Once you get people to your website, the aim is to convert them into paying customers. How will they find the item they want to buy? By searching for it. The Search feature in your online store is a simple but powerful tool. When customers search for items, it means they want to buy something that they already have it in mind.
Studies show that customers who use the search tool have higher conversion rates. This is in comparison to those who just come to browse. When a customer uses a search tool, they want fast and intuitive results. And Elasticsearch in Magento® online store is the way to achieve this.
Elasticsearch Explanation
Elasticsearch is a search engine for your online store. It is an open-source tool that uses Lucene’s information retrieval software library. Elasticsearch is built for scalability and can be used to search all types of documents. It offers an almost real-time search and offers a distributed search which gives the customer very fast results.
Elasticsearch Feature List
Let’s take an overall look at some of Elasticsearch key features.
Stop Words Support
These are small supporting words for the search phrase (e.g. “the,” “for, “and”). It also supports synonyms and several languages. It makes your searches more instinctive, like the way natural language processing works. It enables Elasticsearch to understand what you want to search. This might differ a bit from what you typed.
Indexed Search Techniques
This eliminates the need for SQL queries which has a significant effect on speed. The result is very quick search speeds.
Standard Configuration
It works well even without customizations. It is also quite easy to scale horizontally.
Additional Applications
Elasticsearch offers other applications in its framework that go beyond mere searching. There are useful reporting, personalization, and storage options.
Autocomplete Function
It starts analyzing the customer’s search for the first character they type. As they continue typing, results that don’t match the search bar get eliminated. The customer is eventually left with the right product. This also extends to matching categories and related products, not just product descriptions.
Typo Correction
When words are mistyped, Elasticsearch assist customers with possible corrections to what they might have meant in the search bar. It uses a “Did you mean …” message. The suggestions given are based on actual products that can be found in the online store.
Relevant Search
It shows results that have an exact match to what the customer searched for. This smart feature incorporates past customer behavior when determining relevancy. This means that Elasticsearch considers consumer behavior when determining relevancy to that customer. Demographics and previous purchases are also considered.
This allows for all kinds of product specifications to be met first and focusses the customer’s search by using different facets and filters. So, only related items will be displayed. The customer gets to cut everything that does not meet his exact needs. This is quite useful for stores that sell items in several brands, colors or sizes.
How Will It Affect My Store Search?
The main advantage of Elasticsearch is it almost reads your customer’s intentions. Your customers will be able to search massive product lists at blistering speeds. The searches are very reliable and quite easy to manage.
So, how does Elasticsearch make Magento online stores, in particular, work better? Let’s look at a few Elasticsearch extensions, built for Magento online stores.
Elasticsearch Ultimate is an extension available for Magento 2 online stores. Their goal is to create the ultimate search experience for customers. This will naturally lead to an increase in conversion rates. Searches are completed within milliseconds. The additional search features are all built into the search engine. So, the customer does not need to fiddle with numerous settings.
Elasticsearch Ultimate also speeds up your store catalog pages. You can search through several different content types, and all languages are supported. Incorrect spellings autocorrected, as the customer types in the search bar. It also fully supports searches where keywords contain stop words, hyphens, and slashes.
Elasticsearch Ultimate Community Edition costs $249, and the Enterprise Edition costs $448. There is a separate installation fee of $49, which is optional.
Magento 2 Elasticsearch is also available for Magento 2 online stores. It is the preferred choice for online stores that need a highly scalable search engine. It can handle massive amounts of data in very little time. It is powerful enough to replace MySQL search engines. Magento 2 Elasticsearch also support multi-match and simple-match queries. As expected, it also features a clever auto-correct feature for misspelled words.
It is available in 3 editions: Community, Enterprise and Enterprise Cloud. The Community Edition costs $99. The Enterprise and Edition Cloud Editions each cost $198. All three editions come with a free 3-month support period. 6-Month and 1-year options are available at an extra price. There is a separate installation fee of $19-80, which is optional.
Extension for Elasticsearch is a distributed real-time search solution, built for the cloud. Indexing is lightning fast. It integrates well with other hosted services like Found, Bonsai, and others.
This Magento Elasticsearch extension has the highly-demanded autocomplete and autocorrect features. Related suggestions are also offered when an inconsistent search phrase is entered. This extension has received great reviews from online store owners. They cite wonderful customer support for this product.
It is available for €95. There is a 3-month free upgrade service. 6-Month and 12-month options available at an extra rate. There is a separate installation fee of €40, which is optional.
Magento Latest News: PWA Studio, Bluefoot, Klarna, and Many More
Magento® is a leading figure in the world of eCommerce. The company provides businesses with the opportunity to create the site they want, to expand their reach, and to have superior layouts and designs.
With Magento latest news about 2.3 and 2.4 versions, it proves to be the company’s best updates yet. With Magento 2.3’s Bluefoot, it’ll be easier than ever to customize your site to reflect your brand. With Magento 2.4, on the other hand, you’ll be able to take full advantage of Full GraphQL and advanced reporting.
The Magento updates show that the company has listened to the concerns of its clientele and that it’s ready to deliver. Below, you can read about Magento’s latest news, Bluefoot, PWA studio, Klarna, and more!
Magento 2.3 and 2.4
Magento 2 is upgrading its platform once again with Magento 2.3, to be released in mid-2018. The latest version of Magento will provide client-side performance, and in the enterprise edition, customers will be presented with a business-friendly page builder. Not only this, but the platform is integrating tools that will make it easier for companies to create PWAs that are more efficient.
By considering Progressive Web Applications, this Magento update is ahead of the game. PWAs provide instant page loads, offline browsing, lessens the traffic on your network, and more.
Magento 2.4, on the other hand, will provide advanced reporting and Native PWA, adding on to M 2.3’s PWA Studio. It will also incorporate Full GraphQL so that your page will have better product descriptions.
