how to write a request for proposal and have the best communication and decision process.

Define RFP

A request for proposal is a document needed to describe project specifics such as price and scope and ask potential service providers to come back with their bid for the work. Generally, it will help you to save your time, finding the right specialists, compare them and define the best one.

Usually, we receive a request from clients with their task on the project assessment. We are happy to get an RFP from our potential clients as we can move further and discuss the project. However, the most common situation is when we get a request, but we can’t define the concrete description to assess the project.

What Is Going on Next?

After we’ve received a request, we make a review on it and give it back with questions for each part of the project. In the end, this assessment, as well as the project scope, will have a gap with the final version. This will case lack of time, misunderstanding and weak communication process between client and service provider and a motivation loss.

In reality, you don’t need to put all your forces to get the correct assessment. You also don’t need to have in-depth knowledge in web development or read additional literature to send the right data.

We’ve collected the list of the essential points; then if you will follow them, you will get the most detailed survey and consultation from our project managers and developers, and it will be the best RFP response that you expect.

RFP Examples

The task usually consists of the number of desired features that could be included in any online store. We will provide you with an example of this process:

Almost all features from this list are included in the Magento® out-of-the-box, and it is difficult to assess the task from the request without details. Pure feature out-of-the-box counted as 0 hours, and you buy it with Magento CMS. Feature customization, i.e., custom programming is the paid hours for the development. The development from scratch also counted as a time for the developer’s work.

That is why our first advice is to try to look at your project functionality by your customer’s eyes, for example, when he is making a purchase, and to write a description, as follows:

This table shows exact information about how the user will pay off for the purchase. In this case, we know that custom functionality should be added to the local payment system and your assessment will be more concrete.

Other Requirements of Magento Store Functionality That Affect on the Total Project Cost

As well as standard feature, you can have individual elements that you think will be useful at your online store. As well as just a feature description, you should make the exact notes about the customization or the ways how you would like to use this feature. This will help you with a question how to write a request for proposal.

Offline Store

If you have a physical store, you need to mention it, because we should predict the way how we will add data of your offline customers to the customers base.

If you use any CRM or other additional systems for collecting and analyzing customers data, we need to connect it with Magento. For this purpose, we use API that should be written before the integration with the additional systems.

Blog and Content

Magento is a platform for eCommerce business, that is why to add a blog to your store, you need to download an extension. Think about do you need a blog and how it should look like. If the blog is not the primary sales channel, perhaps you can wait a couple of releases to find the best option for your future blog.

Design

Depending on which design will be at your online store will impact the price significantly. There are two ways: to make your design unique or to set up a ready theme.

Unique Design

The way of creating an exclusive look of your site is better than a ready theme that is why the customization could cost more. It includes designer’s working hours, as well as frontend and backend developers that will implement created mockups.

This approach will be in-demand for those who want to get an online store that will be matching your targeted audience, including visual identification of your brand. Custom design includes website development, in case if it will be extended, then you will get the right architecture, improved usability, and clean code.

Ready-to-Use Theme

Ready themes include a particular set of page templates. They can be downloaded, set up and used. The website will look average; yet, the customization will have its borders.

Limitations – are ready-to-use templates. If you want to change or add something to them, it will be custom code and extra expenses afterward. A theme will be restricted not only technically, but also in design. In particular, you can change UI theme frames: colors, block, swatch, and add own content.

Problems occur when developers add something custom, and their quantity becomes far too much. That is why a ready theme is good to go for the quick start of the project and further you should think of redesign.

Fixing Magento 2.2.3 Checkout Issues with Magento 2 Extension Attributes

Let’s discuss Magento® 2.2.3 – or, rather, let’s discuss its bugs. We will examine checkout errors related to extension attributes of the entity \Magento\Quote\Model\Quote\Address, and how to fix them. While working on a client project, we encountered a problem when transferring the shipping module to the new Magento 2.2.3 version.

Today, we will tell you more about this problem and how we solved it.

The Shipping Module for Magento 2

A module was implemented for stores on Magento 2.1.9 that allowed order shipping totals to be calculated when the products in the order were shipped from different warehouses using different delivery methods.

The following capabilities are implemented in the module:

• Store administrators can assign products to warehouses.
• Products are grouped by the warehouse on the checkout page.
• Customers can choose a different delivery method allowed by the administrator for each group of products from a warehouse.
• Total delivery amounts are derived using a specialized delivery method.
• Information about each chosen shipping method is stored for shopping carts and is copied to orders.
• Separate shipments can be created for each warehouse.
• If the delivery service allows, address labels can be printed. The USPS revoked this ability as of February 23, 2018, but many other delivery services support it.

Task: Additional information must be stored to a cart’s delivery address, and the information must be copied to the order using this module.

Solution: We used extension attributes since as of today this is the only correct way to solve such issues.

Checkout Error

The module was initially implemented for Magento 2.1.9 CE. Then, we installed it on Magento 2.2.1 CE. In the Magento 2.2.3 CE module, shipping methods stopped loading at checkout. The delivery method request returned a 500 error at checkout.

This is the error text in the web server’s log:

[Wed Mar 07 15:06:36.693548 2018] [:error] [pid 4286] [client 127.0.0.1:45463] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to a member function getOriginShippingDetails() on array in...

Why is this happening? Eventually, we were able to establish the reason for the error.

Reason for the Error

For cart and order addresses, the module stores information about grouping by the warehouse to extension attributes, defined as follows:

<extension_attributes for="Magento\Quote\Api\Data\AddressInterface">
    <attribute code="origin_shipping_details" type="string">
        <join reference_table="origin_quote_address" join_on_field="address_id" reference_field="address_id">
            <field column="origin_shipping_details">origin_shipping_details</field>
        </join>
    </attribute>
</extension_attributes>
<extension_attributes for="Magento\Sales\Api\Data\OrderAddressInterface">
    <attribute code="origin_shipping_details" type="string">
        <join reference_table="origin_order_address" join_on_field="entity_id" reference_field="entity_id">
            <field column="origin_shipping_details">origin_shipping_details</field>
        </join>
    </attribute>
</extension_attributes>

Nothing out of the ordinary.

There is an additional table where the values of the extension attributes are stored. Then they are automatically joined to the collection of addresses using join processor in the collection load event. There are always two addresses, especially for delivery methods.

This happens in the following way:

class AddressCollectionLoad implements \Magento\Framework\Event\ObserverInterface {

    protected $_joinProcessor;

    public function __construct(\Magento\Framework\Api\ExtensionAttribute\JoinProcessor $joinProcessor){
        $this->_joinProcessor = $joinProcessor;
    }
    public function execute(\Magento\Framework\Event\Observer $observer){
        if($collection = $observer->getEvent()->getQuoteAddressCollection()){
            $this->_joinProcessor->process($collection);
        }
    }
}

The data in an array is serialized in JSON for the convenience of storage. In Magento 2.2.3 CE, a problem arose when reading this value. The error was returned by the following code:

if($extAttribute = $address->getExtensionAttributes()){
    $details = $extAttribute->getOriginShippingDetails();
}

The $address object type was checked. The getExtensionAttributes() method had to return an object that implemented the \Magento\Quote\Api\Data\AddressExtensionInterface interface or null, as it had been written in the method description. Instead, it returned an array. We were unable to find the exact reason for this. However, we have several ideas.

