Nowadays, it is clear that AI has significantly influenced many fields, from medical to education and e-commerce, and advertising and marketing are no exceptions. We have collaborated with advertising and marketing agencies from the USA and Europe for over 20 years. This networking has allowed us to study the current challenges and strategy changes in this niche, so let’s delve into it.
When giants like Meta and Google introduce advanced AI tools to automate ad creation, strategy, and placement, the impact is immediate and deeply disruptive. For marketing and advertising agencies, these changes aren’t just about new technology. They signal a shift in how value is created, delivered, and priced.

Agencies are now asking:

“If AI can generate campaigns in minutes, where does that leave us? And more importantly, what should we do next?”

This article explores the key challenges posed by AI-driven automation and provides practical, specific advice for agency leaders aiming to thrive and remain competitive.

The Core Disruption: Commoditisation of Creative and Strategy

Agencies were hired for their creative skills, strategic planning, and technical expertise. Campaigns took time, involved many people, and were priced accordingly, usually by billable hours or media spend percentage.
But with the rise of AI-powered tools like Meta’s Advantage+ or Google’s Performance Max, a large part of this work is now automated. Brands can generate ad copy, images, headlines, and even test variations, with minimal input and cost. In some cases, the entire media buying process is handled by algorithms.
The value chain is changing from craftsmanship to commoditisation.
On one hand, we save plenty of time, but on the other hand, that creates some real problems.

What Problems Will Agencies Face?

1. Clients Expect Faster and Cheaper Services

When platforms offer ad automation for free (or included in ad spend), clients start questioning why they’re paying thousands to agencies for the same outputs. Expectations are shifting, and agencies relying on hourly work are under pressure.

2. The ‘Human’ Value Is Less Visible

AI tools can now produce average-quality creative in seconds. That makes human-made content look slower and, in some cases, harder to justify even if the quality is better. Many clients can’t tell the difference until they see the results.

3. Difficulty Differentiating Services

When AI produces similar creative and strategy across industries, it’s harder for agencies to stand out. Especially small or mid-sized agencies that don’t have proprietary tools or big-brand status.

4. Outdated Billing Models

Billable hours and % of media spend are becoming irrelevant. Clients now prefer fixed fees, performance-based pricing, or even in-house AI solutions. Agencies with rigid billing systems risk being left behind.

By identifying problems early, we can effectively prevent them. Let’s examine the development and transformation ideas proposed by experts in the advertising and marketing industry.

So… What Should Agencies Do?

The situation isn’t hopeless!  In fact, it’s an opportunity. But survival depends on reframing the agency’s role and doubling down on what AI can’t do well (yet).

1. Shift From “Executor” to “Strategic Partner”

AI excels at producing, but struggles with thinking. Agencies must pivot from being implementers to being growth partners: helping clients with positioning, messaging, long-term strategy, and integration across channels.

You’re not just “running ads.” You’re driving business outcomes. Make that clear in every proposal and conversation.

2. Productise Your Expertise

Package your services into value-focused offers. For example:

• “E-Commerce Growth Blueprint (6 weeks)”
• “AI-Assisted Campaign Launch with Human Oversight”
• “Brand Strategy Sprint”

This gives clients clarity and gives your team repeatable systems. 

3. Focus on Human Strengths: Emotion, Empathy, Judgment

AI tools don’t understand people – they understand patterns. That’s why emotion-driven storytelling, nuanced brand tone, and culturally sensitive messaging are still your competitive edge.

Put people at the centre: use customer insights, interviews, and lived experience to develop creative that connects.

4. Update Your Pricing Model

Move away from hours. Consider:

• Outcome-based pricing (e.g., paid on leads or conversions)
• Tiered value packages
• Retainers for strategic advisory + execution
  

Clients are willing to pay, but they want to know what they’re paying for.

 5. Use AI Yourself, But Transparently

Don’t fight AI. Use it to:

• Speed up initial drafts
• Generate ideas
• Run fast A/B tests
• Analyse data faster

Always position your team as the final quality check and finishing touch. Clients should feel that they’re receiving AI efficiency combined with human brilliance. Monitor results and demonstrate impact. Clear reporting fosters trust. AI can generate content, but if you can illustrate how your work boosts sales, retention, or brand value, you remain indispensable.

Why Expanding Your Services Matters More Than Ever

In today’s competitive landscape, it’s not enough for marketing and advertising agencies to offer only ad campaigns, branding, SEO optimisation or social media strategy. To truly stand out and provide end-to-end value, agencies should consider expanding their service range, for example, by offering fast, high-quality website creation or optimisation tailored to each client’s specific business goals. A well-performing website remains the backbone of any digital campaign. 

A wise choice is to outsource the technical part, such as web development, performance audits, or security fixes, to a reliable partner. By avoiding the stretching of internal resources, you will save a significant amount of money and time. And, last but not least, this allows the agency to focus on core strategy and creative work, while still delivering a full-service experience that drives measurable results.

Human-Centred Agencies Will Win

The rise of AI in advertising is real, fast, and here to stay. But while the tools are impressive, they’re still just tools. The agencies that will thrive are the ones that redefine their value, evolve their business model, and embrace both technology and humanity. Clients don’t just want faster campaigns. They want results, confidence, clarity, and creativity. That still requires people who are more innovative and more strategic. All information that is available to AI is something that was once invented by a human. AI is a fast assistant, but the human remains a creator!

Key Takeaways:

• AI is disrupting ad agency workflows and pricing models
• Agencies must evolve into strategic partners, not just executors
• Productized services and updated billing models are key to survival
• Human creativity and empathy remain unmatched by AI
• Diversifying with web development and performance services adds value

In this article, we are going to highlight why customer reviews are so crucial for success, explore the Top 5 review management mistakes and offer practical advice on handling them effectively.

Why Are Customer Reviews So Crucial for Businesses?

Positive reviews can be the deciding factor for a purchase/cooperation, just as negative reviews can permanently damage a brand’s reputation and force customers to go to your competitors.

1. Building Trust and Credibility

Trust is one of the most significant factors influencing purchasing decisions. When people shop online or order services, they can’t touch or try them, so they rely heavily on what others have said. Positive reviews act as social proof, assuring potential customers that others have had a good experience with your products or services.  

