Joe Robertson wrote a great recap of his experience with Magento after completing his first project for Outdoor Traders.  Nice work, Joe!  Welcome to the Magento community.

Share/Save]]> http://www.eliasinteractive.com/blog/props-to-joewelcome-to-the-magento-community/feed 0 http://www.eliasinteractive.com/blog/magento-search-traffic-trends-a-rising-contender-in-ecommerce http://www.eliasinteractive.com/blog/magento-search-traffic-trends-a-rising-contender-in-ecommerce#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:48:28 +0000 Josh Colter http://eliasinteractive.com/?p=522 Magento continues to be a rising star in the world of ecommerce.  The chart below highlights search volume for ecommerce (red line) and Magento (blue line) over the last 12 months.  Interesting to...
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Magento continues to be a rising star in the world of ecommerce.  The chart below highlights search volume for ecommerce (red line) and Magento (blue line) over the last 12 months.  Interesting to note that Magento surpassed ecommerce web traffic at times during the past 30 days.

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Thinking about upgrading, implementing, or enhancing your ecommerce platform?  A survey at last year’s internet retailer conference revealed the following top frustrations:

1.    Not sure what we really need
2.    Too many vendor options and not clear on how to evaluate them
3.    Not sure how much it should cost or what is affordable for me.

Translation: the market is confusing.

Let me try to add clarity to expectations.  If you picked up the Internet Retailer Guide to Ecommerce Technology, then you would having the following cost considerations for your ecommerce platform (based on FitforCommerce survey):
•    On average, a new ecommerce platform costs $50,00-$100,000 minimum.
•    Mid-sized e-retailers need to spend $150,000-300,000 to re-platform, especially if the project calls for a lot of integrations.
•    The top 200 retailers ($50 million+) might spend over $500,000 if they want a total custom solution with maximum flexibility.

Given these expectations and more than 30 pages of ecommerce platform vendors, I can understand the frustration.  However, I want to propose that market confusion is due to more than just a quantity of selection.   You have to factor in the rapid speed of innovation at all levels of the cost spectrum…and open source.

Open source ecommerce software like Magento is game-changing.  Just reread the cost ranges above and contemplate what it would have cost even 2 years ago to compete with your own sophisticated online store: $50k buy-in, minimum.  Now the cost is 70-80% less using Magento and customizing it to your business.

Drop us a note today here at Elias if you are interested in learning more.