Creating an Online Store from Scratch with Magento: Step-by-Step Guide

How to build an online store from scratch?

Magento has long been the first choice for many eCommerce developers to date. This includes expert developers who work for large-scale businesses as well as developers making their own eCommerce websites on a smaller scale. Why does Magento continue to be the first choice, you ask? Why do you need to build your eCommerce store with Magento when there are so many options available?

You’re right. You do need to question the platform you use to build your website because that is what will determine your success and how quickly you will achieve it. Magento has been the pioneer in eCommerce development and gathered a reputation at once of being the most powerful platform.

No developer or business owner will deny that, even if they prefer another platform. Besides, that is only one of the reasons. The platform is not only known for its B2C development, even Magento B2B development has been making waves in the market.

There are so many reasons why Magento is a better choice than other eCommerce development platforms to develop your eCommerce website. Moreover, there are statistics available to strengthen these reasons.

For instance, in the year 2019, Magento powered nearly 30% of all eCommerce websites and stores in the world. Let us discuss and dissect these reasons so you can make a more informed choice.

1. The Magento platform is powerful

Are you surprised at this being the first reason? I am sure you aren’t. The need for a powerful development platform is not only for large enterprises but also for small and medium-scale businesses that are eager to scale and grow one day.

You can gauge the power of the Magento platform by observing that it can handle more than 250,000 orders easily every hour while supporting up to 1 million products. If that is not powerful, what is?

2. The Magento platform is open-source

What does being open-source imply? It implies that the entire Magento code is publicly available for free for you to use and manipulate however you wish to develop your own website. Now, for an expert developer who understands the Magento code, there can be nothing better.

He simply has to leverage the power of Magento and its open-source code to create something outstanding. Moreover, he can also improve the website’s performance or add advanced features all by installing relevant Magento modules and extensions or even building them himself.

3. The Magento platform is scalable

Everyone wants a scalable platform whether or not one plans to ever scale in the future. This is because we don’t know what lies in the future and what our plans may be. Instead of going with a different platform today, and migrating to a more powerful one when you want to scale, it is always better to choose a scalable platform.

Magento is one such platform because it grows with you as you grow and makes it extremely easy and convenient for you to upgrade your store. Moreover, you may start off with the open-source edition as a startup or a medium-sized business, and even upgrade to the enterprise edition when the need arises.

4. The Magento platform is flexible

Just like you need your eCommerce platform to be scalable, you also want it to be flexible. Technology is evolving at an alarming pace every single day. Who wouldn’t want a platform that can easily adapt to new and advanced technologies and methodologies?

These new technologies can help you develop state-of-the-art features and add functionality to your eCommerce store. Magento is a highly adaptable and flexible platform. Its flexibility allows it to offer effortless customization at a much lower Magento development cost.

5. The Magento platform is compatible with different browsers

Along with being flexible and adaptable, Magento is also compatible with all kinds of different browsers. This ensures that you as a business owner can have more customers at your eCommerce store other than the ones who are accustomed to Safari and Google Chrome. With Magento, every end-user has a smooth experience no matter what browser they use.

6. The Magento platform is responsive

The need for responsiveness rises exponentially as the world goes mobile especially after the pandemic and social distancing rules. Magento is one of the most responsive eCommerce platforms in the market. Magento was introduced just as smartphones were starting to get popular.

Hence Magento was made keeping responsiveness in mind. Magento 2 took responsiveness to a whole other level where it’s equally easy to access any Magento eCommerce website on different devices with different operating systems.

7. The Magento platform is SEO friendly

Magento has the best in-built SEO features any platform provides. This includes meta tags, meta descriptions, optimized URLs, URL rewrites, sitemaps, keywords, positioning layer, etc. All these help you optimize your website so that it comes in the top ten search engine results and thereby improves your website’s ranking.

8. The Magento platform is multi-lingual and also supports multi-currency

Many people around the world speak and understand only their mother tongue. Such a huge untapped market can be touched upon simply with the introduction of a multi-lingual platform. Magento is multilingual and users can select their preferred language to browse the website in. They can also choose the currency they wish to pay with.

9. The Magento platform integrates easily with third-party software

One of the largest marketplaces in the eCommerce world, Magento can easily and seamlessly integrate with other third-party applications and software that may be critical for your business. Moreover, there are so many read-made connectors available in the market that can be critical to your business.

10. The Magento platform has a one-page checkout system

Think of a seamless single-page checkout where you do not have to fill in pages of shipping-related information and payment-related information and click or tap next every time. Does that sound good? You know it does! It sounds good because it offers convenience, and it offers the chance of getting the entire checkout process done within a single step, which makes it faster as well!

It also offers you increased sales because quicker checkout means people who are short on time will not abandon the cart and run. Less cart abandonment leads to more sales!

11. The Magento platform helps you manage with convenience: With a single backend!

Magento lets you have multiple storefronts on your website. It allows you to manage all your storefronts with a single backend. Magento also allows you to manage several different websites and stores and even manage those with the same backend. This means your stores can have different product catalogs, different user interfaces and user experiences, different currencies and languages, and still be managed from one place.

12. The Magento platform lets you choose your own hosting

While other eCommerce development platforms may have some restrictions regarding the hosting solution you choose for your website, Magento has no such issue. With Magento, you can choose whichever hosting provider suits you and your pocket, and even migrate to any other hosting if and when you want without disturbing your store.

13. The Magento platform has exemplary community support

The Magento community is as underrated as it is amazing. It has a huge, active community of developers, designers, programmers, businessmen, bloggers, product managers, project managers, consultants, and users who are always willing to help each other out.

No other community has been this active and this indulgent in helping each other out, a lot of times, even for free. The Magento community is one of the key contributing factors to why Magento has been such a huge success today.

14. The Magento platform is priced reasonably

In a perfect world where you would be an expert developer with your own servers, and you would have the relevant knowledge required, developing a Magento store would cost you nothing but your hard work.

This is because the Magento development pricing to develop your eCommerce website would literally be the cost of hosting plus the cost of any development team you hire. Of course, the more complex your requirements, the more your developer is going to charge you.

Did that convince you to build your eCommerce store with Magento? For more information on Magento development services contact us, so we can help you make a more informed choice.

FAQ’s

1. Question: Is Magento suitable for beginners to create an online store from scratch?

Answer: Yes, Magento offers robust features and user-friendly tools that cater to both beginners and experienced users, making it an excellent choice for building an online store from scratch.

2. Question: What are the essential steps involved in creating an online store with Magento from scratch?

Answer: The essential steps include setting up hosting and domain, installing Magento, configuring store settings, designing the store layout, adding products, setting up payment and shipping methods, and launching the store.

3. Question: Do I need coding knowledge to create an online store with Magento from scratch?

Answer: While basic coding knowledge can be beneficial for customization, Magento provides a user-friendly interface and extensive documentation, allowing users to create a store without extensive coding skills.

4. Question: How long does it typically take to build an online store from scratch with Magento?

Answer: The time it takes to build an online store from scratch with Magento varies depending on factors like store complexity, customization requirements, and familiarity with the platform. However, with a step-by-step guide, you can expect to launch your store efficiently.

5. Question: Can I integrate third-party extensions and themes when creating an online store with Magento from scratch?

Answer: Yes, Magento offers a vast marketplace of extensions and themes that can be seamlessly integrated into your store, enhancing its functionality and appearance without compromising the overall process of building from scratch.