For new or smaller businesses, gaining that initial trust can be challenging. In these cases, customer reviews are even more vital. If visitors see that others have bought and enjoyed your products, they’re much more likely to do it themselves. Simply put, a handful of positive reviews can significantly increase conversions.

2. Influencing Purchase Decisions

Online shoppers tend to look for reviews before making a purchase, especially for higher-priced items or new products/services they have yet to try. Reviews provide valuable insights into product quality, customer service, and delivery times, giving shoppers the information they need to make an informed decision. According to research, over 90% of customers read reviews before buying something online, making them one of the most important factors in driving sales.

3. Impact of customer reviews on SEO

Reviews also have a direct impact on your website’s visibility. Search engines like Google favour websites with fresh and relevant content, and customer reviews can provide just that. Regularly updated reviews can help improve your search engine ranking, driving more traffic to your site. Moreover, reviews on external sites like Google My Business, Yelp, Clutch or Trustpilot can boost your presence on local searches, making it easier for customers to find you.

4. Improving Products and Services

Customer reviews provide direct and honest feedback about your products or services. Negative reviews, while sometimes hard to accept, can be extremely valuable. They highlight areas where you can improve and allow you to address issues. For example, if several customers complain about slow shipping times, this signals that it’s time to improve your logistics or communication. By taking action based on customer feedback, you not only improve your business but also show customers that their opinions matter.

5. Building Brand Loyalty and Engagement

Engaging with positive or negative reviews shows your customers that you value their opinions. Replying to reviews, thanking customers for feedback, and addressing concerns helps build a strong relationship with your audience. Customers who feel heard and appreciated are more likely to become loyal and recommend your brand to others.

In addition to building brand trust and influencing potential customers’ purchasing decisions, reviews help:

• Understand what attracts customers;
• Improve customer and post-purchase experience;
• Develop your company products/services;
• Prevent future customer disappointments;
• Improve customer service.

Here Are the Top 5 Of The Most Common Review Management Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

1. Ignoring negative reviews

Any negativity can be turned into an excellent case and an unsatisfied customer into a loyal one. Not responding to customer complaints can lead to a loss of trust in the brand. Responding to each negative review is vital because it shows you are willing to resolve issues and care about your clients.

2. Delete reviews without a valid reason

It may seem tempting to remove critical reviews, but this can only increase the negativity, especially if customers realize that their reviews are disappearing. It is better to react professionally and find ways to solve the problem.

3. Respond emotionally or unprofessionally

Even if the feedback is unfounded, aggressive or fake, it is crucial to remain calm and polite in your response. Emotional reactions will damage your reputation.

4. Provide standard answers

Using the same templates for all reviews can give the impression that the company does not care about its customers. Try to personalize the answers, address customers by name, and move away from template answers.

5. Make excuses without offering a solution

In response to negative reviews, it is important not only to make excuses, but also to offer concrete steps to solve the problem. This shows readiness for dialogue and a professional approach. Sometimes, it is necessary to investigate the reason for the negativity in more detail and then ask for forgiveness.

Ask customers to update negative reviews. After resolving a problem or responding to a customer complaint, politely ask them to update their review, taking into account all aspects of your last interaction.

How to Handle Customer Reviews Effectively

Now that we know how crucial reviews are and how to prevent mistakes, so let’s explore how to deal with them to benefit both you and your customers:

1. Encourage More Reviews

Actively encouraging your customers to leave reviews is the first step to building a strong online reputation. You can do this by sending follow-up emails after a purchase, asking customers for feedback, or offering small incentives like discounts or loyalty points for leaving a review. Additionally, make it easy for customers to leave reviews by placing a clear and simple feedback option on your website or product pages.

2. Always Respond to Reviews – Both Good and Bad

Responding to reviews is critical to showing your customers that you care about their opinions. For positive reviews, a simple “thank you” can go a long way in building customer loyalty. However, it’s the negative reviews that require more attention. Respond professionally and offer a solution instead of ignoring them or getting defensive. It shows potential buyers that you’re proactive in handling issues.

3. Showcase Positive Reviews

Make the most of positive reviews by showcasing them on your website, social media channels, and marketing materials. For example, you could feature a “Customer Testimonials” section on your homepage or highlight specific product reviews under each item. If you receive particularly glowing reviews, consider turning them into case studies or success stories.

4. Monitor and Analyze Feedback Regularly

Regularly monitoring your reviews helps you stay on top of customer sentiment. Use feedback analysis tools to spot trends, identify recurring issues, and track changes in customer satisfaction over time. This data can be valuable for making informed business decisions, improving customer experience, and driving overall growth.

You can find more advice for e-commerce businesses in our Blog – How to Collect Customer Reviews for Your eCommerce Business.

How a Web Development Agency Can Help You Manage Customer Reviews

Managing customer reviews and feedback can be overwhelming for business owners, especially if you have to work on core business tasks. A seasoned web development agency can provide valuable services to streamline the process and ensure you maximise customer feedback’s benefits.

Here’s how:

1. Integrating Review Systems

Integrating advanced review systems directly into your website makes it easy for customers to leave reviews and for you to manage them. For example, agencies can implement tools like Trustpilot, Yotpo, or Google Reviews that allow customers to leave feedback seamlessly while providing you with a user-friendly dashboard to monitor and analyse reviews.

2. Automating Feedback Requests

Setting up automated email sequences or in-app prompts that encourage customers to leave reviews immediately. By automating the process, you can ensure that you regularly receive fresh feedback without manually sending out requests.

3. Improving User Experience to Encourage Reviews

Often, the number of reviews you receive is tied to how easy it is for customers to leave feedback. A web agency can enhance the user experience (UX) by simplifying review submission processes, optimising mobile responsiveness, and ensuring the feedback form is accessible and user-friendly. The easier it is to leave a review, the more likely customers will do so.

4. Social Listening and Review Monitoring

Social listening services help you monitor customer feedback across various platforms like social media, review sites, and forums. By tracking mentions of your brand and products, you can stay ahead of public sentiment and respond promptly to feedback, further boosting your reputation.