The Temando_Shipping Module

Starting with Magento 2.2.2, the Temando_Shipping module was added to the Magento core. This also implements an extension attribute for cart and order address.

<extension_attributes for="Magento\Quote\Api\Data\AddressInterface">
    <attribute code="checkout_fields" type="Magento\Framework\Api\AttributeInterface[]" />
</extension_attributes>
<extension_attributes for="Magento\Sales\Api\Data\OrderAddressInterface">
    <attribute code="checkout_fields" type="Magento\Framework\Api\AttributeInterface[]" />
</extension_attributes>

Joining Extension Attribute Error

This module was enabled, but it was not configured, so it was not essentially used. Since the Temando attribute is not scalar, but rather is an array of objects, it’s not possible to automatically join the attribute to the collection of addresses. Reading the values of this attribute is entirely up to the module developer.

Assumption 1: When trying to load the value of this attribute to the address, for some reason an array was written to the field extension_attributes of \Magento\Quote\Model\Quote\Address, instead of an object.

Assumption 2: For some reason, Join Processor, the standard extension attribute loader, initialized an array instead of an object. We rewrote the above code:

if($extAttribute = $address->getExtensionAttributes()){
    if(is_object($extAttribute)){
        $details = $extAttribute->getOriginShippingDetails();
    }else{
   if(is_array($extAttribute)&&isset($extAttribute['origin_shipping_details'])){
            $details = $extAttribute['origin_shipping_details'];
        }
    }
}

It’s a bit more complicated, but it does what it has to do.

Ordering Error

So, we figured out joining attributes. But there’s more. When trying to place an order, a different error was written to the server log:

[Wed Mar 07 15:33:00.499754 2018] [:error] [pid 9705] [client 127.0.0.1:45728] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: Argument 1 passed to Temando\\Shipping\\Model\\Checkout\\Address::setServiceSelection() must be of the type array, null given, called in /var/www/mercyrobes2/vendor/temando/module-shipping-m2/Observer/SaveCheckoutFieldsObserver.php on line 73 and defined in /var/www/mercyrobes2/vendor/temando/module-shipping-m2/Model/Checkout/Address.php:78\nStack trace:\n#0 /var/www/mercyrobes2/vendor/temando/module-shipping-m2/Observer/SaveCheckoutFieldsObserver.php(73): Temando\\Shipping\\Model\\Checkout\\Address->setServiceSelection(NULL)\n#1 /var/www/mercyrobes2/vendor/magento/framework/Event/Invoker/InvokerDefault.php(72): Temando\\Shipping\\Observer\\SaveCheckoutFieldsObserver->execute(Object(Magento\\Framework\\Event\\Observer))\n#2 /var/www/mercyrobes2/vendor/magento/framework/Event/Invoker/InvokerDefault.php(60): Magento\\Framework\\Event\\Invoker\\InvokerDefault->_callObserverMethod(Object(Temando\\Shipping\\Observer\\SaveCheckoutFieldsObserver), Object(Magento\\Framework\\Event\\Observer))\n#3 /var/www/mercyrobes2/vendor/m in /var/www/mercyrobes2/vendor/temando/module-shipping-m2/Model/Checkout/Address.php on line 78, referer: http://mercyrobes2.loc/index.php/checkout/

Here, the error was definitely in the Temando module, and it had to be resolved.

This problem has already been brought up in a Github thread:

After analyzing the Temando module, it was established that the Temando\Shipping\Observer\SaveCheckoutFieldsObserver class is a handler of the event sales_quote_address_save_after. Its code is below

class SaveCheckoutFieldsObserver implements ObserverInterface
{
    /**
     * @var AddressRepositoryInterface
     */
    private $addressRepository;
    /**
     * @var AddressInterfaceFactory
     */
    private $addressFactory;
    /**
     * SaveCheckoutFieldsObserver constructor.
     * @param AddressRepositoryInterface $addressRepository
     * @param AddressInterfaceFactory $addressFactory
     */
    public function __construct(
        AddressRepositoryInterface $addressRepository,
        AddressInterfaceFactory $addressFactory
    ) {
        $this->addressRepository = $addressRepository;
        $this->addressFactory = $addressFactory;
    }
    /**
     * @param Observer $observer
     * @return void
     */
    public function execute(Observer $observer)
    {
        /** @var \Magento\Quote\Api\Data\AddressInterface|\Magento\Quote\Model\Quote\Address $quoteAddress */
        $quoteAddress = $observer->getData('quote_address');
        if ($quoteAddress->getAddressType() !== \Magento\Quote\Model\Quote\Address::ADDRESS_TYPE_SHIPPING) {
            return;
        }
        if (!$quoteAddress->getExtensionAttributes()) {
            return;
        }
        // persist checkout fields
        try {
            $checkoutAddress = $this->addressRepository->getByQuoteAddressId($quoteAddress->getId());
        } catch (NoSuchEntityException $e) {
            $checkoutAddress = $this->addressFactory->create(['data' => [
                AddressInterface::SHIPPING_ADDRESS_ID => $quoteAddress->getId(),
            ]]);
        }
        $extensionAttributes = $quoteAddress->getExtensionAttributes();
        $checkoutAddress->setServiceSelection($extensionAttributes->getCheckoutFields());
        $this->addressRepository->save($checkoutAddress);
    }
}

As you can see, this observer checks:

• whether the address is a shipping address;
• Whether there is any extension attribute in the address.

Then the entity is requested and created. It implements the extension attribute of Temando module. Specific operations are carried out with this entity up to saving this entity to the database. This entity has a Temando\Shipping\Model\Checkout\Address type, and implements setServiceSelection method the following way:

/**
 * @param \Magento\Framework\Api\AttributeInterface[] $services
 * @return void
 */
public function setServiceSelection(array $services)
{
    $this->setData(AddressInterface::SERVICE_SELECTION, $services);
}

Reason for the Ordering Error

The method input parameter must be an array of objects that implement \Magento\Framework\Api\AttributeInterface. Since the Temando module is not configured and is not used on this site, $extensionAttributes->getCheckoutFields() returns null. Then, a fatal type incompatibility error occurs. If the Temando_Shipping module was checked on Magento 2.2.2, the problem would exist there too, since the Temando_Shipping version in Magento 2.2.2 CE is the exact same as in Magento 2.2.3 CE. This use case was not checked in Magento before it had been included in the out-of-box solution.

The Solution to the Ordering Problem

This problem has a fairly simple solution. We have implemented the observer of the sales_quote_address_save_before event, which allows this case to be handled.

The handler of this event looks like this:

class AddressSaveBefore implements \Magento\Framework\Event\ObserverInterface
{
    public function execute(\Magento\Framework\Event\Observer $observer){
        if($address = $observer->getEvent()->getQuoteAddress()){
            if($attributes = $address->getExtensionAttributes()){
                $checkoutFields = $attributes->getCheckoutFields();
                if(is_null($checkoutFields)){
                    $attributes->setCheckoutFields(array());
                    }
                }
            }
        }
}

This observer checks if the value of the checkout_fields attribute is null, and if it is, it replaces it with an empty array. The error will no longer be returned, and the order can be placed successfully.