Magento PWA Studio
Let’s move onto the field of Progressive Web Apps Magento e-commerce. Magento’s PWA studio has a few features to present.
For one thing, there’s the enhanced API Layer in Magento’s latest release. The platform is currently debating whether or not they should provide a new API style, which would customize responses more than other designs. The Magento third-party API integration will make it easier for consumers to customize their sites.
Next, you’ve got your application shell, which won’t need to be frequently edited and is created early on in the project. When it’s loading, your application shell will minimize your branded UI; it will also be responsible for your PWAs critical CSS, its global data, etc.
The PWA feature sets itself apart from the previous version of Magento because while your Progressive Web App is hosted by Magento, it won’t interact with its data unless you use API calls.
Magento’s PWA Studio will handle all events or renders from inside the PWAs app shell. This will be done using ReactJS, and it will use Redux to handle your core library and to allow frequent tasks to function.
Benefits for Your Business
Progressive Web Apps are better for your Magento 2 business because they convert more people to you than both web pages and applications. This is partly because, in regards to apps, people don’t want more.
Beyond this, you aren’t confined to your CMS thanks to Magento’s PWA Studio API connection. In the long-run, you’ll also have lower costs because you can use the same app to run both mobile and desktop; thereby, costing less in maintenance and development.
Google’s developer website has released data which demonstrates the higher conversions you can get with Magento’s Progressive Web App Studio.
The study showed that across browsers, there was 104% new users, there was an iOs conversation of 83%, and there were double the page visits per session in any browser.
Progressive Web Applications for eCommerce shops are more advantageous because they’re faster, more reliable and engaging.
Their offline modes are what make them more reliable – customers can surf through the page when they have either little or no connection.
Magento PWA Studio Shops are faster because their instant page loads provide you and your customers with pages that load your pre-cache instantly. There are no white pages while your page loads.
Your web page will also update silently in the background so that your customers don’t have to be bothered with them.
Bluefoot CMS and Page Builder
Bluefoot is all the rage this year. The page builder allows you to develop your website through tools and content editors. With Bluefoot, you won’t have to hire third-party services, platforms, or developers to make your content the best it can be.
Here are just a few features that you can find with the Magento update, which includes Bluefoot CMS and Page Builder:
Drag & Drop
Most people avoid editing their pages on their own because they don’t want to get into coding. Bluefoot remedies this problem by incorporating a drag and drop option. This will allow you to make complex designs without being experienced in coding.
Extensible
Since the code for Bluefoot isn’t encrypted, it’s easy to extend Bluefoot. The latest version of Magento is tailored to satisfy merchants, agencies, and developers.
Klarna Integration
Klarna is made to keep your customers’ shopping experience simple. Klarna was founded in 2005 in Sweden. The bank and payment-processing service have a total of 60 000 000 end-customers and 70 000 merchants. They provide customers with support at any time. All they have to do is call or send an email to have problems resolved.
Late payments will also be prevented because Klarna will send customers reminders. Any old or new orders will be in the same place, and they can buy orders with one-click with the use of either their debit card or credit card. They’ll have the “pay now, “slice it,” or “pay later” option so that they can choose when they pay for their items.
Progressive Web Apps for eCommerce: What are the Benefits?
Do you have an online store? Are your pages taking a long time to load and do you lack in conversion rates? If so, we have the solution for you. Progressive Web Apps are the best option for eCommerce because they provide your customers with a fast, safe, and reliable way to shop online.
What are Progressive Web Apps?
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are web applications that deliver an experience that is similar to apps. Web apps are an upgraded version of web pages which must meet specific requirements. They must also be accessible through URLs, and they’re deployed in and by servers. They’re mostly a combination of responsive web design and native apps.
The PWA website can also be converted into an app later on if you want it to. They use application shells, which are the lowest standards of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and they use service workers, which independent scripts that help to run the PWA page.
Useful Functionality of a Progressive Web App
Many will convert to responsive web design in order to make their apps more efficient. That said, simply optimizing your web page to be more responsive isn’t enough. That’s because responsive web pages only make it easier for information to be shown on different devices and formats.
Because responsive web design doesn’t always provide eCommerce businesses with the conversion rates they want, these businesses will invest in native apps. Native apps, on the other hand, are expensive and don’t have enough reach.
PWAs are unlike responsive web design and native apps because they attempt to solve many of the problems that eCommerce businesses face. They can provide retailers with higher conversions, as well as an experience that’s very app-like. Google also introduced this feature to give companies with SEO and, thereby, expand their reach.
You can have this feature installed to add a shortcut on your customers’ home screen. They’ll have more access to your online store, and they’ll be more likely to buy from you in the future.
Offline Mode
Every web page has cached data. Offline mode uses pre-cached data to allow customers and clients to browse through web pages and sites when they have either low or no connection. While this doesn’t work for days on end, it will work for short periods of time when the connection is limited.
Payment Request API
Web security is a concern for anyone who shops online. That’s why your customers will appreciate payment request API, which provides everyone with a secure and fast way to shop.
Instant Page Loads
Instant page loads are one of PWAs most valuable features. Instant page loads mean that all of the information on a given web page is loaded instantly. In many web pages, a white page will appear before the page loads; however, PWAs resolve this.
By having quicker loading times, your customers will be able to navigate through pages more efficiently, and they’re more likely to come back to your store.
Web Push notifications are useful because they aren’t as intrusive. They’re made to draw someone’s attention when their phone or tablet’s browser isn’t on. Most often, it’ll pop up as a notification box on their main screen. For retail companies, it can say things like “Your order is almost ready!” when they haven’t completed their order or “Items you might like!” if they’ve already ordered from the store.
ECommerce businesses appreciate push notifications because their customers are more likely to click on them than they are emails. This is because emails from retail stores are more likely to go in a junk folder or, like in most email accounts, they get lost in thousands of messages.