5. Review Management Strategy

Finally, a web agency can help create a comprehensive review management strategy. This includes setting up automated alerts for new reviews, training your team on responding to different types of feedback and providing regular reports on review performance. A structured approach to managing reviews ensures you maximise customer feedback’s value.

To Sum-up

Customer reviews are more than just comments about your products or company – they’re a powerful tool influencing trust, SEO, and sales. Businesses that actively manage their reviews are better positioned to build credibility, attract more customers, and improve their offerings. By cooperating with an experienced web development agency, you can streamline the process of collecting, managing, and leveraging customer reviews, ensuring your business gets the most value out of this critical form of feedback.

How to Create Category in Magento 1

A Category is needed to establish the structure of your store’s Catalog. Before creating categories you need to think about the usability of your product page, so the user can browse product from one category and easily navigate to different subsections. Try to be consistent and use the same approach for all product types in your catalog.

To create categories, use the admin panel. Below, we will show how to create and add categories, and answer other questions related to working with categories.

Step 1. On the Admin menu, select Catalog > Manage Categories.

Step 2. Before you begin, set Choose Store View to the store or view. By default, the scope of the category configuration is set to “All Store Views.”

Step 3. In the category tree, click the category that is to be the parent of the new category. The parent is the level just above the new category.

If you’re starting from the beginning without any data, there might be only two categories in the list: “Default Category,” which is the root, and an “Example Category.”

Step 4. Click the Add Subcategory button.

After creating the category, you need to add them to create the catalog structure. Learn how to do it from the below guide.

How to Add Category in Magento 2

Step 1. Login in Magento Admin.

Step 2. Select Products -> Categories.

Step 3. Select Parent or Root Category in which you need to insert your new category and click “Add Subcategory” or you can create Root Category.

Step 4. Enter Category data. Category Name is required entry. Click the Save button.

How to Cancel Magento 2 Order

Magento 2 order can be canceled by using Cancel Button on order view page in admin. It’s possible only, if order hasn’t yet been fully paid, so there is no invoice, that covers all order. If some items have been marked as invoiced, then it’s possible only cancel item, that hasn’t been paid yet.

How to Add Cash on Delivery Option in Magento 2

Cash on Delivery payment may be enabled on Stores -> Configuration -> Sales -> Payment Methods -> Cash on Delivery by setting Enabled option to value Yes

Finally, if you make any changes to your store, you should reindex Magento to make them apply and be displayed correctly. For example, reindexing is necessary in scenarios like introducing a new store or website, incorporating new attributes, or making substantial changes to merchant data.

Magento 2 encompasses a substantial amount of merchant data that needs to be accessed, searched, and utilized, such as catalogues, prices, stores, and other elements. These data items are distributed across multiple tables to enhance performance.

How to Reindex Magento 2

For reindex magento 2 you need run the command: sudo bin/magento indexer:reindex

Page 1- normal result from reindex

These were just a few common cases, and we hope solutions to them will help you manage your store quickly and effectively. If you have any questions, want to learn solutions to other cases, or need help with your store, drop us a line, and we will be glad to consider your case.

How to Clear Magento Cache

Step 1: Login to your Magento Admin Panel
Step 2: Go to System >> Cache Management

Step 3: Next, you need to identify what cache type that you want to refresh. Each cache type has description, you can read it before deciding which one you need to enable.

Step 4: In the next step, in order to clear cache, please choose the types of Cache that you have enabled >> Refresh >> Submit

“Flush Magento Cache” help to remove all the items from the cache that have Magento tag.

“Flush Cache Storage” removes all the items from Cache both those with Magento tag and those without it.

Let’s move on to the small guide on how to clear cache from the command line.

How to Clear Magento 2 Cache from Command Line

To flush Magento 2 cache:

1. Go to Magento root directory
2. Type: php bin/magento cache:clean and php bin/magento cache:flush

php bin/magento cache:flush

Removes all items in the default Magento cache (var/cache) and the var/full_page cache that have a Magento tag.

php bin/magento cache:clean

This command removes all items in the cache. This is the equivalent of deleting the entire contents of the cache folder on the server. If your system uses an alternate cache location, any cached files used by other applications will be removed.

If you are looking for the extensions to have Magento 2 full page cache and control your website performance, you can check our list of the Top 3 Magento Full Page Cache Extensions.

A Category is needed to establish the structure of your store’s Catalog. Before creating categories you need to think about the usability of your product page, so the user can browse product from one category and easily navigate to different subsections. Try to be consistent and use the same approach for all product types in your catalog.

To create categories, use the admin panel. Below, we will show how to create and add categories, and answer other questions related to working with categories.

How to Create Category in Magento 1

Step 1. On the Admin menu, select Catalog > Manage Categories.

Step 2. Before you begin, set Choose Store View to the store or view. By default, the scope of the category configuration is set to “All Store Views.”

Step 3. In the category tree, click the category that is to be the parent of the new category. The parent is the level just above the new category.

If you’re starting from the beginning without any data, there might be only two categories in the list: “Default Category,” which is the root, and an “Example Category.”

Step 4. Click the Add Subcategory button.

After creating the category, you need to add them to create the catalog structure. Learn how to do it from the below guide.

How to Add Category in Magento 2

Step 1. Login in Magento Admin.

Step 2. Select Products -> Categories.

Step 3. Select Parent or Root Category in which you need to insert your new category and click “Add Subcategory” or you can create Root Category.

Step 4. Enter Category data. Category Name is required entry. Click the Save button.

Let’s say we want to create an attribute called “Material”.

Step 1. Log into the Magento admin panel. Go to Catalog -> Attributes -> Manage Attributes

There you will see all the attributes used in your system.

