Magento, one of the most popular and powerful e-commerce platforms have announced the discontinuation of their Go/Pro services aimed at small to medium sized businesses this February.
Magento Go was the perfect solution for small businesses to set up an online store without much technical know-how. With Magento Go, retailers didn’t have to worry about installing any software or managing any servers as it was equipped with powerful tools to help a business grow. Magento, however, will continue to offer the Enterprise and Community platforms geared towards bigger retailers. But, if you’re a member of the former group, you’re likely to face a number of challenges in this period of transition. Read on to find out how you can combat and soar over these problems without any bottlenecks in your e-business.
Issues that are likely to arise from the discontinuation of Magento Go/Pro
The most prominent issues that are likely to crop up in the next thirty days of the discontinuation of the service are :
- Your Magento Pro based e-store is likely to become non-functional
- There is a chance that you may lose access to client data
- This would result in a site-wide shut down resulting in a loss of access to the content on your store including product listing and product images
- Customer support for these platforms would no longer be available
The most probable solutions to these issues
Migrating to Magento Enterprise or Community platform
Magento Community, first introduced in 2007, is the open source version of this code which can be downloaded and customized as per the needs of an individual business. It’s not a platform meant for beginners, but those drawing in more than $500,000 in web sales and looking for more flexibility in running their e-businesses. According to Craig Peasley, the Senior Marketing Director of Magento, the most viable choice for e-retailers would be to migrate to the Magento Enterprise or Community platforms which they would still be offering. Such a decision would be considered wise if your business is growing at a great pace and your customer base is expanding leading to a growing need for customization. So, instead of despairing at the discontinuation of Magento’s service, it’s perhaps time to think ahead and make the best possible decision for your business.
Migrating to a different platform
Conversely, you can choose to migrate your Magento Go or Prostore e-shop to a similar SaaS based e-commerce platform offered by Bigcommerce, a company Magento is partnering with. According to Mark Lavelle, Senior Vice President (Marketing and Strategy), eBay Enterprise, “We chose Bigcommerce to help with the transition because of their shared commitment to client success and their proven track record of migrating large groups of merchants onto their platform.” Bigcommerce is a viable option with its sizeable customer base of 50,000 online retailers in 25 industries, across 100 countries. Not to mention, the sales of products on the Bigcommerce by these store owners is rapidly approaching about $4 billion.
According to Peasley , the decision to discontinue Go and ProStores is a part of the realignment of business priorities. Magento is currently focusing on its Community and Enterprise platforms which tend to bigger retailers. The company is also working on releasing the next version of this platform, dubbed Magnet 2 by the media and the e-commerce industry.
Although the change may seem daunting, we at Tuli eServices can help you with a seamless transition with 10+ years of experience in handling flexible demands of enterprises of any size based on their business models. Our competent professional Magento Developers are adept at creating an intuitive, feature-rich store front which is sure to give your business the right edge in this very competitive industry of online retail.
As a reputed enterprise equipped to provide a variety of web solutions, we are also known to extend the required support to Magento’s Go and ProStore customers.
Other than the excellent support, you can also expect a variety of other perks if you’re thinking about transitioning to Bigcommerce:
- Free migration of your e-commerce website
- Advanced integration with eBay without any monthly charge through ChannelUnity
- No charge for the first month
- Lucrative discounts and free services amounting upto $1200
How long will this transition take?
The migration may take from a few days o a week’s time depending on the size of your online store – our professional expertise ensures the quickest possible delivery time for any project we undertake.
Considering this migration? Let us help you make a smart decision for your enterprise.