Full-Screen Mode
Sometimes clients want to be able to shop with their entire screen and without the URL bar on the top of the page. By having a larger screen, your customers will be completely immersed in the eCommerce store and have the opportunity to see the items more clearly.
PWA For eCommerce: When and How to Use
If all of the above advantages are appealing to you, you might now be wondering when and how to use Progressive Web Apps. You should decide to use PWAs if your website needs to be frequently updated. This is because mobile web pages will continuously have new content to upload and without instant page loading, your site will run more slowly.
You might also want a PWA website if you’re going to give your customers the opportunity to surf through your site offline, or if you have a chat platform that will allow push notifications to update your customers with new data. To use a Progressive Web App, you should make sure to use a supported browser and to avoid Googlebot cloaking.
You should continue to use your URL structure to improve your site’s SEO. This is because there are some PWAs which have hashtags in the URLs, which doesn’t work in Googlebot. Whichever numbers or letters come after the hashtag will be erased.
Artificial Intelligence in Magento 2
Artificial intelligence has brought a new dimension of productivity to eCommerce. Magento® 2 takes full advantage of this technology. They have led the eCommerce industry into the future. Certain features can’t be automated. But Magento 2 has struck the right balance in this regard. Magento uses Artificial Intelligence in all the right places to boost functionality.
Features of Artificial Intelligence in Magento
Here are some ways in which Artificial Intelligence has enhanced the way Magento 2 works.
AI Context Search Solution
Traditional searching in an online store has always operated on a keyword-matching basis. It relies on matching keywords to information tags attached to product descriptions. This is effective enough. But it still means that exact keywords have to be used. Also, there will always be products that get included because they share a keyword. But, they do not have any contextual relationship.
Artificial intelligence solves this problem. It adds the element of “context” to all searches. AI uses NLP (Natural Language Processing) to understand the meaning of keywords. It uses this information to show the most relevant results. AI-based searches always yield more accurate results for your customers.
Artificial intelligence uses machine learning to teach itself the buying patterns of customers. It analyses what products get browsed versus demographics versus historical data.
AI combines these factors, including others, to create predictive models. These models show you what customers respond to. Magento 2 uses them to figure out who their target base is so that marketing efforts can be more focused. Using AI, less energy gets wasted because you can target the people most likely to buy your products.
Magento 2 extensions help gather the information they need to learn customers’ shopping patterns. These extensions are a crucial investment for any Magento 2 online store. Using them eliminates the possibility of human bias or error.
Magento’s Security Standards
Security in eCommerce is of utmost importance. AI and Magento 2 help keep your online store safe against fraud. This is thanks to the fraud detection and prevention tools built into Magento. Combining these tools with AI can help solve business problems more quickly and in a cheaper way. Queues of manual transactions can now get processed using AI.
AI processes learn the necessary steps and then perform these actions. The fraud prevention and security measures in Magento will work better. Using AI as the programming model for fraud prevention cause results in a smarter and faster “brain”. Thus, it is less open to human fallacy and interference.
Artificial Intelligence in Magento 2 Extensions
Magento 2 extensions can add AI capabilities to your online store. Here are a few types of these extensions.
Chatbots
Chatbots are virtual conversational partners. They allow for real-world language conversations between customers and the store. Thanks to AI, the chatbot can interpret certain conversation parts as commands. It understands the context of your conversation and can seamlessly carry out commands. Orders can be placed right there in the chat window. There’s no need for a separate checkout process. It’s a faster purchasing experience, and that’s what customers want.
One example is Facebook Chatbot for Magento 2 that gives a business the options to serve customers via the Facebook chat feature. Another example is the Chatbot by Webkul. It also connects Magento 2 online stores to customers via Facebook Chat. It enables customers to bookmark any product via their preferred chat app. They will also receive instant alerts for products.
Modules
Modules offer amazing extra features to your existing online store. Mollie is a module that creates a more streamlined payment solution. It provides reliable security which your customers will love. It integrates all major payment methods and gives a simple refund process.
The Magento 2 Product Slider module shows suggested similar items to customers. It lets them easily find what they are looking for in one place. The Personalized products module shows predicted suggestions for what the customer wants. It also suggests complimentary items. These are items that would pair well with what the customer is searching for. This module also gives suggestions about what combinations other customers have bought.
How Artificial Intelligence Affect Marketing?
Artificial intelligence is only at its most effective when used as a tool. It cannot be used to replace actual marketers. Instead, it should be used as an aid to marketers in creating excellent marketing strategies. Artificial intelligence works well for automating tasks and analyzing data. But the human creative element is necessary and that is the job of the marketer.
One of the pillars of effective marketing is personalization. You should aim to create a scenario that is relevant to the audience. Then you are more likely to convert them into paying customers. Good personalization uses AI to understand the mind of the customer. It does not suggest products simply because they already bought it before. Artificial intelligence helps you put different personalized experiences together for each potential customer.
We know how difficult it can be for you to choose a platform to host your online store. We will consider two major competitors in this field – Magento® 2 vs. BigCommerce. Why? The base costs of both are cheap: Magento community edition is free to install, and BigCommerce standard package is only $30/month. Let’s move on and compare them to see who will be the winner.
Difference Between BigCommerce and Magento 2
Now we can move onto the differences between BigCommerce and Magento 2. This way, you can make an informed decision about which platform is best for you.
Features
Magento 2 is an open-source platform. This means that it is incredibly customizable because you can change themes, colors, and add features to it.
Magento 2 offers its customers’ search engine optimization, instant purchase, coupon tracking, catalog browsing, and product browsing. Magento 2 customers get to experience your online store’s social media integration, as well as messaging displays for out-of-stock products and even coupons! You also can integrate your store with Amazon, eBay to boost your sales!