Step 2. In the top right, click on “Add New Attribute”

Step 3. In the Properties tab you will need to configure the Attribute Properties:

• Attribute Identifier: the name of the attribute used by the system. E.g. material.
• Scope: allows you to declare the attribute value saving scope like Global ( the value of this attribute for a given product must be the same for all websites and stores on this Magento installation), Store View (the value of this attribute for a given product can differ in all Websites and all Store Views), Website (the value of this attribute for a given product can differ in different Websites, however, it cannot differ between Store Views contained under the same Website).
• Catalog Input Type for Store Owner: describes what kind of data the attribute will store. For instance, if you want to manually enter the value for each product into a text field, select Text Field etc. In our case, we want to use Dropdown.
• Unique Value: select “yes” if you want the data saved in this attribute to be unique for each product. But we rather use “no”, because different product types may be made of the same material.
• Values Required: we are using “yes” since all our products are made of some material.
• Input Validation for Store Owner: decides whether the data entered by the store owner is validated when the product is saved. In our particular case, we don’t need validation on this field, so we’ll choose “None”.
• Apply To: determines for which Product Types this attribute will display. If you chose “Select product types” in the drop-down menu, you can set “material” to not apply to grouped/simple/configurable etc product or just use “All Product Types.

Step 4. And the settings for Frontend Properties:

• Use in quick/advanced search: If “yes”, the data saved in this attribute will be searchable in the front-end in the quick search and advanced search.
• Comparable on Front-end: If “yes”, this attribute will be displayed in a product comparison, if as at least one product in the Compare List contains a value for this attribute.
• Use in Layered Navigation (can be used only with catalog input type Dropdown, Multiple Select and Price). Since we selected “Dropdown”, this option is active and we can select e.g. Filterable (with results).
• Position: determines the position of this attribute in the Layered Nav menu.
• Visible on Catalog Pages on Front-end: If “no”, this attribute will not be displayed in the product info page. The “visibility” only controls whether or not the attribute displays in the front-end. Keep in mind – if you set an attribute to “Visible: No”, and leave it as “Comparable: Yes”, this attribute will still show up in comparison charts.

Step 5. Click on the Manage Label/Options tab. Under this tab, you can name the attribute on the front-end by the attribute label. You can enter different labels for different. If a store’s label is blank, this store will look to the default label and use this one. Here we’ll enter “Material” under “Admin” and under “English”. Then, under the Manage Options (values of your attribute) we’ll enter lycra, nylon, polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric. Click Add Option each time you need a new line of fields for the attribute values. In the Position row you can enter 1,2,3 enter to position them.

Step 6. When you are ready, click Save Attribute in the top right corner.

Step 7. To apply this selectable attribute to a product, first, add it to an attribute set. Go back to the Catalog tab and select Manage Attribute Sets.

Step 8. There you will see all the attribute sets created in your system. Click Add New Set.

Step 9. Give your new attribute set a name by entering the Name filed. E.g. material. Let it be Based On -> Default. Click Save Attribute Set.

Step 10. On the next page, you will see the attribute set you’ve just created in the third column labeled Unassigned Attributes. You will drag and drop it to one of the groups in the second column. For instance, to General.

Step 11. Click Save Attribute Set in the top right.

Step 12. Now you can create a new product under Catalog -> Manage Products -> Add Product and in the Attribute Set drop-down select the attribute setyou’ve created. Then click Continue.

Step 13. Now you can proceed and create a new product based on the new product attribute group you created (“material”). Since you have added the new attribute to the General section, you will find it there in there under the General tab in the same order it was added. Once your new product is created, you can open it on the frontend to see the new attribute you have added among its details.

Next, we move on to creating an attribute in Magento 2 step-by-step.

How to Create Attribute in Magento 2

Step 1. Complete Basic and Advanced Properties information

• On the Admin panel, click Stores. In the Attributes section, select Product
• Click Add New Attribute button
• In the Attribute Properties section, do the following

• In the Default Label, enter a default label to identify the attribute
• In the Catalog Input Type for Store Owner field, select the type in input control to be used for data entry
  • Text Field
  • Text Area
  • Date
  • Yes/No
  • Multiple Select
  • Dropdown
  • Price
  • Media Image
  • Fix Product Tax
  • Visual Swatch
  • Text Swatch

Note: If you use Dropdown and Multiple Select input types, do the following

• Under the Manage Options section, click Add Option button

• Select Default if you use the option as the default value
• If you have only one store view, let enter only the Admin value and it will be used for the storefront as well
• If you have multi-store views, let enter one value for the Admin and a translation of the value for each store view
• Click on Add Option to create multi options that you want to include in the list
• In the Values Required field, select Yes if you want to require the customers to choose an option before they can purchase products
• In the Advanced Attribute Properties section, complete the following (If needed)

• In the Attribute Code field, enter a unique Attribute Code in lowercase characters, and without space
• In the Scope field, select one of the following to indicate where in your store hierarchy the attribute can be used

* Website * Store view * Global

* In the `Unique Value` field, set to `Yes` if you want to prevent duplicate values from being entered
* In the `Add to Column Options` field, set to `Yes` to add this attribute to the list of column options in the product grid.
* In the `Use in Filter Options` field, set to "Yes" to add this attribute to the list of filter options in the product grid.

Step 2. Manage Labels

• Open the Manage Labels section, do the following

• Enter a title to be used as a label for the field. If your store is available in different languages, you can enter a translated title for each view.

Step 3. Describe the Storefront Properties

• Open the Storefront Properties section, do the following

• In the Use in Search field, set to Yes if the attribute is to be available for search
• In the Comparable on Storefront field, set to Yes to include the attribute in Product Compare
• In the Use in Layered navigation field, set to Yes if you want to use the attribute as a filter in layered navigation
• In the Use in Search Results Layered Navigation field, set to Yes if you want to use the attribute in layered navigation on search results pages
• In the Position field, enter a number to indicate the relative position of the attribute in the layered navigation block
• In the Use for Promo Rule Conditions field, set to Yesto use the attribute in price rules
• In the Allow HTML Tags on Frontend field, set to Yes allow the text to be formatted with HTML
• In the Visible on Catalog Pages on Storefront field, set toYesto include the attribute in log page listings
• In the Used in Product Listing field, set toYes include the attribute in product listings
• In the Used for Sorting in Product Listing field, set to Yesto use the attribute as a sort parameter for product listings
• When complete, click Save Attribute button.

Below you can find frequently asked questions and solutions for each of them.

What is Magento 2 Marketplace?