Magento vs WooCommerce: Complete Comparison

Magento® 2 and WooCommerce are two of the largest and most popular platforms used for setting up eCommerce stores. While they both have many positives, there are still differences between them. In this article, we will be providing a detailed breakdown of the two platforms, so you can decide which one is best for your business.

Difference Between Magento 2 and WooCommerce

Let’s make eCommerce platforms comparison between WooCommerce vs Magento 2018. First things you should consider are each platforms usability, the community behind them, and which kind of business should choose Magento and WooCommerce.

Packages and Pricing

Here we can define the average or fixed WooCommerce price and also how much is Magento price? Use the infographics below.

Magento 2 and WooCommerce: eCommerce Functionality

While WordPress or Magento for eCommerce are popular and effective, there are certain areas where one may be stronger than the other. Below you will find a breakdown of all the key features, and how each platform performs in that category.

Payment Methods

Magento checkout and payment features are optimized, smooth and convert very well. Magento takes credit card payments on your store automatically after the user makes a purchase. Paypal is also accepted as a form of payment.

WooCommerce has a similarly effective checkout process, and like Magento, it accepts a majority of the popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe and Amazon Pay.

Shipping Methods

WooCommerce brings flexibility, which comes in handy when you consider different shipping settings per product. It has various plugins that allow you to provide more shipping options. These include local pickup, international shipping, and the ability to edit shipping fees (flat fees, percentages, etc.)

Magento also brings adaptability and allows you to use a lot of customizable processes to allow you to create the exact shipping options you want to provide per product. As well as that you are able to set your own shipping options, which range from all types of popular delivery methods and delivery charges.

SEO Features

Let’s compare 2 platforms and see who is more SEO-friendly Magento or WooCommerce. You can set multiple different discounts, prices, upsells, downsells, and in general create much more advanced and effective funnels with Magento SEO. The site offers many tools that will increase your results. The layout of your site can change depending on the viewer, taking advantage of their previous viewing and purchase history. Having your site optimized for every individual will greatly increase your business success with regards to revenue.

WooCommerce does provide plugins that will aid SEO, and you can also find plugins that can generate more effective funnels to improve your sales.

Plugins and Extensions

Magento Marketplace has over a thousand extensions you can add to improve your site. The majority of the extensions are paid extensions, but there are hundreds of free extensions that will greatly improve your site. Regarding Magento customization, it is easy with the development team and you can scale any feature according to your needs. This will help you solve more business tasks and handle more operations.

WooCommerce offers a large number of widgets that can improve the functionality of your site, both for the front end and the back end. As for WooCommerce customization, you can perform it on a basic level. However, with plugins, you can add necessary functionality to your store.

Server Requirements

WooCommerce is a WordPress based plugin that operates as an online store and requires fewer resources to run it.

Magento, on the other hand, requires more resources to work with it.

Speed and Performance

Both platforms provide stable and robust performance, as long as you setup your settings correctly. For sure WooCommerce vs Magento speed is a bit differ due to the functionality and size of the platform. Fail to optimize, and you could see issues. There are guides online that will help you easily get the best out of your platform speed-wise.

Security

As both platforms are open source, you have the opportunity to add your own measures when it comes to security. The systems themselves also come with their own security features. In this case, however, Magento is clearly superior.

WooCommerce has basic security features. The main feature is their security plugin. It provides you protection from brute force hacking and has its own malware scanner. It also has an SSL certificate.

Magento employs security features that are forever changing and becoming stronger and more efficient as time goes on. Magento Commerce, in particular, has an Admin Actions Log that will keep a log of everything that is done on your site. Should you see any suspicious behavior, or evidence of any actions you did not make, then you know how to act fast and protect yourself. You can use different tools like a TripWire to scan for malware and edit the configuration settings, your system’s security, so security settings can be optimized for every user.

They release new patches on a regular basis, meaning your security is always up to date and is never vulnerable to becoming obsolete in the face of new threats.

Usability

Usability is vital when it comes to eCommerce. A lot of people underrate its importance, but it can make or break your business. A site that loads faster has higher levels of accessibility and will convert much better than a website that doesn’t meet the same standards of usability.

WooCommerce is excellent at usability, mainly as it utilizes itself as a WordPress plugin. However, its ease of use is also a part of its weakness. The fact that it is a WordPress plugin means that it has fewer functions than its competitor, who have more extensive, stand-alone system.

Magento gives you the ability to create products, orders, and manage them. Their analytics features are detailed, and advanced reports you receive from your site will significantly improve your decision making. Features that optimize SEO, tools increase lead generations stats, and marketing campaigns all make up a part of why Magento is so useful.

Community Support

Magento, in particular, has built up the platform over 15 years, thanks to its community of developers and merchants, it continues to grow with technologies and additional tools to become the best platform for eCommerce. Magento Help Center will help you to handle all the issues and find the answers to your questions. If it is not enough for you, you can find Magento technical support at the Magento Stack Exchange or eCommerce-related forums.

WooCommerce also has a community behind it but it’s a newer platform, meaning it has started to grow now. That is why the queries could be solved slower than it does with Magento. As for WooCommerce technical support, you can refer to their Customer Service page or to WordPress Support.

Installation and Usage

Magento has a pretty organized admin panel. All the main features you can find in Sales, Catalog, Customers, Marketing, etc. To check the Demo version, you need to request it from the official website. Or, you can check our Demo overview to learn more about the functionality.

On the one hand, Magento is not easy to install. You need 1-3 hours and a developer. On the other hand, Magento provides customers with constant updates and choice between full or partial update.

If we look at WooCommerce installation, firstly you need to download WordPress, then you can add WooCommerce plugin from WordPress admin. It is easy and doesn’t require additional help from the development side. As for the usage, the admin panel is pretty intuitive. However, to extend functionality, you have to choose other plugins.

We’ve compared all the main features, pricing plans and server resources. Now we can continue with the pros and cons of each platform.

What Suits Your Business

The real question is which platform will suit your business better? If you have a medium to large store, Magento has an advantage. WooCommerce is good for smaller stores and beginners, but once you start to progress, you will realize that you are disabled in a lot of ways. Magento provides a lot more room for growth, with upgrades, new feature, and scalability.

Magento vs. WooCommerce: Usage Prospects

Magento Customers

Magento is gaining the popularity and currently hosts around 1.42% of the top million and almost 2.47% of the entire Internet. This number continues to grow as Magento continues to improve its existing features and adding new ones.

The tendency of Magento 2 stores’ popularity in the US among other countries remain stable – it is around 49% of others. Other companies that prefer Magento are based in the Netherlands – 9% or the United Kingdom – 6% according to the following statistics.

WooCommerce Customers

As for WooCommerce, it has a big amount of stores around the globe. That’s because WooCommerce is good for the start of the business, it has the necessary amount of functions for the simple shop. WooCommerce site with a checkout has 2.4% of the top million and 3.2% of the entire Internet.

There are nearly 70% of stores that use WooCommerce in the US, the other amount relies on other countries – 30%.

