Magento Vs Ecwid in Joomla
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- Ben Lee
- Elite Rocketeer
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I think most people are missing the point and only looking at the frontend styling to decide if a system does or does not do what they need. Here's a couple points that I never hear discussed because of this, people go down difficult and frustrating paths.
Why do you need to "sync" Magento and Joomla?
Are you looking for matching styling so the site feels consistent, or do you absolutely need the databases synced and user crossover? Most sites really only need the user to login to make purchases. If the user is not actually requiring anything on the Joomla side, there really is no reason to sync the two.
Trying to force connections between two systems only opens up security holes, so you shouldn't take this chance unless you absolutely know for certain that you need this functionality.
In short, Install Magento and in a subdirectory, Install Joomla. Style them the same and you'll have your consistent site.
What do you need out of your store?
Larger stores require more actual backend store functionality which Ecwid and others simply do no offer. I think people really underestimate what Magento is capable and since most assume you just click around like you do in Joomla, they end up missing the very valuable side of the system.
And if you're going to be doing $million or more in sales, you really should be looking to Magento.
Check what the core can do first.
Asking a question like "can I place Magento inside of Joomla?" like its an extension is very far off of what is actually going on with the code and with what each system offers. This is the equivalent to saying "I have a nice little sports car, but I need to haul heavy loads and go off road, so I'll just add all the parts of a monster truck to my car".
Go back to what you really need out of your system and if this is a Shop first, then Magento is more likely your answer if you're going to do serious and professional selling. If you're selling a few items here and there, Magento is likely a bigger beast than what its worth.
Lastly, if you're thinking about Magento...and I strongly recommend it as an ecommerce solution...get good hosting that qualifies for hosting magento. The database can grow large and very quickly, so just because a site has been up and running for a week, does not mean it will stay that way.
Look into Paypal very strongly as a payment gateway before looking elsewhere!!!
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- xtianus
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Ben Lee wrote:
Larger stores require more actual backend store functionality which Ecwid and others simply do no offer. I think people really underestimate what Magento is capable and since most assume you just click around like you do in Joomla, they end up missing the very valuable side of the system.
Ben can you expand on this comment a little. Because I use Ecwid and it does a lot in the backend and would like a couple of specific examples of what Magento can do that Ecwid can not.
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- Ben Lee
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Don't get me wrong, Ecwid does a lot, but Magento really is built to be a an expandable store solution. There are a lot of reasons and examples, but a few would be:
When you start needing more functionality for things like order fulfillment. Being able to create custom order statuses and multiple ones for each order stage is an advantage. I need to set which warehouse an order is shipping from so the right people know which orders to pull. Then those people need to be able to comment on the order and have an automated email notify the customer of a delay if any items are backordered.
Auto emails and the way Magento can split up items based on departments, Accounting and Shipping, can come in handy too. Yes, every system has some sort of email that goes out, but Magento is very customizable and these can vary depending on items ordered, backordered, shipped, invoiced, etc. Also the person that deals with each particular issue may vary, so different email addresses for different store actions.
A little more to ponder:
SaaS technology provides great solutions, but I don't bank everything on them. I love Google Apps, but I'm not willing to upload a large store to a solution like this. Should they stop for any reason, you can lose your info or your ability to sell for quite a while. Not too likely, but companies as big as SalesForce have dropped projects and left companies to find other solutions. I'm talking thousands of companies with web services just shut down.
I think you need to pick and choose very carefully which things you rely on SaaS for. You can upload photos to Facebook, but you don't send in your entire original photo archive and keep your only copy there.
There are most likely some things that sound similar, but when you see a Magento store configured and used the way it was intended to be used, you really see there is no substitute.
Magento does take more to set up, so your store ambitions need to be inline with the work it takes to maintain your site. But if this is for a fulltime business for you or a client, it should definitely be checked out.
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- xtianus
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Wow Ben yes for the examples you are giving I would say yes for sure Magento is the better solution. But isn't warehouse shipments way out the realm of what most people are doing?
For me the way I have internalized it is this way... If you want a website that is all about the merchandise being sold then Magento or otherwise would be the best option. If you want a website that also has merchandise being sold and can be upgraded and installed easily than something like Ecwid would be the better option.
In short would you agree with that?
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- Sam Mahoney
- Preeminent Rocketeer
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- Depending on your payment gateway and shipping, Magento can also be very easily and quickly set up. If you were to use only PayPal for payments, and use some simple standard shipping, you could easily set up a store in about a week. That's why it's so great, as it's totally scaleable, from the simplest setup to the most complex.
- STEP 1 IN MAGENTO DEVELOPMENT - DISABLE YOUR CACHE OR YOU WON'T SEE ANY CHANGES.
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- Melon
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xtianus wrote:
...and would like a couple of specific examples of what Magento can do that Ecwid can not.The ease of which you can set up multiple stores, the flexible attribute control system and their use/availability throughout the store and how simple it is to control SEF URLs from an apache server.
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- xtianus
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Yes but I am not saying Magento is not any of the things you are saying... But I feel like there is no way it is something as simple as Ecwid. Scaling something up would mean you plan to sell a lot of goods in situations like warehouses and what have you. Ok fine. But Magento is not going to give you a blog and CMS management system like Joomla is going to.
that is the reason why people come up with things like bridges.
You make the assertion to simply "style" it the same as your site.
There is no way it is that easy. You have to match the styles of your site only if you have for example a template that is the same site template as it is for magento. if not you are not going to just simply match the style.
One thing I do agree with that there is probably no reason to do any "syncing" between the two sites. In fact there isn't a reason to really sync any data between the two sites of any eCommerce solution.
BUT, the way it looks and ties into a site is important.
I will give an example of what I am talking about.
Keep calm and Chive on.
Their site is obviously WP. Their shopping cart is a horrible extension to their site without even the same name called... TheChivery. It is shopify. That is who they are using. now, Shopify is even easier to use than Ecwid. And Ecwid is pretty damn easy to use. But, the attempt to "tie in" to their site is horrid.
Ecwid would have tied in much nicer.
Does it matter? No... They are making millions. Do they Magento. God no. That would be ridiculous.
Simplicity and ease of use go a long way. When you have something that ties into your site seamlessly... Well that is priceless.
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