Magento Marketplace, the official Magento extension store, is the global eCommerce resource for applications and services that expand Magento solutions with powerful new features and functionality. Now global retailers can do even more with their digital stores.

This source is designed for easy discovery of relevant Magento extensions. It provides a curated user experience with offerings from top brands and new innovators. Discover new and customized functionality, in key business categories, to help your business thrive.

Customers can trust that all extensions and providers with offerings in Magento Marketplace are reviewed and checked for quality. In addition, Magento Technology Partners participate in a manual code and documentation review…for an even higher level of quality assurance.

So, how to install, create and uninstall any extension from your Magento store, you can find below.

How to Install Extension for Magento 2 in Localhost?

Step 1: Download/Purchase the extension.

Step 2: Unzip the file in a temporary directory.

For example, on Linux you can use next command:

unzip exten_file.zip -d somedir

Step 3: Upload it to your Magento installation root directory.

Step 4: Disable the cache.

Go to System­ >> Cache Management or use the command:

sudo bin/magento cache:flush

Step 5: Run the command.

Enter the following at the command line:

sudo bin/magento setup:upgrade

Step 6: Find your extension installed.

After opening Stores­ >>Configuration >­>Advanced >­> Admin, the module will be shown in the admin panel or, you can find your extension on list modules that are displayed in command line after step 5.

How to Create Custom Extension in Magento?

Step 1. Disable Magento cache (recommended).

Disabling Magento cache during development will save you some time because you won’t need to manually flush the cache every time you make changes to your code.

The easiest way to disable cache is to go to Admin >> System >> Cache Management >> select all cache types and disable them.

Step 2. Put Magento into a developer mode (recommended).

You should put Magento into a developer mode to ensure that you see all the errors Magento is throwing at you.

In order to do this, open your terminal and go to the Magento 2 root. From there you should run the following command:

php bin/magento deploy:mode:set developer

Step 3. Create the folder of Hello World module.

Name of the module is defined as “VendorName_ModuleName”. The first part is the name of the vendor and the last part is the name of the module: For example Magento_HelloWorld.

Focus on the following guide to create the folders:

app/code/NS/Firstmodule

Step 4. Create etc/module.xml file.

Then, it is necessary to create an etc folder and add the module.xml file:

app/code/NS/Firstmodule/etc/module.xml

Contents would be:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Module/etc/module.xsd">
<module name="NS_Firstmodule" setup_version="0.0.1"/>
</config>

Step 5. Create etc/registration.php file

In this step, we will add registration.php as the following guide:

app/code/NS/Firstmodule/registration.php

Contents would be:

<?php
\Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::register(
       \Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::MODULE,
       'NS_Firstmodule',
       __DIR__
   );

Step 6. Enable the module.

Finish the step 5, we have already created Firstmodule. And we will enable this module in this step.

After creating the module run the next commands:

php bin/magento setup:upgrade

If all is good, you will see your module in the list, for example:

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy

Step 7. Creating a controller.

          7.1. First, we need to define the router.

To do this, create a routes.xml file in the

app/code/NS/Firstmodule/etc/frontend/

folder with the following code:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd">
   <router id="standard">
       <route id="firstmodule" frontName="firstmodule">
           <module name="NS_Firstmodule" />
       </route>
   </router>
</config>

After defining the first part of the route, the URL will be displayed as:

http://<yourhost.com>/firstmodule/*

         7.2. Create a controller

The folder and file you need to create are:

app/code/NS/Firstmodule/Controller/Index/HelloWorld.php

Contents would be:

<?php
namespace NS\Firstmodule\Controller\Index;
class HelloWorld extends \Magento\Framework\App\Action\Action{
   public function execute()
   {
       echo "Hello! It’s my first module of Magento 2!";
       exit;
   }

After completed, please run sudo bin/magento cache:flush
to check result.

Your URL now should be as:

http://<yourhost.com>/firstmodule/index/helloWorld

After finish all steps, the output Hello! It’s my first module of Magento 2! should be displayed in your browser when you open the URL.

How to Uninstall Magento 2 Extension?

If the extension is installed via composer, then you can uninstall Magento 2 extension this way:

Step 1. Remove extension from the composer.json file
Step 2. Execute command composer update
Step 3. Execute command bin/magento setup:upgrade
Step 4. Execute command bin/magento setup:di:compile
Step 5. Execute command bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy

If the extension is installed to app/code directly, it will be uninstalled this way:

Step 6. Remove extension from app/code. It’s enough to remove extension registration.php file
Step 7. Execute command bin/magento setup:upgrade
Step 8. Execute command bin/magento setup:di:compile
Step 9. Execute command bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy

Next, we move on to work with a database and set up the cron job.

How to Find Database Name in Magento 2

Go to your store core folder and open the env.php file under the app/etc folder.

Find the next code, where database_name is the actual database name which you use for your Magento 2 store.

array (
 'host' => 'host_name,
 'dbname' => 'database_name',
 'username' => 'your username',
 'password' => 'your password',
),

How to Change Database Name in Magento?

In Magento 1.0, the configuration file that contains database settings and other information is located here:/app/etc/local.xml

In Magento 2.0, the configuration is in the same directory (/app/etc/) but has been renamed to env.php. The file path is: /<Magento Install Dir>/app/etc/env.php

Navigate to your Magento 2 installation directory and edit app/etc/env.php configuration file in your favorite editor

For example :

'db' =>
array (
 'table_prefix' => '',
 'connection' =>
 array (
   'default' =>
   array (
     'host' => 'localhost',
     'dbname' => 'Magento2',
     'username' => 'root',
     'password' => 'root',
     'active' => '1',
   ),
 ),
),
 

Where:
host – is your MySQL server hostname
dbname – MySQL database name of Magento
username – MySQL user to connect database server
password – MySQL user password

After changes in this file you need to run the command: sudo bin/magento setup:di:compile

That’s how you change Magento database name.

How to Setup Cron Job in Magento 2?

Magento 2 Cron job may be set up by module file etc/crontab.xml, that will have such content.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Cron:etc/crontab.xsd">
   <group id="default">
       <job name="download_expire_link" instance="Web4pro\Download\Model\Cron" method="execute">
           <schedule>0 1 * * *</schedule>
       </job>
   </group>
</config>

Class Web4pro\Download\Model\Cron should exist and implement method execute, that will run when cron job starts.