Magento 2 vs WooCommerce: Which Platform Wins?

Overall both platforms are very good at what they do. You can’t really go wrong with either, but if we were to suggest one, it would definitely be Magento 2. It offers you much better opportunities for scaling up and making more money down the line. It is also stronger than WooCommerce in security and user support. For these reasons, Magento 2 is the best CMS out there today.

Magento Commerce Cloud Edition

If you own an eCommerce business and you’re looking for the next upgrade to make your store better, Magento® Commerce Cloud may be your way to go. It offers plenty of features and solutions that other platforms do not, and it promises you better results by helping you to understand your clients more. Below, you can read all about Magento Cloud and its various features.

What is Magento Commerce Cloud?

Magento Cloud plays upon Saas, which you might have otherwise heard of as Software-as-a-service. Instead, Magento is introducing PaaS, which is Platform-as-a-service.

With Magento Commerce Cloud, which, as the name suggests, is hosted by cloud, you have versatility, power, and more to control your eCommerce store. Not only this, but you a full technology stack from one source and you don’t need to deal with multiple vendors. You still have power and flexibility of Magento having access to Magento code and database.

Cloud Magento Features

Now that you know a little bit about what Magento Commerce Cloud is, we can begin to talk about the various Cloud Magento Features.

Cloud Base

Since Magento Commerce Cloud is cloud-based, you can have total control over your online channel. That’s because the eCommerce solution allows you to update and backup your information through an omnichannel function. This is done from a single panel; wherein, you can customize your design, decide between going wholesale or retail, you can create a section for popular searches, reviews, etc.

Pricing

Luckily, the Magento Cloud pricing is free for the first month. If you want to learn more about this service, you can send the company your name, email address, and phone number.

Magento PaaS Benefits

There are many benefits to using a cloud-based system. Among them are the following:

Background updates. Instead of having your site shut down while it updates, all your updates will be done through the cloud so that your customers can still browse and shop seamlessly.

Uniqueness. Your store us your own, which means you won’t have an eCommerce site that is similar to others. With Magento Commerce Cloud, you can install any of the Magento 2 extensions you need.

Optimization. Magento Cloud has partnered up with New Relic and Black Fire to ensure that they can optimize your stores and to make them more efficient.

Support. Magento offers 24-hour monitoring every day of the week. That means when you need customer support or security patching, Magento will have your back.

Quick Ordering Toolkit

We will provide you with the main functions included in it.

Speed. Magento’s Cloud eCommerce keeps ordering fast and simple. Your customers could checkout on a single page without creating an account, or they can create an account to save an address book.

Payment integrations. It allows for Paypal integration, money orders, and offers alternate payment methods like “pay me later.” You can attract customers with free shipping and shipping calculator.

Customer help. You can have a call center for orders; thereby, allowing you to change order configurations and assistance during shopping. This will help customers to organize their carts and add coupons to their orders.

Order management. To make orders faster, this Magento Cloud platform allows customers to save credit card information. In doing so, they’ll be able to carry out their orders when they’re offline as well.

Account management. When it comes to customer accounts, you can’t ask for much better than Magento Cloud. Your customers can make their accounts to see their order history, update their billing info, sign up for newsletters, and create wishlists with added comments.

Analytics and Reporting

You can receive tax reports, sales reports, low stock reports, and others to improve your site’s efficiency and to increase your sales. In doing so, you’ll be able to learn more about what and how your customers’ shop, so you can learn how to accommodate their needs.

Multichannel Support

With Magento Commerce Cloud edition, business owners are offered multichannel support. Both B2B and B2C customers have different ways to interact with the eCommerce site owner on the same platform.

Security

Magento Cloud eCommerce offers Magento security scan for all Magento products to ensure that everything is running smoothly and efficiently. It also allows you to assign roles to improve the security of your site. Because you give each role different responsibilities, you can have every part of your project covered.

Technologies Used

Magento Commerce Cloud used to be called Magento Enterprise Edition. Among its requirements are the following:

• Git
• Composer
• Secure Shell
• MySQL
• Linux

The Magento site claims that by using Magento Commerce Cloud Edition, you can have up to triple the sales. Magento Cloud is the step up that your company needs to set it apart from all the rest. There are several benefits to using this upgrade; among them, are the analytics, customer accounts, order management systems, and search engine optimization for B2B business.

WEB4PRO’s Time-Tested B2B Partnership Makes It Top eCommerce Development Company at GoodFirms

Brand recognition plays a significant role in any company’s growth and development. That is why it is important to be recommended by trustable and reliable platforms. GoodFirms is one such globally renowned B2B research and review platform. Let’s learn about GoodFirms research process in detail and the advantage of being listed among top web development companies by GoodFirms.

GoodFirms B2B Research Methodology

GoodFirms is a pioneering research and review platform that helps service seekers find the best companies providing web designing & development services across the globe. Each participating company gets evaluated on the basis of three major parameters – Quality, Reliability, and Ability. In addition, some important factors like market penetration, portfolio, reviews, experience along with their development and design quality make-up for their global rank.

GoodFirms is a maverick B2B research and review firm that aligns its efforts in finding the top eCommerce and Web Development companies delivering unparalleled services to its clients. GoodFirms’ extensive research process ranks the companies, boosts their online reputation and helps service seekers pick the right technology partner that meets their business needs.

GoodFirms About WEB4PRO

WEB4PRO is an outsourcing web advancement organization with active workplaces in Ukraine and the UK. The company caters to its clients with mastering Magento® teams for actualizing the full-cycle web development services and furthermore deals with effective Drupal and Yii framework solutions as per åthe client requirements. WEB4PRO has been a trustworthy B2B accomplice in the global I.T. market since its inception in the year of 2003.

WEB4PRO has been highly successful in rendering productive services to half of its customers with efficient maintenance & support for over 10 years. The amicable and creative group of the firm comprises of more than 40 experts in web development, including Certified Magento Developers. Their team has been taking a shot at Magento since its absolute starting point becoming a pro and has finished 100 eCommerce ventures for customers throughout the world.

WEB4PRO Client Review on GoodFirms

Have a look at an approving review received by WEB4PRO for its eCommerce development services at GoodFirms:

WEB4PRO Team provided us excellent, high quality and professional service. We are happy working with them, in critical times we can rely on Web4Pro Team. They are easy to deal with. They can provide quick solution to a problem

Mel Yuson (CEO at MYCLICK TECHNOLOGIES INC.)

The Results

These impressive facts have earned the company a proud space on the global list of Top Magento Development Companies at GoodFirms.
The tech-wizards of WEB4PRO give careful consideration to detail. Also, the web engineers take after high standards of code, and the individuals from the Magento team pass Magento Certification exam in order to be updated with any upgrades implemented in this platform. This assists them to remain savvy with the corresponding platform enabling them to build software possessing complete knowledge!

WEB4PRO upkeeps its reputation for strong eCommerce development services in the market by keeping the word and clinging to due dates, being a robust techno-partner for every undertaking. Such comprehensive project management skills have gained the company an appreciative vantage on the global list of Top Ecommerce Development Companies at GoodFirms.

