A few very cool Magento features:

• Add-to-compare
• Faceted navigation discovery
• Zoom feature
• Multiple product image support (again with zoom capability)

Magento is not for everyone.  It requires a working knowledge of the following to use effectively:

• Apache web server
• SOAP
• PHP
• XML
• SQL
• XHTML
• CSS

The bottom line is that although Magento is open source, it acts and looks like the best of commercial systems…

Check out Armando’s review and drop us a note at Elias.  We can help you with technical aspects of  a Magento install, Magento modifiy, Magento module, and Magento customization.

Direct Offers – Create offers that involve low-cost trials, free samples and valuable education-based information. Make an immediate response to these offers the sole reason your advertising exists.

Repackaging - Re-introduce your products with added features or services of value or do the same with your service offerings by packaging them in new and innovative ways. Increase the value of your products and services and spell the value out in terms that mean something to the prospect.

Referrals – Get out to your customers and start [talking] with them about ways to partner for referrals. Your customers know times are tough, too. [Communicate] with them and honestly explore ways to help them help you.

Strategic Partners – Now is the time to build your network of strategic referral partners. Start by referring business to trusted partners and make it a point to sit down with at least one current or potential strategic partner each week with the sole purpose of directly discussing ways to help each other grow.

Creative Thinking - Give your customers and vendors “reason why” thinking to encourage larger orders, better terms, guaranteed purchases, and loyalty clubs.

Magento offers native functionality that allows you to execute on many of John’s strategies:

• Flexible Coupons: create offers to get customers back in your store
• Email Newsletter Management: deliver the coupon via email
• Multi-tier pricing for quantity discounts: increase order size by encouraging larger quantity purchases
• Bundled Products: repackage how you offer your products by bundling
• New Items Promotional Tool: highlight new products
• Up-sells in Shopping Cart: increase order size at time of purchase
• Cross-sells on Product Page: increase order size during shopping experience
• Send to a Friend: make it easy for a visitor to forward their wishlist to mom in time for Christmas

1. Magento hit its 500,000th download about 3 weeks ago
2. A couple months ago there were usually about 300 people on average at any given point signed in to Magento’s website. Recently that number has more than doubled to 1200.
3. Release 1.1.7 just came out.

Greg is concerned that the SOA team can’t stay on target. He needs a vacation, but his cruise will have to wait as Jerry recruits him to crash an SOA conference. Will Greg find the magic he needs to put his team back on course?

…focus is difficult to achieve because it means giving something up. It runs counter to our most basic marketing instinct: If we narrow or offering, won’t we narrow our opportunities for profit? Answer: Not necessarily. Its often better to be number one in a small category than to be number three in a large one. At number three your strategy may have to include a low price, whereas at number one you can charge a premium. History has shown that it pays handsomely to be number one in your category – first, because of higher margins, and second, because the risk of commoditization is almost nonexistent. Yet number two can also be profitable, despite a smaller market share. Number three, or four, or five, however, may only be worth the effort if you think you have a realistic shot at becoming number two someday.

Taken from Marty Neumeier’s The Brand Gap

Being number 1 requires focus…and it pays. How do you translate focus to an ecommerce platform? In my opinion, you use a strategy similar to CSN stores: build web properties with very tightly focused product offerings. So instead of building homefurniture.com you create coffeetable.com, daybed.com, and diningroomtable.com. This strategy has put CSN in one of the top two spots and made them very profitable.



Magento’s ability to control multiple websites and stores from one Administration Panel makes it an attractive ecommerce platform for the focused eRetailer. Drop us a message using the contact form below if you would like to learn more.

Both anecdotal and empirical evidence support the case that advertising was the main factor in the growth or downfall of companies during [the Great Depression]. To put it bluntly, the companies which demonstrated the most growth and which rang up the most sales were those which advertised heavily.

The article goes on to talk about the growth in two new forms of advertising during the Great Depression: radio and direct mail.  So what are you doing to take advantage of said recession?  Whatever you do, cutting marketing is not the answer.

When we decided to do a new implementation of the site, we wanted to find an open-source cart system that we could modify we didn’t expect our needs to be met entirely by any existing system. Our existing site uses an extensively modified OSCommerce installation and we are not at all happy with it and wanted to start over on a better platform. We chose Magento because it is powerful out of the box, flexible, well engineered, and built on a code framework (Zend) that is also actively developed. Also, it’s been developed and supported by a company, and not just a couple of unrelated developers. It has some downsides as well, but overall it looks like a good platform to build upon.

What about you?  We would love to hear why you are working with Magento or what concerns you have about the platform.

The most popular day to send retail emails last week was Tuesday.