Updated 10/10/20
Back in 2015, Magento announced some very big news: A new era of eCommerce innovation was beginning with the unveiling of Magento 2.0.
Since then, Magento 2 has become a staple in eCommerce, which is probably one of the reasons you’re curious about its many features.
A complete list of every Magento 2 feature can be found on the company’s site. You can schedule a free demo from that page, too.
However, if you just want the highlights – the features that are especiallypowerful – I’ve put together a list of the ones that my team really loves.
So, if you’re considering switching to a new eCommerce platform or preparing for the day you have to give up Magento 1, this list should get you excited about what Magento 2 has to offer.
The 5 Magento 2 Features Our Clients Love Most
At IWD, we’ve been developing Magento sites for more than 12 years, so we know the platform inside and out.
While we’ve worked with all kinds of clients from all kinds of different industries, here are the five Magento 2 features that have proven to be most popular across the board.
1. A Gigantic List of Powerful Extensions That Is Constantly Growing
Without a doubt, one of the best reasons to build your eCommerce site on Magento 2 is its gigantic marketplace of extensions.
In fact, at the time of this writing, there are 3,941Magento 2 extensions available on the marketplace. They fall under the following categories:
- Accounting and Finance
- Customer Support
- Marketing
- Payments and Security
- Shipping and Fulfillment
- Site Optimization
So, if there’s anythingMagento 2 can’t do for you“out of the box”, you’ll probably find what you need on their marketplace.
2. A Robust Coding Architecture with Regular Upgrades
One of the most impressive upgrades to Magento 2 has been the amount of consolidation that went into coding the system.
Magento’s modular code base fully adopted HTML5, with additional working space for CSS3, and the functionality of“require” in JavaScript (as opposed to the prototypical JS utilized in Magento 1.x).
Furthermore, the new version of the system utilizes PHP 5.5.x and MySQL 5.6.
Overall, the many programs Magento has under the hood speak to a company that is always looking towards future innovations and developments in web design. It’s also a testament to how much Magento 2 and its many powerful features will benefit your company for years and years to come.
3. A Simplified Dashboard for User-Friendly Admin
Looking back, it’s actually kind of hard to believe so many of us were able to manage with the old admin panel of Magento 1.x.
I give it an“A” for effort.
Fortunately, Magento 2’s upgraded dashboard gave administrators plenty to love about the upgraded platform.
This is what Magento’s current dashboard looks like:
It’s not that muchdifferent than the user-friendly, simple, and functional admin panels that have helped to make WordPress such a popular CMS platform.
These days, I can pretty much navigate the entire admin panel of Magento 1.x in my sleep, but I’m still so grateful for the current straightforward dashboard of Magento 2.0.
The old dashboard made it practically impossible for anyone to effectively administer the website unless they put in dozens and dozens of hours learning the ropes. Even then, it was common for these administrators to run into problems.
While Magento 2.0 still remains full of features, there’s a muchgentler learning curve for the admin panel. So, after you drag your IT people kicking and screaming through the implementation of Magento 2.0, I promise that they'll eventually love you for giving them a much easier field to navigate through.
4. A Customer-Centric Shopping Experience
Let’s not forget that the whole point of Magento is to create an eCommerce experience that will increase your conversion rate.
New improvements to Magento 2’s features included a deeper variety of API compatibility to give your website more third-party integration options which lead to a more comprehensive UI/UX.
One of the most significant changes is the addition of one-click account creation and customer profiles. The result is a nimbler, less intrusive shopping cart experience that ultimately produces higher conversions and reduces the bane of every eCommerce marketer’s existence: the dreaded abandoned cart (grrr).
5. Better Security
Hackers love eCommerce websites, as they represent large bounties of credit card information.
So, one of the Magento 2 features that I was looking forward to the most – and that our clients definitelylove – is the updated security measures.
This included an automatic upgrade installer that keep systems up-to-date, keeping your site free of vulnerabilities that would arise from faulty code – the kinds that cybercriminals love.
Along the same lines, integration with PayPal, BrainTree payments, and the Authorize.Net payment gateways make Magento 2 pretty much CPI-compliant right out-of-the-box and as safe, secure, and unbreachable as an eCommerce site can be.
Make the Switch to Magento 2
Whether you haven’t made the switch from Magento 1 yet or you’re simply in the market for a new eCommerce platform, I highlyrecommend Magento 2.
For me and many of the clients we’ve worked with, the five features I just covered have been more than enough reason to love the latest version.
However, as I said at the beginning, there is a long list of other features that make Magento 2 a no-brainer for your eCommerce company.
If you want help with making the transition or simply have any questions about how Magento 2 could serve your company, please feel free to contact us.