WEB4PRO developers apart from building eCommerce online stores; also develop corporate websites, educational, landing pages, and event websites. Additionally, the company also provides clients with maintenance and support, website performance optimization, redesign, mobile solutions, and solutions for email marketing. Magnifying the focus area in terms of key services offered by WEB4PRO majorly disperses into eCommerce and web development.

GoodFirms even highlights the rich portfolio of WEB4PRO with a multitude of clients like WellSquad, Hello Bio, My Chinese Tutor, Ausger, X-Payments and so on. Interestingly, 95% of the client focus of the firm is channeled towards small-sized businesses with big ideas, waiting to get real. Also, the industrial focus of WEB4PRO is directed towards sectors like Consumer Products, Education, Healthcare, Real Estate and of course Business Services. Given the current accolades received by the company, it is sure of its arrival on the global list of Top Web Development Companies at GoodFirms.

Define Generation Z as Your Future Customers

As one generation’s ages and moves into the background, another comes to the fore. The majority of businesses are now starting to analyze and tailor their brand towards this newer generation of younger people. Define Generation Z by people who were born in the mid-1990s and later. They are now reaching the age where they will be a huge part of the economy.

The idea of having a successful long-term business means that you will have not only to find customers to buy your products and services but customers that will stay with you for a long time. Most money is not made on the initial sale, but rather on the backend and from repeated business with same clients. Younger people will live for longer and will also be buyers for much longer if you manage to bring them in. But targeting the Generation Z couldn’t be as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of things you need to keep in mind if you are going to have success.

Define Generation Z Characteristics

Regarding Generation Z there is some market analysis to prove that it is the right time to refer your marketing and overall strategy to make them your next big audience.

Population. In the US, Generation Z makes up 25% of the population. In fact, they are the largest generation in the world right now, which means they are the biggest audience you have available to market to.

Year of birth. Generation z includes people born in the mid-1990s onwards. These people are still in high school and college and are in some cases only now getting out into the work.

Market share. Concerning money to spend, they aren’t usually in a position to make up a big part of the economy yet. However, in a few years’ time, they will be the dominant audience when it comes to spending.

Money spent. Generation Z already represents $143b a year in buying strength, and this will only continue to grow. The sectors receiving the biggest boost from Generation Z coming to the fore buying wise are tech, cosmetics, and online shopping. However, the vast majority of fields are seeing significant increases in funds as the influence of young people’s spending grows.

Online presence. The early Generation Z trends show that they are a lot more likely to make purchases online than through traditional stores. As more information gets compiled about their consumer behavior, this generation will become a big target for all businesses in every field. If you want to make sure you are ahead of the game, it is essential for you to get in there now.

Engaging Generation Z

Engaging Generation Z is not going to be straightforward, but there are some trends and tips that you can try out to increase their engagement with your store. Below are some very key points you need to keep in mind when you think about marketing to this audience.

New Concepts in Shopping Experience

With online shopping, home delivery, and all the other amazing innovations that have occurred over the last decade or so, the shopping experience that Generation Z is growing up with is entirely different from what the generations before used to have.

Generation Z brings different challenges to marketers, and they represent a whole new set of ideas when it comes to shopping. With Gen Zers being so big in the online shopping space, there are some factors marketers have to be wary of and focus on.

Generation Z has come to expect quick delivery times, high levels of visual marketing, and also the luxury of having a lot of evidence of the quality of the product or services. This comes through the thousands and thousands of reviews they get to sift through, as well as technologies that may let them experience a taste of the product before they buy it, like AR tools.

Social Media Power

Social media is huge in this modern age, and it is by far the biggest online marketplace available. If you want to go about engaging Generation Z, then social media is a tool you must utilize.

There is no better way to make a lot of money than by going viral on social media. Not only is social media great for getting your content in front of potential buyers, but it is incredible at allowing you to get a better idea of your audience.The stats generated by sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram can be a huge help to marketers.

Facebook, for example, has a feature within its ad campaigns called lookalike audiences. If you plan to advertise there, you can set a Facebook pixel on your site that will collect data of all the visitors who bought your products. Then when you get to Facebook and want to run an ad, you can use lookalike audiences to target the same people who were finding interest in your services on your site. This type of cross-marketing can be extremely effective.

Influencers Engagement

There have always been influencers that dictated trends and influenced the actions of the public. In the past, they were actors or performers, but nowadays anyone with a decent following on social media can become an influencer.

The fact that these influencers are so commonplace and have such a strong influence on their young audience is significant for businesses as it opens up many more avenues of promotion.

Visualization

When you want to think about what Generation Z is interested in, a big thing that has been gleaned from research over the years is the effect that visuals have.

Video has been proven to improve viewer retention, engagement significantly, and also convert better than traditional text or image-based media. There is a reason that all the major brands are putting a lot of money into their video departments, as the medium is the most effective one out there right now.

In this era of short attention spans, great visuals that grab a viewer are possibly the greatest tools a marketer can have. Businesses need eyes and to get the eyes of generation z, you need to be very visual and very appealing.

Delivery Speed

As just mentioned, attention spans across Generation Z tend to be low. This means your delivery has to be not only truthful but fast. Both in promotions and in the actual delivery of goods and services.

Life moves fast, and no one has time to waste. Being a fast mover, both in implementing your promotion plans and in involving Generation Z as buyers, will be extremely vital to the success of your business.

Mobile-Friendly Approach

Everyone has a mobile phone these days, and most people can’t go a minute without them. In fact, it’s a pretty popular stereotype that one of the standard Generation Z characteristics is that they are addicted to their phones.

While that may not necessarily be, it is true that people in this generation are very in tune with their phones. Marketing directed at phones and phone usage can be very useful if implemented correctly.

If your business is not mobile friendly and is not finely tuned to take advantage of the current mobile phone usage landscape, you should think about building a new app for your online business or creating a PWA.

Are You Ready to Get More Gen Zers as Customers?

You have now learned a lot more about how to define Generation Z. So the question is, are you ready to go out there and bring in some more customers? Remembering that they will be customers that will ideally stay with you for a long time and keep buying from you, again and again, you will focus building the right strategy to keep up gathering your new clients – Generation Z.

Magento 1.9 to Magento 2 Migration: Our Client’s Experience

How to perform Magento® 1.9 to Magento 2 migration is the hottest topic in countless discussions. We’ve already worked with different stores and helped to move to Magento 2 lots of our clients. Now we want to tell you about our latest case study.

Meet Juvenile Planet: The Client’s Background

Juvenile Planet is a family-owned store which has been delivering preeminent service for more than 30 years and carrying on this tradition. It’s combining the best from convenient online shopping, along with the personalized help and attention you would receive at a traditional brick-and-mortar retail store.

Brand’s Philosophy and Values

Juvenile Planet knows everything about how to share the most special times of your life. They have all the products and clothing needed for your baby and child at each stage of his life. As it is a family-owned business, Juvenile Planet values the importance of relationships — and they show how they treat customers. They consider each client as a part of their extended family. That’s why J. Planet created a warm, inviting, and hassle-free online store for parents and families.