BigCommerce offers 5GB of storage with its base package, and you can have unlimited products. You also have unlimited staff accounts, eBay and Amazon integration, Google Shopping, a branded store, product ratings, etc.
With BigCommerce pro plus package, you can make up to $150 000 online sales per year, and with the pro package, you can make more.
When it comes to features and functions, Magento is the best because you can tailor it entirely to the needs of your company and your customers.
Pricing
Magento 2 has two different packages. The first one is the Community edition, and it’s free to install. That said, most people want to tailor their company to their needs, which is why you might want to buy some add-ons later on. The second option is Enterprise edition that cost 22,000 per year and has excellent features around B2B and now order management. It is flexible to any changes and additional functionality solutions.
BigCommerce, on the other hand, has three plans. The first is the standard package, which is $30 per month. The second is the additional package, sitting comfortably at $79.97 per month. The pro package is the most expensive and costs $249.99.
Community Support
Magento 2 offers its users technical support and help within its development community. Magento has many forums that you can ask questions on, and plenty of professionals will work to make sure that your problem is solved.
BigCommerce has the support that you can reach by email, phone, or instant chat.
Server Requirements
To run Magento 2, there are a few server requirements that you should keep in mind. For one thing, you’ll need to have Apache 2.2, 2.4, and nginx 1.x. When you have Apache, you’ll need to enable mod_rewrite, which is a feature that allows you to edit your URL.
BigCommerce handles your hosting on its own, which allows you to have more time to work on your online store. BigCommerce servers are certified and prevent server breaches.
Marketing Opportunities
Magento 2 is known for its marketing opportunities. For one thing, everyone can take advantage of the platform’s SEO. This means that you can optimize all of your products by adding metadata so that they are favored in Google. One of the best things that you can do in this case is to create individual URLs. This will make it easier for customers to find your product sites and it will be easier for Google to recognize your page, as well as what your page is about. Magento 2 offers its users Google sitemap, which makes any of the online store more user-friendly.
BigCommerce holds its own in marketing opportunities because it also offers sitemaps, meta information, and you can customize your URLs.
Social Media
BigCommerce has built-in blogging opportunities. Blogs are some of the most useful features that you can add to your eCommerce store because they allow you to expand your reach. With a blog, you can discuss your brand, and you can even take advantage of SEO to improve your search results. You will be able to get more customers by creating “How-To” guides and Q&A’s.
While Magento 2 does not have built-in blogging solutions, there are plenty of add-ons that you can install to create blogs. You can host them with your online store.
Email Marketing
Magento 2 takes the lead in email marketing. The company allows you to install add-ons that will connect you with newsletter services. Their add-ons will enable you to manage your subscribers, send welcome emails, more. If you have an existing mailing service, you can also connect this to one of your addons.
In comparison, BigCommerce offers necessary email marketing, with welcome emails and opt-in forms.
Magento 2 vs. BigCommerce: Usage Prospects
Magento 2 Clients
Magento 2 currently hosts around 0.1% of the top 100 000 sites around the world, 0.3% of the top million, and 0.2% of the entire internet. The number of eCommerce stores being hosted by Magento 2 appears to be increasing among the top 100 000 and top 1 million.
Not only this, but there are reportedly about 11 500 physical businesses that use Magento for the online store in the United States, which is followed by just over 1 thousand companies in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
BigCommerce Clients
BigCommerce, on the other hand, runs about 0.6% of the entire internet. 0.1% of the sites that use BigCommerce are among the top 100 000, and 0.5% are within the top one million. The number of the top one million websites that use BigCommerce varies depending on the year, but the platform experienced a significant drop in users at the beginning of 2018.
There are around 50 thousand U.S. stores with physical locations in the United States that use BigCommerce, followed by approximately 3700 in Australia and 2700 in the U.K.
Magento 2 or BigCommerce: What Will You Choose?
The platform you choose to run your online store depends entirely on your needs. Overall, though, you’ll probably find that Magento 2 is the better fit for your store because it is extremely customizable. This is due to its being an open-source platform, and because you can install various add-ons that will make your store your own.
Artificial intelligence is now being introduced into more industries and sectors. The idea of a machine being able to reason “like a human” may seem overwhelming. But, it has opened up a new dimension of productivity and service in eCommerce. Online businesses can now offer customers so much more. Let’s look at artificial intelligence in eCommerce and how it has affected the community.
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
It is also called the machine intelligence, which is created in a contrast to the human intelligence to use it in computer science, mathematics, information engineering, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and many other fields.
Why Artificial Intelligence Is Needed?
AI is needed to simplify the process of receiving the required information. Now, we have tons of data, questions, answers, articles, and videos. Physically we are not able to find relevant information, for example, without Google search with related questions, best match, the assortment of data and other helpful AI-based solutions
That’s not all. With the growth of technologies, most fields require complex solutions to operate their products. IoT is a network of devices connected with the Internet. To perform such complex task requires AI to build a secure and stable system of devices for a house or office.
How Does Artificial Intelligence Work?
AI works by handling a large amount of data and its fast processing with intelligent algorithms which was broadened to the classification of subfields where AI is used:
Machine learning – analyzes data and make predictions without being programmed for this purpose. It is used to predict the best matches and give you the variation of things that you might like.
Cognitive computing – imitates and recreate the process of human thinking for better understanding of human language and the meaning of images. Together, cognitive computing and Artificial Intelligence aim to empower machine with human-like behavior.
Deep Learning – are neural networks that learn by processing data. Machines use many inputs to determine one output. Another form of deep learning is speech recognition which allows the voice assistant to understand and answer difficult questions like our article covers.
Neural Network – learns with examples to identify the right object. Neural networks were created from human neural connections example. These computer systems learn from large data sets by analyzing data many times to make associations and give meaning to the previously undefined data.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) – allows machines to learn, understand and process human languages in context and create logical responses. This enables machine intelligence to facilitate communication between people. The example of using NLP can be apps that translate sentences and any text to other languages in a real-time.
