Magento Imagine 2017 – A Rising eCommerce Player is Upon Us

Spring is a time for new life to bloom. So it is appropriate that the Magento Imagine conference was held in early spring. I now have a new view of where Magento is positioned in the eCommerce ecosystem.

While some large clients have used Magento for years, in my opinion, smaller companies have made up the bulk of their customer base. However, after attending Magento Imagine last week, it is clear that the companies now attending the show are more enterprise in nature than the small family retailers I was more likely to meet at previous shows.

What Changed?

Demandware is still the high-end eCommerce system leader, but from talking with the companies at the show, I repeatedly heard that for a lower price point, Magento is a solid option for their needs as they have added a number of capabilities and they could not justify paying more for another system when Magento meets their needs.

Magento 2 appears to be a success with many new and updated capabilities, such as being a capable CMS, offering a native checkout system, improved search, catalogs, analytics, easier to develop for and improved design options.

Imagine

The show title “Imagine” now has more meaning that in the past, at least to me. The Magento team has done a wonderful job in advancing the product over the past 12-24 months.

The conference sessions were well presented and offered a varied choice of topics for marketer and developer tracks. A few of the sessions I made sure to attend were:

• Internationalization: Steps to Take and Mistakes to Avoid, with Le Creuset and Blue Acorn
• Magento 2: Lessons Learned and Successes Earned by a Leading Baby Brand, with Munchkin and Guidance
• Achieve Business Nirvana with Magento Digital Commerce, with Oliver Sweeney and Magento

The Commerce Conversations room is what I enjoyed the most. It was held in a large room full of round tables to allow people to discuss a wide range of topics that the table elected to talk about with each person able to provide their unique input whether a service provider, Magento staff or end client/merchant.

Magento Imagine has shown me that Magento’s goal is to be an equal contender with more expensive systems. With Magento 2, they are stepping up and should be a real consideration for companies seeking an eCommerce system with a solid feature set and strong performance.