While other websites just sell products, Juvenile Planet stands behind every sale, guaranteeing client’s absolute satisfaction. Not only this: the convenience of the online shopping experience along with personalized assistance they have after three decades in the industry. As a huge plus they have all their saleswomen understanding customers not only as specialists but mothers, so they know their clients’ needs and challenges as parents.

Interview With a Client

As we had excellent cooperation with a Juvenile Planet Team, we’ve asked a few questions, so you can see why it was essential to migrating the store and the whole process around it.

— Why did you decide to move to Magento 2?

We were using an older version of Magento. Investing in upgrades and patches seemed like a waste of money. We waited until Magento 2 was stable enough with all the extensions needed for our site and started our Magento 2 project.

— What were the main goals you wanted to reach as a result?

We wanted to have an updated current website that we could customize for our needs without any worries of investing in an outdated platform.

— Did you face any difficulties in the process?

Our website has a large number of different types of products with different needs requiring a lot of extensions. There were extension conflicts that had to be dealt with. Magento 2 also still has its fair share of bugs. Thankfully WEB4PRO was able to handle all the development issues that arose. We also had trouble getting used to our new websites product import process. We had been using Magmi to import new product information, create configurable products and to add new attributes on the fly. Magmi is not available for Magento 2, and we used Firebear Improved Import Export Extension. It took us some time to learn how to troubleshoot the import errors we were receiving.

Magento 2 vs Magento 1.9: Our Point of View

You might think about moving to Magento 2 version. But you could have some questions regarding its excellence comparing to the previous 1.x releases. Overall, Magento 2 is functional and offers a variety of new features, opportunities, and innovations to grow your business and move further. So let’s compare Magento 1.9 vs. Magento 2 and see why is it better to move to the latest Magento version.

Difference Between Magento 1.9 and Magento 2

Scalability

It’s true that Magento 2 became more scalable and could contain more useful functions, extensions and customizable features than Magento 1.9. It means that the flexibility of Magento 2 is endless.

Support Issue

We recommend migration to Magento 2 version of each Magento online store. Why? Magento will stop supporting the oldest 1x releases in June 2020.

Additional Functionality

Nothing stands in one place and technology always gain traction in development. Magento 2 implements the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality to make a seamless user experience.

Fewer Module Conflicts

A lot of module conflicts issues were solved in the new Magento 2 version, and you won’t worry about how to substitute your extensions or how to resolve the conflicts between them. In Magento 1.9 it could appear more often.

Swatches Included

It became easier to present your product in different colors as it is an out-of-the-box solution in Magento 2. In previous Magento 1.9 version, you should perform additional steps to do so.

Easier Checkout Process

Previously Magento 1.9 had five steps checkout. Magento has improved the steps, and now Magento 2 has secure two-steps checkout.

Third-Party Integrations

In Magento 1.9 it was quite tricky to integrate with third-parties. But Magento 2 has REST API that simplified the integration process.

Security Payment Modules

Magento 2 has its payments secure with modules by default while in Magento 1.9 you should implement it by yourself.

As you can see from the comparison, Magento 2 is scalable and will meet all your requirements and wishes for your online store. Also as Magento moves on, it continues to upgrade its newer releases and fix all the issues that were in previous versions. Also to back an argument with proof, we will go on with our case and show you the full process of Magento store migration.

How We Upgrade Magento 1.9 to 2: Research and Development

For sure, there is not a one-click process to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2. You probably think that it should be a significant expense to do so. Not always you need full migration; it could be either a redesign so that you can buy a perfect theme and a set of individual extensions required. Another approach is to deal with a service provider to do this work for you. Whether you work with someone or evaluate the project by yourself, it is essential to make sure that the technology works correctly for your needs before you’ll dig into the process of implementation.

Client’s Goals

Let’s see how we did it with Juvenile Planet. Our client came up with a confident idea to move the store from Magento 1.9x current version to Magento 2.2. He wanted to move it in a certain amount of time and at minimal cost. He was aware of how Magento worked as a platform and did proper research on which extensions he needed.

Migration Process

For the store, we used a ready responsive fashion theme where we implemented brand’s colors, changed header and customized some parts of the interface. For the migration, we didn’t use data migration tool – an out-of-the-box solution. We implemented a particular extension that was perfectly fit to the type of the project. To move it, we chose the improved import/export Magento 2 extension by Firebear that allowed us to move not only standard information, such as customers base, orders, and products but also unique group gifts from the store that customers ordered previously.

We added additional functionality with modules, such as custom stock status, auto-related products, and other useful add-ons. A brand’s section was added as a custom part to simplify search through the store. Along with extensions, we added necessary SEO plugins and customized some of the features that were requested by the company.

Time and Resources

With a short period, we finished the project in 1,5 months with two backend developers, QA and with a project manager’s guidance. For store migration, it was a fast but quite accessible solution regarding the timeline and money sources.

Summary: Project Results and Our Client’s Feedback

As a result, we helped migrate Magento 1.9 to Magento 2 for our client and performed the following works:

• migrated customers base, orders, and products but also special group gifts – a special offer from the store;
• customized “shop by brands” section;
• installed some useful SEO plugins;
• added necessary extensions.

The list of extensions used:

• Call For Price
• Custom Stock Status
• Layered Navigation
• Auto Related Products
• Product Attachments
• Extended Product Grid
• Extended Order Grids
• Advanced Reports
• Help Desk

and another useful functionality that was chosen by our client.

We used the improved import/export Magento 2 extension by Firebear to perform the migration process.

Now we are glad to know our client’s feedback – the most valuable thing for us.

— Are you satisfied with the project result? What can you say about our cooperation?-

We were very happy with the result. WEB4PRO was able to finish the project on time even after the scope of the project changed as more issues were discovered. We were also very pleased with Sergey our project manager and his communication skills. Sergey always responded quickly and was able to understand and communicate well in English.

—  Thank you for choosing our team and a strong belief in our partnership!

We wish Juvenile Planet a lot of success, and we are happy to be a part of their story. We are sure they will continue to provide a perfect personalized shopping experience along with selling their beautiful and qualitative products. It was a valuable time and a great pleasure for us to work with this client.

How to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment at Your Magento Store

When you are trying to make sales, there is nothing more exigent than managing to get your customer through all the steps of the process on your Magento® online store, only for them to abandon you at the very last step. There could be a moment when you look at stats and see that you are at sea at the step of converting potential customers once they get to checkout.

Luckily, there are a lot of things you can do to reduce cart abandonment. And to know which solution is for you, you must first understand why the customers are abandoning their carts in the first place. Let’s check solutions on how to reduce shopping cart abandonment in your Magento online store.

Why Customers Abandon Shopping Carts?

Below you can find some of the most common shopping cart abandonment reasons that could affect your sales results and the quality of your customer service.

Unhoped Shipping Costs

Shipping costs can be a real turn off for customers, especially if they are high. A customer may be okay with paying a certain price for an item, but upon seeing the shipping fee, they suddenly don’t feel like it’s worth it. This can be even worse if the shipping time is long, as the combination of the high price and long waiting time can be unappealing.

Carts Are Not Followed Up

A user who has already added to their cart and wants to make a purchase is a valuable asset, and someone you should be helping to get through each stage of your store very easily. If a customer is prompted to create an account before they can continue with their purchase, a significant portion of users will abandon their cart as they aren’t bothered to go through the process of signing up.