Computer Vision – enables computers to identify, process and interpret the content of an image. It serves in a healthcare and R&D sector.
Artificial Intelligence – Examples
As we are interested in eCommerce, we’ve collected the most common features where AI can be used for an online store. This includes:
Product recommendations
Advanced searches with autosuggestion and autocomplete
Personalization services
Fraud detection
Voice search
Also, we can’t forget about live examples. Below you can find the tools that are widely used in eCommerce and which companies have successfully implemented those tools to their stores.
The Growth of Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce
The popularity of artificial intelligence in eCommerce has grown exponentially. It has become easier and cheaper to implement in online businesses. These are some of the leading business aspects that benefit from AI:
Unique Customer Experience
Artificial intelligence can be used to personalize customers’ shopping experience. Using their buying history, it is possible to determine what other related items you should advertise to them.
AI allows this to happen, based on the guidelines that you provide. For example, if a customer buys a mobile device, the next ad they see might be for accessories for that device. Your conversion rates can increase if you market the right items to the right customers. Artificial intelligence helps make that possible.
For example, well-known VPA Alexa made by the Amazon. It is built on skills. They give a platform an opportunity to understand the verbal commands and requests. It is a cloud-based solution, and you can just use it for playing the music, creating to-do-lists, streaming podcasts, etc.
Chatbots
In the past, online chatting was only as responsive as its pre-programmed responses. By using AI, the chatting experience is now as satisfying as chatting with a real person.
A chatbot can act on specific conversational cues, rather than wait for hard-commands. It can mimic a conversation with a real person. They are intelligent and relatable. Customers respond to chatbots, thanks to AI development and machine learning in eCommerce.
There are many chatbots existed in Telegram messenger to stimulate customers reaction and engagement for events and posts. As well as Bank of America uses instant notifications to help customers make better financial decisions.
Virtual Shopping Assistant
Online shoppers can now enjoy the services of an intelligent virtual shopping assistant. These virtual shopping assistants can help a customer pick items based on that the customer’s preferences are. They can learn about the latest trends and combine them with the needs and tastes of the customer. They use that information to make smart suggestions to the customer.
Imagine having an assistant that accompanies you whenever you browse an online store. An AI shopping assistant who knows that you prefer plain white sneakers. Or, for example, that you’ve had your eye on a new coffee machine for a long time. Now imagine that assistant finding the best deals on those items for you.
There are vast amounts of user data that is now available. These are just collections of raw data that need to be processed into useful information. This would usually take a lot of computing resources and workforce to analyze all this data.
We want to mention excellent Netflix strategy with the usage of AI in preempting marketing. They use history of the viewing data, flow it through their AI programs to suggest similar movies or TV shows that their customers may enjoy.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, we can let a computer sort through everything. It will create useful information by itself. This still requires some initial programming. But this is more of a guideline-giving practice. Once these guidelines are set, the data can start being analyzed. It can be used to predict trends and determine buying patterns. It is an effective way of learning about customers and what they want. It is based on their past actions and not on traditional, outdated models.
Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce
The benefits of AI commerce are so much greater than traditional eCommerce practices. It merges the efficiency of a computer with thought processes similar to that of a human. Intelligent systems in e-Commerce can generate more profit because many functions get improved. Let’s look at a few of them.
Artificial intelligence is based on massive data sets from various sources. This means direct customer involvement with the conclusions that are reached. Your strategies can be found on actual customer data, not assumed predictions that one cannot guarantee.
The customer can engage more actively with you on all your media platforms. Customers would rather give their business to a friendly chatbot, rather than a cold, lifeless order form. The conversation between customer and merchant is more amiable.
Sales Growth
It must be noted that artificial intelligence is not meant to replace a salesperson. Instead, it provides sales staff with the information they need to deliver a better sales pitch. A successful sales pitch means more sales growth. The sum of all your AI usage ultimately leads to increased sales.
Efficient Sales Process
Artificial intelligence can accept voice and natural-language input. This means that one could place an order by only having a normal conversation with an online machine. No need for individual commands or specific processes. Asking your phone to “find a cheap flight to New York” it will do exactly that. No need to be redirected to other sites or to be put on waiting for an actual salesperson.
AI can process an order based on a regular human conversation. Customers want that kind of efficiency. This is possible, thanks to artificial intelligence online shopping.
Targeting Potential Customers
Research has shown that one-third of all marketing leads do not get followed up. This means that you could be losing potential customers by not even talking to them. Perhaps, you simply don’t have the human resources to give all that personal attention to every single lead. That is where artificial intelligence can help. It could determine how long customers spend perusing certain products (i.e., dwell time spent on a web page).
Your AI-enabled system could flag the sales staff of a potential customer showing actual interest in a product. It could also send them special offers or perhaps advertise other options for that item.
Top Best Google SEO Tools for eCommerce Business
Do you have an eCommerce business? Are you looking for new ways to help it grow? If this sounds like you, then you’ve come to the right place. Below, you can read all about the best Google SEO tools for eCommerce businesses.
Google Structured Data
If you haven’t heard of Google Structured Data before, that’s okay because we’re going to explain it anyway! Google Structured Data is essentially how Google understands web pages. It collects data from a site to gather information. Google Search uses this data to enable either enhancements or unique search results.
Google Search uses snippets from a website’s data to identify labels that will allow people to find your page by searching for specific keywords or categories. You want this for your online store because potential customers are more likely to find you.
How does it work?
You can use structured data to help Google distribute your content. To optimize your structured data, you should be enabling actions and marking content properties wherever you can.
Google Structured Data uses content markup, which describes your content. If you’re figuring out your markup content, make sure that you use larger values first, followed by smaller properties. You can use the name, URL, etc.
Google Structured Data also uses action markup. It allows you to create actions within your content; for example, if you have video content on your site, you can use WatchAction.
