| By :
Janet Webb
Copyright (c) 2010 Janet Webb Empowering tactics for 2011 ecommerce are all built on Magento, the program that outpaced all other e-commerce platforms in the world by 2009, according to statistics from Google. Magento comes in three flavors: Community (the open source platform), Professional (with license fees of $3,500 annually) and Enterprise (license fees run $13,000/year.) According to Jarod Clark, web development expert, his web design firm made the decision to use the Magento platform exclusively in 2009 and his team of Denver Magento developers have been working with the Magento e-commerce platform since it was in beta testing three years ago. Magento has assembled a powerful resource for Magento developers in Denver to use to create the most intuitive online shopping carts for customers with the overall goal of providing the best experience possible, which is the reason for this exclusivity. Included in the functionalities and features Magento delivers to web development, especially for sales marketing are: Layered / facetted navigation for intuitive filtering of products. Magento offers control over which attributes are filterable to help improve the shopping experience. To improve the customer's experience, Magento allows the user to control the attributes filtered by in searches. Targeted merchandising system. One on one marketing can be re-created by automating it, which this integrated functionality allows. Logic is built in to present products and offers to customers and wholesalers that they are most likely to act upon based on the information about the client and their browsing and purchase history. For example, if a customer has purchased a specific workshop tool, say an 18V DeWalt product as in the case of ToolKing.com's Magento store, that same client is much more likely to purchase compatible tools because they can share batteries and charges. Rich Promotions and upselling functionality. Marketing Promotions and Tools including flexible coupons, up-sells, cross sells and related products. Streamlined management allows the focus to be Marketing and Merchandising versus implementation details. Marketing Reminders automatically by email. This function enables merchants to increase customer retention through sending configurable, automated email reminders to customers for abandoned shopping carts and wishlists. Magneto B2B and B2C. Magento allows authenticated B2B/logged in clients to utilize the solution to place orders by supporting both groups of customers in one consolidated installation. Because of its convenience to shoppers and spared expense to business owners, online shopping is here to stay. Predictions by Forrester Research, the respected independent technology and market research firm, are that U.S. online retail will grow at 10% compounded annually to reach nearly $249 billion by 2014.
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