The Checkout Process Isn’t Optimized

As mentioned previously, adding obstacles in your store that can affect a user’s ability to make a purchase is not useful. An optimized checkout process is one that is efficient, secure, and most importantly smooth. The fewer things the customer has to deal with, the easier it is for them to buy and the higher the conversions will be in your store.

Poor Variety of Payment Options

A lack of diverse payment options can leave a large percentage of your audience without a way to pay for your products. Which not a situation you want to be in, as it will undoubtedly cost you quite a bit of money.

High Concerns About Payment Security

For sites that are new or don’t have much of a reputation, you can lose sales through apprehension as your customers don’t go through with the purchase due to fears of being scammed, or due to not fully trusting your service.

How to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment

While the Magento abandoned cart can be annoying, there are many solutions to reduce the abandoned cart process.

Personalized Shopping Experience

Personalized shopping experiences are one of the best ways to decrease the number of times you get the Magento abandoned cart on your store.

They include recommendations and listings based on the user’s history on your site and elsewhere, as your content becomes a lot more targeted to the individual, rather than aiming at a broad audience.

Free Shipping or Low Shipping Cost

To avoid any issues with potential customers being scared away by high shipping costs, Magento has low shipping fees available. In fact, you can even implement free shipping options, which will surely increase your conversions even further. This is one of the most important tactics you can use to avoid seeing a Magento 2 abandoned cart.

Shipping Calculator Extension

The Magento Shipping Cost Calculator is an extension that will allow your clients to calculate and be aware of the shipping cost for some items with a single click. This saves a lot of time since they don’t need to calculate them manually anymore, and will increase conversions as you have removed one more obstacle that could put your customers off completing their purchase.

Streamline Website Navigation

Magento’s online store features streamlined website navigation, making it very simple for your clients to browse your site and find exactly what they need in a very efficient manner.

Additional Features

In addition to all this, there are even more additional features that will reduce cart abandonment and increase your sales. You can set up a blog on your site, which is useful for updating your clients with information relevant to your field. It also helps set up the rapport with your readers, which helps them feel more comfortable buying from you.

You can also implement reviews on your products. A good rating from previous buyers can be a big part in convincing a client to make a purchase, so as long as your products are high quality and your buyers are happy, setting up reviews is a huge benefit.

Lastly, Magento lets you add a return option. Seeing this option can often help the customer feel more at ease when purchasing since they know that they will always have the chance to return the product if they think they made a mistake making the purchase.

Magento Extensions to Reduce Cart Abandonment

As you need to solve the cart abandonment, we will provide you with a list of the most useful extensions that will help you to decrease the number of carts abandoned and return back your potential customers to convert them to long-standing clients.

For Magento 2.X

Amasty Abandoned Cart Email for Magento 2

You can set up emails to remind about cart abandoned. This extension allows you to create multiple email types for different customer’s types and ability to add discount coupons there.

Mageplaza Abandoned Cart Email

It is a useful extension where you can send personalized emails that will be compatible with SMTP and automatically generate coupons. Also, it has flexible email chain configuration and supports Google Analytics UTM.

Magento 2 Abandoned Cart Recovery Extension by Mageworx

This Magento 2 recovery extension will give you the ability to look through the cart abandonment stats, cart’s general analytics, retargeting toolkit and retargeting email planning tools. Use customizable emails, customers activities log, and overview of the whole retargeting campaign stats to solve the abandoned carts rate.

For Magento 1.x

Abandoned Cart Recapture

This is email marketing and abandoned cart recovery for both Magento 2 and Magento 1. It gives you an instant, free analytics on all active and abandoned shopping carts helps to sort your emails that will be fully responsive. It is compatible with all major One Step Checkout extensions and synchronizes your eCommerce data with MailChimp.

WEB4PRO Abandoned Cart Extension

Our extension is compatible with last Magento 1 versions. It has automation settings for email notification, link generation for the abandoned cart of the authorized user. Also, you can restore the abandoned cart in one click and attach additional files to the email to retain customers.

Abandoned Cart Email Reminder

You’ll send quick email reminders to your potential clients, including discounts and coupons in it and personalize the email notifications with a custom subject and an appealing template. Set up restrict a number of reminders, handle mute carts and check your results via the statistics.

Magento POS Solutions

If you have a physical or an eCommerce store, then you might have already heard of POS systems. That’s because POS is the perfect way for you to integrate and combine offline stores with your online eCommerce platform. With it, you can increase your sales, keep your customers content, and stay at the top of your game. Learn more about POS solutions for Magento® 2 below.

What Does POS System Mean?

POS stands for Point of Sale system. In short, a POS is a system that allows your customers or clients to carry out the payments you ask of them. As the name suggests, it’s the moment where your customer’s order turns into a point of sale.

There are two ways in which POS systems are carried on. With the first, you install the system on your computer, which also connects it to your server.

The second uses the cloud. It’s called Software-as-a-Service POS solutions, which can be a bit of a mouthful. You access the system through the web, and even if you lose the Internet, your system will be updated when you’re online.

Magento Retail POS Features

POS is a broad topic that touches on a variety of other subjects. Below, you can read more about having a Magento 2 point of sales store and decide whether it’s right for your business.

Omnichannel System

Using an omnichannel system is critical for any business owner and any of the eCommerce store. Studies have shown that nearly 90% of business owners agree that it’s entirely vital to use an omnichannel system. That said, only 8% of them believe that they understand and apply it thoroughly.

Since almost all business owners claim that they have invested in an omnichannel strategy or that they’re planning to in the future, you don’t want to be left out of the loop.

User-Friendly

SaaS POS is exceptionally lightweight. You can take it on-the-go, which means you can add the module to your mobile devices like your iPad or your Tablet.

Even when you’re out from the workplace, you can make orders, or you can complete payment processes. On a POS Magento iPad, you can make managing your business all that much easier.

Customer Management

You can manage your customers more efficiently because you get data from inventory, purchase history from your customers, etc. In doing so, you’ll have more information to tailor to your customers’ needs. POS offers customers returns and backorders, as well as coupons and loyalty programs.

Analytics and Reporting

Analytics and reporting will bring more traffic to your website; thereby, increasing your sales.
Because POS provides you with enough much information about your customers that you can then suggest them product bundles, as well as recommended items and products. This will allow you to increase your sales because when your customers see suggested items based on their purchasing history, they’re more likely to like these items and buy them.

System’s Reporting

You’re able to increase productivity with the POS system. This is because when your associates use the information that’s been collected, they can enter more details about sales with an on-screen prompt.

When you have an extensive inventory, you can use barcodes to update the inventory you have in stock. Your payments are processed quickly and more efficiently; thereby, securing customer data more safely and making it easy for them to buy.

Let’s explore which extensions or POS software exist in the market, and what are their features and benefits.

POS Extensions for Magento 2

While there are some POS solutions for Magento 2, there aren’t many POS extensions for Magento 2; it’s easy to tell which ones come out on top.

Now that you know a little bit about the various features associated with Magento retail POS, here are some top extensions that allow you to use it effectively for your online store.