How to:
Let’s start off with markup content. There are three things you have to do to create markup content.
The first one is that you have to determine what you’ll be publishing on your eCommerce site. You have to decide if you’re writing articles, creating music, etc. Making this decision will allow you to optimize your online store.
Secondly, you need to decide which properties to select. Do this by going to your markup references and look at all of your available features so that you can add the data to your content pages.
The last thing you need to do is pretty simple: just test it all out with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
Next, we move onto action markup. Action markup requires you to do two things.
The first thing you have to do is make yourself a markup template. This will allow you to create values that you’ll later include in your site’s HTML. You can create features on your site like offering your customers subscriptions if you’re selling products in individual packages. This is relevant for videos, episodes, or even newspapers. You can test your markup content with the feature mentioned above: Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
Carousel for Products and Posts
Carousel shows multiple search results on Google that are similar to your site’s content. Not only this, but carousel can create results of similar items from your website. This will increase your sales because if, for example, someone is shopping for clothing at another store, your site can pop up right next to it and your potential customers are likely to check to see what you’re all about. Not only this but if they see similar products on your site, they might want to buy more!
Featured snippets and image
When it comes to snippets, you should make sure that only information that is available to visitors and potential clients is included. If you want to add an image, make sure that it’s of high quality.
At a minimum of 696 pixels wide, you’re more likely to get good results with high-resolution images. You should always include pictures if you have an eCommerce store because it’ll give visitors an idea of what your products look like.
Rich snippets for reviews, emoji
Rich snippets are especially useful because they allow you to add extra content for articles, recipes, products, and reviews, the latter of which we’ll be discussing here. Reviews are especially useful because when people shop online, they want to know whether your products and your business in general, are good. You have to implement rich snippets by using structured data.
Google will display a variety of reviews, from critic reviews to review snippets. You can have these appear as a search result with Google Knowledge Cards.
Google Voice Search: how to use it for online store
Voice search is on the rise, which means you don’t only have to optimize your site for desktop computers anymore, but for voice search. Essentially, voice search is when you use features like Apple’s Siri, Google’s Google Assistant, or Microsoft’s Cortana to search the internet.
When HigherVisibility surveyed 2000 people, around 27% of them were found to use virtual assistants daily, which is why you should be considering Google Voice Search as a useful Google SEO tool when you’re trying to optimize your online store.
‘How to’ section as a valuable content on your website
The first thing you have to do if you want to use Google Search for your online store is to verify it with Google Search Console. This will allow you to check whether your site and its multiple pages are mobile-friendly.
If you want to use Google Search, you shouldn’t block CSS, JavaScript, images, etc. on your mobile site. You should also avoid using Flash because many mobile browsers aren’t able to support it, which means your customers and visitors won’t be able to use Google Search on your site.
You should also make sure that your site doesn’t take too long to load because your customers won’t be willing to wait around. You can do this by improving plenty of small things; you can, for example, compress your images.
When you’re searching keywords with Google Search, you speak to it as you would another person. Because of this, you have to optimize your site to reflect dialogue. To do this, you should write your content as if you’re answering a question. You can use Google’s “People also ask” feature to find out what people are searching.
Youtube videos on your website
If it’s possible, you should try to include Youtube content on your site. That’s because when Google searches through your pages for quality, videos are one of the factors that increase this quality. Furthermore, people are more likely to stay on your page for an extended period if you have video content.
Since Google isn’t able to decipher a video, however, you should also include images and text around it that will bring in more traffic and allow Google to decipher what your page is about. This way, when people search for specific keywords, it’ll bring them right to you.
What is Magento Business Intelligence for eCommerce Business?
RJMetrics was known to have insightful business intelligence products. Their expertise went beyond a good RJMetrics review, or two and Magento® purchased them. The goal was to give Magento customers the absolute best in eCommerce solutions. E-commerce has now been accepted as standard practice for most businesses.
Since analytics has become so popular, you should aim to integrate it into your eCommerce operations. After all, analytics helps us make better business decisions. It uses your own business’s data to show the effects of your choices. Magento has the perfect solution: Magento Business Intelligence.
Meet Magento Business Intelligence
Magento Business Intelligence is a revolutionary data analytics tool for eCommerce. It gives you valuable insights that you need about promotions, customers, and products. It should be your first choice if you need any of the following in your business:
Advanced Tool for eCommerce Business Analysis
Business analysis is essential for any business activity, even more so for eCommerce businesses. Magento Business Intelligence has advanced tools to perform in-depth analysis of your data.
Magento Business Intelligence can integrate with 3rd party data sources and APIs. You can now use these integrations to do so much more than before.
Powerful Dashboard for B2B Merchants
Magento is an expert in all aspects of eCommerce. Using this knowledge, they have developed useful dashboards for B2B merchants. They know what kind of data is essential to you and what will help your business. Magento 2 Business Intelligence puts that data at your fingertips.
Top Benefits of Magento BI
Here are some ways that Magento Business Intelligence can help your business.
Saves Your Time
Magento Business Intelligence Essentials has automated many features. For example, reports only have to be created once. They will update themselves. This frees up time that can be spent on more important things.
Magento Business Intelligence also saves time by presenting data in informative ways. You won’t have to spend time doing that and can focus on other important things.
Carries Out Advanced Analysis
Magento Business Intelligence performs sophisticated data analysis on your data. This ensures that the report you receive is relevant and practical. All analytics are based on proven informational models. The goal is to show you what your company numbers are telling you.
Provides Magento Reporting Tools
Magento Business Intelligence has comprehensive reporting tools at your disposal. They show you essential key performance indicators at a glance. Magento reporting tools are built to be as easy to use as possible. They provide indisputable facts based only on your company data.
