Ben, its good to see this thread still going. If nothing else, I should hire you for blog writing; you get some traffic from this post :)
I recently had to present to a client that was on Magento Enterprise and having multiple issues. They were frustrated, and were considering the options of fixing vs switching platforms. I had to explain in detail how Magento flexibility, IF NEEDED, was second to none, so I thought I would rehash that part of the conversation on here.
For brevity, I'll stick to product price rules. Most store owners think price means a) list price, b) special price, c) discounts via coupon, and d) discounts via customer group. And for many store owners, that is sufficient. So if that describes the extent of your pricing structure, Magento's "flexibility" when it comes to price doesn't help you.
Real eCommerce involves far more complex pricing. Sales people love to make shit up during a sales presentations, and then the store owner has to implement it. Rules like
"Customer A gets an initial $100 off their purchase, subsequent purchases they get a 5% discount, unless they purchase between $200 and $400 at checkout, in which case they get 7.2% discount off of everything above the initial $200 purchase, except for special items that have MAP pricing and aren't allowed the discount. Over $400, they get a 8.5% discount (just on purchases above $400), so they would get a 5% discount on the first $200, $7.2% discount on $201 to $400, and 8.2% discount above $400. On top of that, shipping discounts also apply AT THOSE SAME PURCHASE LEVELS, unless its an item that requires shipping by truck and not FedEx/UPS/USPS."
I did not make that up; that is the summary of a pricing rule. And that is ONE RULE for a specific buyer; different buyers get different rules. And that company is NOT Target or Walmart; its a company generating about $250,000 a month in online sales.
So, all the Magento nay sayers, tell me how you would solve that (outside of spaghetti custom code)? Because all of those pricing rules can be handled in Magento without custom coding.
I met with a company recently that has about 500 digital products, but they sell them through every digital format you can imagine, from DVD, to subscription streaming, to Netflix, to Roku, one time downloads, ... you name it. Their Magento catalog of 500 different digital products has generated over 2 million price variations, yet still there are only 500 products themselves.
Real businesses have real complexity, and Magento can support that complexity without custom coding every single variable. Who else does that? Hybris maybe, and their gigantic price tag (Belk Department stores is going with Hybris; I was hoping to talk them into Magento but to no avail).
So, once again, if you have a simple store, don't whine that Magento is a pain in the butt; Magento wasn't written for simple stores. Magento has power that leaves these other products in the dust, but if you don't need the power, stick with WooCommerce or Shopify.
Ben, its good to see this thread still going. If nothing else, I should hire you for blog writing; you get some traffic from this post :)
I recently had to present to a client that was on Magento Enterprise and having multiple issues. They were frustrated, and were considering the options of fixing vs switching platforms. I had to explain in detail how Magento flexibility, IF NEEDED, was second to none, so I thought I would rehash that part of the conversation on here.
For brevity, I'll stick to product price rules. Most store owners think price means a) list price, b) special price, c) discounts via coupon, and d) discounts via customer group. And for many store owners, that is sufficient. So if that describes the extent of your pricing structure, Magento's "flexibility" when it comes to price doesn't help you.
Real eCommerce involves far more complex pricing. Sales people love to make shit up during a sales presentations, and then the store owner has to implement it. Rules like
"Customer A gets an initial $100 off their purchase, subsequent purchases they get a 5% discount, unless they purchase between $200 and $400 at checkout, in which case they get 7.2% discount off of everything above the initial $200 purchase, except for special items that have MAP pricing and aren't allowed the discount. Over $400, they get a 8.5% discount (just on purchases above $400), so they would get a 5% discount on the first $200, $7.2% discount on $201 to $400, and 8.2% discount above $400. On top of that, shipping discounts also apply AT THOSE SAME PURCHASE LEVELS, unless its an item that requires shipping by truck and not FedEx/UPS/USPS."
I did not make that up; that is the summary of a pricing rule. And that is ONE RULE for a specific buyer; different buyers get different rules. And that company is NOT Target or Walmart; its a company generating about $250,000 a month in online sales.
So, all the Magento nay sayers, tell me how you would solve that (outside of spaghetti custom code)? Because all of those pricing rules can be handled in Magento without custom coding.
I met with a company recently that has about 500 digital products, but they sell them through every digital format you can imagine, from DVD, to subscription streaming, to Netflix, to Roku, one time downloads, ... you name it. Their Magento catalog of 500 different digital products has generated over 2 million price variations, yet still there are only 500 products themselves.
Real businesses have real complexity, and Magento can support that complexity without custom coding every single variable. Who else does that? Hybris maybe, and their gigantic price tag (Belk Department stores is going with Hybris; I was hoping to talk them into Magento but to no avail).
So, once again, if you have a simple store, don't whine that Magento is a pain in the butt; Magento wasn't written for simple stores. Magento has power that leaves these other products in the dust, but if you don't need the power, stick with WooCommerce or Shopify.