How to Add New Product in Magento Admin Panel

Step 1: Log-in to the Magento Admin panel.

Step 2: Click “Catalog” option on the top menu. A drop-down list will appear.

Step 3: Click “Products” in the drop-down list. A new window will be displayed.

Step 4: Click the “Add Product” button on the top-right of the page, also, you can immediately choose a type for your product. You will be directed to a new window.

Step 5: Here, you will notice a header with “New Product” with 2 buttons “Add attribute,” “Save,” and many fields, you must fill them. Initially the field “Attribute Type” shows “Default” in the text box next to it. And “Product Type” field shows “Simple Product.”

Step 7: Now to modify the options in the text box of the field “Product Type,” click the “drop-down arrow” at the end of the text box to view the multiple drop-down options like Simple Product, Grouped Product, Configurable Product, Virtual Product, Bundle Product, and Downloadable Product. Select the one you wish to add. For instance, say “Simple Product” selected.

Step 8: Click “Continue” button. A new product page with default attribute opens up.

You’ll find a header “General” below which different fields like Name, Description, Short Description, SKU, Weight, Set Product as New From Date, Set Product as New To Date, Status, URL Key, Visibility, Country of Manufacture, In Feed, and Featured Product with their empty fields will appear.

Step 10: Now, enter the name of the product in the “Name” field. Say XYZ.

Step 11: Click “Save and Continue Edit” button on the top-right corner of the page to save the details automatically. Now continue entering the details in rest of the fields.

Step 12: Select the option “Enabled” in the drop-down of the field “Status.”

Step 13: Ensure whether the visibility field is filled in with “Visibility, Search” option.

Step 14: Now click the “Search Engine Optimization” on the LHS of the panel.

Step 15: Add Meta titles, descriptions, and keywords in the necessary fields respectively.

Step 16: Click “Images And Videos ” option on the LHS of the panel to add images for the product.

Step 17: Click “Advanced Inventory” option on the LHS of the panel. A new page will be opened.

Step 18: Modify the “Qty” with the number of products in-stock, say 200 or 300 and set the “Availability” option at the bottom of the page as “in-stock.”

Step 20: Click “Prices” on the LHS of the main panel; set the necessary price-related details in the relevant fields.

Step 21: Use this section in Magento to add configurable product. The new page contains advanced settings.

That’s all you are done with adding a product to your website! All it takes just a few minutes to add a compelling product to the Magento store to raise the performance of your business. Next, we will consider how to do the same task programmatically.

How to Add Product to Cart in Magento Programmatically?

Add Product to cart by observing an event checkout_cart_product_add_after

<your_magento_directory>/app/code/JD/Floatcart/Observer/AddproductToCart.php :

namespace JD\Floatcart\Observer;


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

   protected $_productRepository;
   protected $_cart;
   protected $formKey;

   public function __construct(\Magento\Catalog\Model\ProductRepository $productRepository, \Magento\Checkout\Model\Cart $cart, \Magento\Framework\Data\Form\FormKey $formKey)
   {
       $this->_productRepository = $productRepository;
       $this->_cart = $cart;
       $this->formKey = $formKey;
   }
   public function execute(\Magento\Framework\Event\Observer $observer)
   {
       $item = $observer->getEvent()->getData('quote_item');
       $product = $observer->getEvent()->getData('product');
       $item = ($item->getParentItem() ? $item->getParentItem() : $item);

       //id product that you want add to cart
       $product_id=1023;

       if($product->getId() != $product_id){
           $params = array(
               'product' => $product_id,
               'qty' => $product->getQty()
           );
           $_product = $this->_productRepository->getById($product_id);
           $this->_cart->addProduct($_product,$params);
           $this->_cart->save();
       }

   }

}

To <your_magento_directory>/app/code/JD/Floatcart/etc/events.xml you need add code as this:

<event name="checkout_cart_product_add_after">
   <observer name="addproduct_tocart" instance="JD\Floatcart\Observer\AddproductToCart"/>
</event>

That’s how in Magento you add item to cart programmatically. Next useful skill is to learn how to create products from the admin.

How to Create Simple Products in Magento 2

Step 1: Choose the Product Type.

• On the Admin sidebar, click Products. Then under Inventory, select Catalog.
• In the upper-right corner on the Add Product menu, select Simple Product.

Step 2: Choose the Product Template (Optional).

To choose the product template, do one of the following:

• In the Search box, enter the name of the template.
• In the list, choose the template that you will use. The form is updated to reflect the template.

Step 3: Complete the Required Fields.

In the Product Details section do the following:

• Enter the Product Name.
• You can either use the default SKU that is based on the product name or enter another.
• Enter the product Price.

Because the product is not yet ready to publish, set the Product Online switch to the “Off” position.

Click Save, and continue with the next step. You can save the product settings after complete all the required fields complete.

Step 4: Complete the Remaining Product Details.

Set Tax Class to one of the following:

• None
• Taxable Goods

If you’re ready to add a product image, do one of the following:

• Drag an image from your desktop, and drop it on the camera tile in the Images and Videos.
• In the Images box, click the camera tile, and navigate to the image file on your computer.

Then, select the image, and click Open. A placeholder appears until a product image is uploaded.

Enter the Quantity of the product that is currently in stock.

Enter the product Weight.

To assign the product to a Category, do one of the following:

• Start typing to find a match. Then, choose the Category.
• Click Show List to see the category tree. Then, drill down and click on each category that you want to assign to the product.
• Click New Category. Enter the Category Name and choose the Parent Category to determine its position in the menu structure. Then, click Create Category.

Enter the product Description directly into the text box, and format as needed. Then, click Submit. You can also use the WYSIWYG Editor, for additional control.

Step 5: Publish the Product.

If you are ready to publish the product in the catalog, set the Product Online switch to the “On” position. When complete, on the Save menu, select Save & Close.

Step 6: View the Product in Your Store.