Includes Efficient B2B Features
Magento 2 Business Intelligence has distinctive advantages for B2B. It has new dashboards, and better data analytics explicitly built for B2B. You have access to features like multi-tier data analytics and interactive consoles. They are made to help B2B merchants get the most out of their eCommerce solutions.
Here are some of the impressive features built into Magento Business Intelligence:
5 Ready-to-Use Dashboards
Magento BI dashboards with 75 available reports are already available for use. The Companies dashboard shows customer health using their existing data with your company.
The Quotes dashboard displays data related to quote conversion rates and time spent on negotiation. The Sales Rep dashboard shows sales team performance with using a quote to order rates, unfulfilled quotes, etc. The Catalogs dashboard shows the success rate of your product ranges, based on product sales. The reports are related to each dashboard subject.
As you can see, Magento BI has every aspect covered. Your company overview is comprehensive and thorough.
Integration of Google Analytics and Magento Data
With Magento BI, your existing Magento data can be integrated with Google Analytics. It will show the relationship between your website traffic and your online store. You will be able to learn how best to fine-tune your website configuration to get maximum traffic. You can also see which parts of your website affect your sales negatively and positively.
Magento BI gives you two kinds of report builders: SQL and Visual. The SQL Report Builder lets users run SQL queries straight to the PostgreSQL data store. The Visual Report Builder provides an easy way to visualize your Magento data. You can create charts, add metric easily and arrange it in a way that suits you.
Export Data to Excel and CSV
Raw Magento data can be exported into an Excel or CSV file. This data can also be linked to the tables it came from so that it refreshes regularly. This allows you to share this information with other stakeholders in a common format.
Email Summaries
Email summaries are text-based table versions of reports. This allows them to be viewed on mobile devices. Sometimes, mobile devices can distort the visual structure of a report and make it unreadable or confusing. Email summaries solve this problem. It prepares reports more accessible and easier to read if you’re on the go.
Ten User Accounts
Magento 2 Business Intelligence gives you ten user accounts that you can assign as you see fit. All users may have advanced permissions, but you can restrict certain permissions. These permissions allow each user to perform certain tasks or access specific Magento data. Each user can also have their own set of dashboards which can be shared with other users. If the dashboard has data that the receiver doesn’t have permission to see, those reports won’t appear in the Magento analytics dashboard.
Magento vs ATG Oracle Commerce: Your Choice for B2B
In physical retail buildings, it’s all about what the inside of your store looks like. Online, though, the eCommerce platform you choose will determine everything. If you’re currently investing in B2B, you might be wondering which the best option is: Magento® 2 or Oracle Commerce? And what benefits do Magento customers have compared to Oracle Commerce customers? Below, we’ll tell you all about both platforms and which one is best for your needs.
Comparing Magento to Oracle
Difference between Magento and Oracle Commerce
First and Foremost, we’re going to discuss the differences between Magento 2 and Oracle Commerce because this will help you choose between the two.
Advantages
Oracle
Oracle Commerce (also called ATG) is geared toward retail companies, and it allows its customers to launch new websites, customize campaigns, and more.
Oracle sets itself apart from other platforms because it allows customers to batch transactions together. This means that if you have multiple transactions to pay for, you can group them all. The extensive documentation covers all issues, so by setting it out you will make clear how to use a/b testing feature or other additional functionality.
Magento
In comparison, Magento is a platform that tailored for many different eCommerce businesses. It provides clients and customers with everything they need for marketing, as well as business tips and omnichannel features.
Magento 2 is especially useful for enterprises because while it costs more, there are more features and add-ons available. Not only this, but technical support is always available. Extra features with Magento Enterprise edition include customer loyalty programs and management features. If you’re on a budget, the Magento community edition can offer anything you need if you own a smaller or midsized business. Magento platform already has lots of followers and because of the number of features, two editions and popularity it is the most widely used e-Commerce software in the world.
Disadvantages
Oracle Commerce
The cost of running Oracle makes it less desirable to most customers. Not only this, but most find it rather hard to operate. Competitors like SQL Server offer user-friendly options for creating online websites. Magento 2 has also come with more solutions for users; for example, they offer a “drag-and-drop” option to make designing easy. The timeline of the Magento websites is 4-5 months to get up and running, while for Oracle Commerce it may be 1-4 years (depends on the project complexity.)
Magento
Magento is an open-sourced platform, which means it’s incredibly customizable. That said, this feature makes it more complex for people who want to make customizations. You might also want to hire a developer, and this will cost you more money.
Magento offers businesses the flexibility they need for B2B. According to their site, Magento is the #1 platform for B2B in 2017. They also enable customers to make their own catalogs and negotiate price.
Beyond this, Magento 2 offers an instant purchase checkout. This feature stores past credit and shopping information to make the process faster. Afterward, customers can use Magento shipping, which is a feature that has multi-carrier shipping.
Oracle focuses on each business to offer them a personalized experience rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. This company is continuously evolving to accommodate for Oracle ATG Web Commerce Clients. The platform allows people to manage their entire eCommerce website from the same channel.
With Oracle, sites and single-purpose campaigns can be built and; thereby, launched quickly compared to other platforms. Oracle customers can use Oracle Commerce Experience Manager, which allows business owners to set up their website without assistance. You can control anything from the layout to the merchandising.
Website Security
Oracle works primarily with Cloud. While most people have severe (and valid) concerns about cloud security, Oracle attempts to help by providing customers with the best security policies around the world. Organizations can create and effectuate their security policies to help clients and company owners to feel more secure.
Magento keeps its clients and customers up-to-date with regular security updates. With Magento, shopping or surfing online has never been safer. Magento allows you to run security scans on your page and for advanced developers, the platform offers Yara. This is a program which checks for malware throughout your platform and files.
MageReport is another opportunity for you to enhance web security. With this program, you can scan for ransomware, brute force attacks, visbot malware, and more! It will also examine your site’s third-party extensions.