Connect POS

ConnectPOS is compatible with M1 (1.8 and above) and M2 (2.1 and above). It helps capture in-store sales quickly and synchronizes all data in real time between POS and Magento. ConnectPOS is equipped with many strong features such as Refund, Exchange, Gift Cards, Reward Points, Multi-warehouse Inventory and 20 advanced reports to help merchants run and grow their businesses with fewer limitations.

ConnectPOS has different pricing plans, starting at $39 for a month and we provide free trial and demo.

Overall, this extension allows you to connect stores with physical locations to eCommerce stores through multi-store management.

POS Extension for Magento 2 by Magestore

This POS extension is one of those because it offers your customers some advantages that other stores do not. For one thing, you can have store credit. This is useful if you have a high volume of returns. You can even have custom discounts!

As well as that, sync all of your information as it processes to keep your system up-to-date and to have relevant information about your customers. Flexible payments allow your customers to place orders without credit cards; they can pay with Paypal, Stripe, etc.

Boost My Shop POS Extension

At its base, the Boost My Shop POS Extension costs around $300 for the 3-month community plan. For six months, you can expect to pay $378, $418 for a year, and $598 for three years. The enterprise edition will cost you $598 for three months, $677 for six months, $717 for one year, and $897 for three years.

The extension provides you with an interface so that you can update all of your systems from the same screen. Your store will also process sales more quickly through the use of product scanning, a short-cut list of products without barcodes, and a search-engine tool that suggests products as you type in a search bar.

Now, we will consider pros and cons of POS system for business.

Pros and Cons Magento POS System

Let’s start with the advantages of the POS system for Magento store owner.

1. Versatile. You can use POS across all of your stores – online and offline control your inventory. This means that you know what is going on with sales, transactions, and stocks, and you can easily manage any surpluses or shortages of the products and distribute stocks across all the stores.
2. Easy-to-use. If you have one system to manage multiple business tasks, your staff will be able to adapt and use it more efficiently than different programs for tracking orders and managing your sales and inventory.
3. Environment-friendly. As a standard cash desk requires to print a receipt, the POS system is made to be innovative and environment-friendly. You can choose to send the receipt by email or even won’t provide it at all.

Cons of the POS system are the following:

1. Costly. To implement a fully-fledged POS system you need tablets, purchase the software, and also give your workers time for understanding how the system works and train them. Usually, the POS system requires Apple products which aren’t the cheapest ones. Consider all the risks, and possible expenses.
2. Short service life. Devices that are used for running a POS system require renovation or replacement. Besides physical harm, there could be cyberattacks or security breaches. That is why most devices need to be changed with a time which means additional costs.

Top Advantages of Creating Magento Blog

Magento® 2 allows you to create a Magento blog on your site, and it can be a real benefit in so many ways. Despite this, a lot of people don’t take advantage of this feature and those who do rarely use it to its maximum efficiency.

Here we are going to talk about why it’s essential and how you can use it efficiently. We hope that by the end of this article, you will be under no illusion as to how vital a Magento blog can be.

Top Pros for Blog in Magento 2 Store

There are a lot of amazing pros to starting a blog for a Magento 2 store, so let’s get into them. As always, we will be looking at just how a blog will be able to bring you more customers, more money, and increase your reputation and audience in many ways.

Social Media Presence

A strong social media presence is a key whenever you are looking to make sales. It ties into your brand power and strength, and the stronger your brand is, the more powerful connection you have with your potential customers.

Social media is one of the easiest, and one of the most efficient, ways of increasing brand awareness. In the past companies and stores would have to buy ads in newspapers or on TV, now they promote them through their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts.

We can’t forget about mobile traffic that has grown exponentially over the last decade, with the majority of adults in the world having a mobile phone. People use mobile devices more than 87 hours per month in the US and at 51% rate compared to desktop – 42%. Instead of people having to go to the store, they know they have the store right in their pocket. They use apps and check their favorite online store’s social media pages. And if you are not taking advantage of that and making sure your product is right there in front of them, you are missing out big time. That means having your business presented in all main social networks will boost customers engagement.

What are the advantages of social media in a blog? The availability of links to your social media can do a lot of the legwork helping you to increase your follower counts and to generate more information about you, your brand and your products.

In turn, funneling your social media followers to your blog will help that grow too. It’s a cycle of growth, each side feeding the other, and it all leads to you getting more sales afterward.

Brand Power

Customers usually make decisions not on a logical level but a subconscious level. A brand that has demonstrated its strength through a strong reputation and repetitive marketing that hits your audience will imprint itself into the subconscious of the user as a brand to trust. As a brand that has value, and can bring value to them via their products.

You will likely be competing with big companies in your field, so having an excellent blog on Magento 2 will be a massive help as it will help create trust, rapport, and understanding between you and potential clients. A certain topic covered in your blog or for example the success stories that your customers have experienced with a particular product, all help. It’s those pieces of connective writing that help to educate and entertain your readers that will come back to you tenfold in sales and conversions.

Traffic Boost

Traffic is the number one key to getting more sales. If you have no traffic, it will be impossible to get sales. There are a lot of good ways you can generate traffic to your site including social media marketing, PPC ads, SEO, or even word of mouth.

One great way that is simple to get started with is by using the blog Magento 2 feature. Starting a blog on Magento 2 will allow you to promote your store to the audience you build up on your blog.

You can generate attention for your blog by increasing the amount of traffic it gets. This can be done through some routes, including optimizing your content for search engines, researching the keywords you want to target and by utilizing Facebook, Instagram and other social sites as ways to direct traffic to your blog, which in turn directs traffic to your sales pages.

Additional Sales Channel

In addition to bringing traffic, it will also bring you other sales channels. You can feature your products in your posts and do some subtle advertising that way. Writing about your product features, its quality and why the audience needs it is a good way to get them to click through to your store and make purchases.

Amazon does this to significant effect, running an affiliate program where people can write about their products on their blogs and if the audience clicks through and makes the purchase, Amazon pays the affiliate a cut of the fee. If this system works for the biggest online store on the planet, it can certainly pay dividends for you.

The fewer obstacles you have in the way of potential customers the better, and here there is a chance for the customer to see the post, click through to the store, and buy the product straight away.

Unique Storytelling

Let’s face it, the majority of online stores all look the same. They have the products lined up with pretty images and 5-star ratings, but what does that tell you?

Once you have seen sites like that a thousand times already, their effect on you isn’t as strong. This is how most customers feel when everyone is all using the same marketing techniques and have the same setups, it all feels cloying and corporate.

Unique storytelling can be a very strong tool to increase conversions for a product. Writing posts of your experience with the product and making it entertaining and relatable creates a good feeling with the reader and if they enjoy your content, they are much more likely to try it for themselves. It also can be achieved through videos of the product in action, interesting stories of customers who have bought something before, and even intriguing stories on how the product came about in the first place.

Having a blog gives you the chance to present your products with a more personal touch. You can show it in a way that will make you stand out, and will allow your audience to connect with you in a much more personal way.

Your unique storytelling and presentation will help you build rapport with your potential clients, and this is going to be extremely helpful when it comes time to convert them into customers.