In the upper-right corner on the Admin menu, select Customer View

Things to remember:

• Simple products can be included in a configurable, bundle, and grouped product types.
• A simple product can have custom options with a variety of input controls, which makes it possible to sell many product variations from a single SKU.

How to Import Products in Magento 1.x from CSV?

Step 1: Go to the Magento administrator area and choose System -> Import/Export -> Dataflow – Profiles -> Import All Products. Select the required settings in Profile Wizard tab:

Step 2: Then choose the Upload File tab and browse for the .csv file on your computer.

Save changes:

Step 3: Once you have uploaded it, click Import All Products, then Run Profile, select the .csv file you have just uploaded from the drop-down menu and click Run Profile in Popup:

Step 4: When the import is completed, you will get an export success message.

What Is Magento Bundle Product?

This type of Magento products is somewhat a set of configurable products. It is a stable complex product designed to let customers build the end product required. The configuration options are virtually unlimited.

How to Create Bundle Product in Magento 2?

Step 1: Select the Product Type by selecting Catalog -> Products.

Products” width=”1895″ height=”785″>

Next, create Bundle Product.

Step 2. Choose the attribute set as a template.

Fill out the required fields:

• Product Name;
• SKU (default or change the Dynamic SKU to No so that you can assign a unique SKU);
• Dynamic Price (to do the same as with SKU, change Dynamic Price to No, and write your price);
• Choose the Store view where the product should appear;
• Tap Save and continue.

You can also assign a Tax class. If the bundle has Fixed price you have 2 options:

• None
• Taxable Goods

The Quantity is not available as the value is different for each bundled product.

Dynamic weight can be changed according to the options provided for the customer.

• If you choose the Dynamic option, the price may change according to the selected options.
• If you choose Fixed weight, you need to set the weight.

Next, you want to create a Category.

Tap New Category or choose the one that it is already set.

Write the Category Name and assign it to the Parent Category, next click on Create Category.

Add product description and a picture.

Step 3. Set the Bundle Items.
In the Bundle Items section, choose how to Ship Bundle Items: Separately or Together.
Then click on the Add option.

There you will find the Input Type and choose the one among Drop-down, Radio buttons, Checkbox, or Multiple Select.

Then click Add Products to Option and mark all the products that you want to include.

Type the Quantity of each product on the Default Quantity section.

Then press Save.

Step 7. Check the results by clicking to the Admin Icon and choose the Customer View.

Here is the result of the product bundle feature in Magento 2. It is very useful for the stores that want to sell different products together in one kit. In general, we wanted to help you learn how to create products and manage them from the admin panel. If you want to know how to do it, follow the extended instruction below.

How to Login to Magento Admin Panel

Firstly, you need to login to your Magento store’s admin.

Step 1: Go to your Magento website. Add /admin or custom Magento admin URL to the URL and reload the page.

Step 2: Type in your username and password that you set up during the installation process.

Step 3: You are now logged into your Magento 2 Admin Panel.

Sometimes you need to change your data and reset the password for your Magento admin. We’ll show you 2 ways how to do it for both Magento 1.x and Magento 2.x versions.

How to Change Magento Admin Password

For Magento 1.x

You need to modify the Magento administrator password directly in the database using phpMyAdmin or the MySql client. You can execute the following MySQL query:

UPDATE `admin_user` SET `password` = md5('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE `username` = 'ADMIN_USERNAME';

admin_user – this is a database table from the Magento database;

NEW_PASSWORD –  the desired password which you want to be set;

‘ADMIN_USERNAME’ – your Magento administrative username.

For Magento 2.x

The first option is to change the Magento administrator password through e-mail. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Magento Admin Panel Login.
2. Click Forgot your password.
3. Type the e-mail address associated with the account.
4. Click Retrieve Password. Magento sends a message to the e-mail address associated with the administrator account.
5. In the message, click the link to reset the administrator password.

To edit an existing administrator, you can use the same command as for creating a new administrator in CLI:

bin/magento admin:user:create [--<parameter_name>=<value>, ...]

Required parameters:
–admin-firstname – Magento administrator user’s first name.
–admin-lastname – Magento administrator user’s last name.
–admin-email – Magento administrator user’s e-mail address.
–admin-user – Magento administrator username.
–admin-password – Magento administrator user password.

If you’re editing an administrator, only the first name, last name, and password can be modified.

Example:

bin/magento admin:user:create –admin-user=admin –admin-password=123123w –admin-email=user@example.com –admin-firstname=Magento –admin-lastname=User

How to Reset Magento 2 Password via Phpmyadmin

You can reset admin password via phpmyadmin

Step 1. Login to phpmyadmin

Step 2. Choose your database

Step.3 Select ‘SQL’ tab and rub query:

UPDATE admin_user SET `password` = CONCAT(SHA2('xxxxxxxxYOUR_NEW_PASSWORD', 256), ':xxxxxxxx:1') WHERE `username` = 'YOUR_ADMIN_USERNAME';

Where admin_user – database table (it can contain table prefix – check it):
YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD – your new password
YOUR_ADMIN_USERNAME – your admin login name
Xxxxxxxx – character sequence is a cryptographic salt. It is saved in an app\etc\env.php file:

<?php
return array (
...
'crypt' => 
array (
'key' => '525701df74e6cba74d5e9a1bb3d935ad', //cryptographic salt
)

You can also resolve the admin access issue by creating new admin user using Magento console command:

php bin/magento admin:user:create

How to Increase the Time Logged into Magento 2

You can increase Magento 2 session lifetime by changing a value in:

Stores > Settings > Configuration > Advanced > Admin > Security > Admin Session Lifetime (seconds)

Or you can change value ‘admin/security/session_lifetime’ in table core_config_datait in your store Database.

Next, we’ll describe how to create CMS page and change different parts of your Magento store right from the Admin panel.

How to Create CMS Page in Magento

Step 1: Login to your Magento admin panel and navigate to the Content menu.

Step 2: Select the Pages menu.

Step 3: Click on the Add New Page button.

Step 4: Specify your new Page Title and select the desired Store View.

Step 5: Go to the Content tab and write the page content.
Step 6: In the Design tab choose the Layout for this new page.

Step 7: Note your page URL key.