Server Requirements
Server requirements for Magento 2 include Apache 2.x and Nginx 1.7.x. Whichever server you’re using, you should make sure that it can run scheduled jobs with PHP.5 and that it can override options in access files. Oracle can use Internet Explorer 7.x and 8.x, Firefox 3.5 and 3.6, as well as Safari 4 and 5.
Magento 2 Vs. Oracle Commerce: Usage Prospects
Oracle Commerce Customers
Oracle Commerce runs about 0.1% of the entire Internet. There are 15 322 physical businesses in the United States that use Oracle. Next, we have Germany with 395 locations and the United Kingdom with 347. Oracle is gaining the majority of its clients from Magento and AbleCommerce.
Around 0.3% of the top one million eCommerce businesses are built with Oracle and about 1.2% of the top 100, 000 websites online. A total of 20, 064 live websites are using Oracle Commerce and historically, 8, 501 websites have used Oracle.
Magento 2 Customers
The United States is the country that has the most physical business using Magento 2. The U.S. has 753 physical locations, while the United Kingdom has 115 and the Netherlands has 71. Magento is also reported to be gaining the majority of its customers from WooCommerce and Opencart.
Overall, Magento runs 216,024 currently live websites out of all eCommerce businesses online. As for Magento 2, 21,313 sites are using it now, and this number continues to grow.
Oracle Commerce vs. Magento 2: What is Your Choice?
When it comes to your online site, it’s important that you choose the best platform for your business. Two of the best competitors are Magento and Oracle. Oracle is focused mainly on retail companies, so if this doesn’t suit your company, then you should consider going with Magento instead.
Let’s summarize!
How to Become Magento Partner: Follow the Magento Partners Program
Each year, Magento® sees around $50 billion in overall business. It is clear that the platform is popular due to its reliability. Now it’s possible to go a step further and become a Magento Associate Partner. Let’s take a closer look at the conditions of the program.
What Is a Magento Partner Program?
The Magento Partner Program is mutually beneficial. It lets you and Magento align your business resources and goals. Partners are businesses that become a part of Magento’s ecosystem of technologies and network companies. Finding other partners is easy, just find a Partner page to browse the Magento Partner directory.
What Are the Types of Partnership?
You can enter into two types of partnerships: Solutions Partners and Technology Partners. Each type has its own conventions and benefits. But surely they have got some differences in requirements.
Magento Solution Partner
Solution Partners are associates who can develop new solutions for clients using the Magento platform. Over 250 000 brands make use of it. However, not all clients have the development expertise to make full use of its potential. That’s where a Magento Business Solution Partner can help.
Over 300 consulting companies that became part of this program are succeeding with solutions for their clients. As a part of the partnership, they get access to product training and enablement in marketing and sales. They also get access to valuable resources to help drive growth in their companies. Magento has created four partnership levels to assist Solution Partners according to their scope and requirements.
Business Partners: Companies that either just started their experience of partnership or specialize in implementing Magento Community Edition. Mainly they are serving small to midsize companies.
Professional Partners: Experts who serve to emerge mid-size brands. They implement Magento Commerce Edition regularly in their solutions and stay current with all B2B innovations.
Enterprise Partners: Performing the full-service offerings, they specialize in more significant Magento technical solutions. Enterprise specialists have proven their commerce development capabilities and vested commitment by delivering the best customer experience. They are also keen on vertical expertise.
Global Elite Partners: Companies specialize in full-service project integration with their certified developers and B2B experience. By demonstrating high levels of excellence in the world of eCommerce, they can manage highly sophisticated solutions for top-tier clients.
How to Become Magento Solution Partner
If you would like to know how to become a Magento Solution Partner, merely contact Magento, and they will get you started on the application process. Once the application process is completed, you will be notified, and you can be in a community.
Magento Technology Partner
An Extension Builder Partner is a 3rd-party company that builds extensions for the Magento platform. These extensions enhance Magento’s capabilities. It can also enable integration with other products.
What Are the Types of Extension Builder Partners?
There are two of them: General Partners and Select Partners. Both partner types revel most of the program benefits. However, Select Partners do enjoy bigger discounts on Magento Training. They also get prioritized extension quality processing. This helps to ensure their upgraded extensions go live on the Magento Marketplace as soon as possible.
How to Become Technology Partner?
All potential Magento Technology Partners need to have a Magento extension that is already built. You should pass a review done by a Magento team, and have the Magento developer account. An extension is not essential for companies that specialize in performance and hosting. Simply contact Magento, and they will take you through the entire process.
Benefits of Becoming Magento Official Partners
A Magento partnering is a commitment to mutual growth and benefit. It allows you to access the largest eCommerce ecosystem in the world. The Magento community is vast. You can network with a huge community which is a doorway to a wealth of resources. It offers you many valuable tools and services that are designed to help grow your company. These range from excellent discounts on development tools to regular access to informative workshops. So, they will do their utmost to help your business grow as big as it can.
Pitfalls
As with all programs of this nature, there are always hurdles to overcome. In the case of Magento, they are very few. The benefits far outweigh the negatives. However, let’s look at them so you can get the complete picture of the Magento Partner Program.
Your Company Revenue and Fees
Magento does charge a fee to join the Partner Program. This is dependent on the size of your company or the revenue that your company receives.
The annual fee to join the Solution Partner Program is $5 000 for Registered and Professional Partners. The fee for Enterprise Partners is $10 000. This fee gives you all the value that comes from being affiliated with this vast community. You also receive individual tech support, marketing opportunities, and a free Enterprise production and development license
There are two ways to join the Technology Partner program. One option is to participate as an Xcelerate Tech Partner. This option only requires an annual fee based on your revenue and partner level.
The other option is to become an Xcelerate Extension Builder. This requires an annual program fee and a 30% revenue share. Select Partners pay $10 000, and Premier Partners pay $20 000.