Step 8: Save your changes by clicking on the Save Page button.

How to Add Favicon in Magento 2

Step 1: Go to Content -> Design -> Configuration.

Step 2: Choose Configuration.

Step 3: Click on the HTML Head settings tab.

How to Change Logo in Magento 2

Magento 2 store logo can be changed by admin in Content -> Configuration -> Edit link, that is related to store -> Header -> Logo Image

Content > Configuration” width=”1897″ height=”764″>

Step 2: In the Configuration page, you will see a list of default website, then click on Edit under Action column.

When the page is opened, scroll down to the Transaction Emails section and click on it.

Step 3: In Transactional Emails, you will see a list of logo settings for your email including:

Logo Image – different types of file are allowed (jpg, jpeg, png). Here you can upload your desired email logo with a high-resolution display.

How to Change Header in Magento 2

A header can be changed by adding new blocks to the container ‘header.container
’ or its child containers or removing blocks and containers from them. Example for adding block

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
   <body>
       <referenceContainer name="header.container">
           <block class="Web4pro\Test\Block\Template" name="header.custom.block" template="Web4pro_Test::header_custom.phtml" before="-"/>
             </referenceContainer>
   </body>
</page>

How to Change Footer in Magento 2

Footer can be changed by adding new blocks to the container ‘footer’ or removing blocks from it. Example for adding block:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
   <body>
       <referenceContainer name="footer">
           <block class="Web4pro\Test\Block\Template" name="footer.custom.block" template="Web4pro_Test::footer_custom.phtml" before="-"/>
             </referenceContainer>
   </body>
</page>

• How to Find Magento Version?
• How to Check Magento Version from Admin Panel?
• How to Update Magento to Latest Version?

Let’s move on and find out the answers with our simple step by step guide.

What Is the Latest Version of Magento?

First that you should know is that Magento comes in 3 packages: Magento Open Source (formerly Community), Magento Commerce (formerly Enterprise) and Magento Cloud (PaaS and cloud-based). The most known packages are Magento Community and Magento Commerce.

1. Magento Open Source is an open source platform that will be suitable for small and middle-size businesses. As for the 1.x version, the latest is 1.9.4.0. You can find all the supportive information on the Magento devdocs. Take into account that Magento supports all the previous 1.x versions until June 2020. More details you can read in our article.
2. As for Magento Commerce (Enterprise), the latest 1.x version is 1.14. You can find out more about its support here.

The latest version of Magento Open Source is 2.2.7. It was added on November 28, 2018. However, the newest 2.3 is available in beta version.

This release includes 30 enhancements to product security, more than 150 core code fixes including all relevant attributes implemented for the Google Tag Manager, support of UPS API endpoints for Magento UPS module, displaying the correct options when clicking on View Details for a product with configurable options, and other fixes in catalog, cart, checkout, bundle products, and additional functionality.

The latest version of Magento Commerce is 2.2.7. It was added on November 28, 2018.

Magento 2.2.7 contains over 30 security enhancements and 150 core code fixes. This release includes improvements for the Google Tag Manager, wishlists, an ability to update product prices and currencies, proper reset of the information, and other important functionality fixes.

If you own Magento store and you want to check its current version, you can follow our simple guide below.

How to Check Your Magento Version

You can get the major version (for example 2.2) by accessing /magento_version on your Magento 2 website.

One more simple method for checking your store version is to use one of these online tools:

• Magento Version
• MageScan

Or you can use Chrome extension that is called Version Check for Magento.

How to Check Magento Version from Admin Panel

This option can be done just in a few steps:

Step 1. First, Log in to the Admin Backend;

Step 2. Scroll up to the Magento Admin Panel’s footer, and at the right corner, there will be your current store version.

The next question that may arise: which Magento package used for my store? We’ve got you covered with the answer.

How to Check Magento Community or Enterprise?

You can get this information for any Magento2 install from Magento’s official endpoint, by opening this URL in your browser: http://www.yoursite.com/magento_version

How to Check Magento Version Command Line?

It’s simple. Go to Magento root folder & run below command: php bin/magento –version

Now you know everything about your current Magento version and edition. Maybe you want to switch to the next Magento version and you don’t know how looks the process of upgrade. We want to provide you with our developer’s guide.

How to Update Magento Versions?

How to Update Magento 2 to Latest Version?

Magento 2 can be simply upgraded if new actual version is specified in composer.json in both fields version and
[‘require’][‘magento/product-community-edition’] or [‘require’][‘magento/product-enterprise-edition’]
and then to execute the command:

composer update.

This command will download new core files, but it will fail if system requirements aren’t satisfied. Composer checks PHP version, that is installed for CLI mode and all required PHP libraries and won’t upgrade Magento if PHP version is incompatible or there is no required PHP library. Also, this command will ask keys, that should be generated on marketplace.magento.com side and it won’t download Magento EE if it hasn’t been purchased by account, that keys assigned to.

After download new version these commands should be executed:

bin/magento setup:upgrade 
bin/magento setup:di:compile
bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy.

Often execute permissions should be set to file bin/magento after upgrade.

Upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 1

Step 1. You need to go to https://magento.com/tech-resources/download and select the tab “Release Archive” and found the latest version of Magento 1 and download it;

Step 2. Unarchive the files, open in your file manager (Krusader for example) files latest Magento and you exist site.

Step 3. You need to copy folders from Latest Magento version folder to your site, see the image. Red lines its required folder to update, blue lines, you can copy it or not, it is not critical for the update.

How to Upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2

Upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is the complex process. It requires not only the upgrade of some features, but Magento 1 and Magento 2 core is entirely different.

That’s why to perform Magento upgrade; you need data migration tool. We’ve described the whole process from preconditions to the actual migration in our article: How to Migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2 with Data Migration Tool. Read the step by step guide to understand what actions should be done to perform the upgrade.

If you want some practical case about, we suggest you look at how we performed the upgrade of our client’s store: Magento 1.9 to Magento 2 Migration: Our Client’s Experience.

We hope that all the above solutions will help you to work with Magento more effectively and solve all the small issues by yourself. However, if you still need help with the development and support, our team is always ready to give you a hand.