Magento Community vs Magento Commerce

by Cozmot | May 25, 2023 | General

Magento is an e-commerce platform that offers two main editions: Magento Community and Magento Commerce (formerly known as Magento Enterprise Edition). Here’s a comparison between the two:

1. Features: Magento Commerce offers more advanced features and functionality compared to Magento Community. It includes features like advanced marketing and merchandising tools, advanced search capabilities, customer segmentation, content staging, and more. Magento Commerce also provides access to additional extensions and modules not available in the Community edition.
2. Support: Magento Commerce comes with official support from Adobe, the parent company of Magento. This means you have access to dedicated technical support, including bug fixes, security patches, and assistance with any issues you encounter. Magento Community, on the other hand, relies on community support, forums, and online resources.
3. Pricing: Magento Community is an open-source edition available for free, while Magento Commerce is a commercial edition that requires a paid license. The cost of Magento Commerce varies based on factors like your business size, annual gross sales, and specific requirements. The Commerce edition also offers different pricing tiers with varying levels of features and support.
4. Scalability: Magento Commerce is designed to handle larger-scale e-commerce operations and high-volume transactions. It provides enhanced performance, scalability, and optimization features, making it suitable for enterprise-level businesses. Magento Community is more suitable for small to medium-sized businesses with lower transaction volumes.
5. B2B Functionality: Magento Commerce includes robust features specifically designed for B2B (business-to-business) e-commerce, such as account management, custom pricing and catalogs, quoting and negotiation tools, and integration with ERP systems. These B2B features are not available in the Community edition.
6. Security: Both Magento Community and Magento Commerce provide strong security features. However, Magento Commerce offers additional security enhancements, regular security patches, and updates. It also provides a dedicated security team that actively monitors vulnerabilities and addresses them promptly.

In summary, Magento Commerce offers a more feature-rich, scalable, and supported solution suitable for large-scale e-commerce businesses with specific requirements, while Magento Community is a free, open-source edition primarily targeted at smaller businesses with basic e-commerce needs. The choice between the two editions depends on factors such as your business size, budget, required features, and level of support needed.

Magento vs Shopify: Choosing the Perfect E-commerce Platform for Your Business

by Cozmot | May 25, 2023 | General

Introduction:

In today’s digital age, establishing an online presence is crucial for businesses of all sizes. When it comes to creating an e-commerce store, choosing the right platform can significantly impact your success. Two popular options that often come up in the conversation are Magento and Shopify. In this blog post, we will dive deep into the comparison of Magento and Shopify, highlighting their key features, advantages, and considerations to help you make an informed decision.

1. Overview of Magento:

Magento is a powerful, open-source e-commerce platform known for its flexibility and scalability. It offers a comprehensive set of features suitable for large enterprises and businesses with complex requirements. As an open-source solution, Magento provides complete control over customization and enables developers to create tailored online stores. However, this flexibility comes at the cost of higher complexity and a steeper learning curve.

2. Overview of Shopify:

Shopify, on the other hand, is a user-friendly, hosted e-commerce platform designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers an intuitive interface, making it easy for entrepreneurs and beginners to set up their online stores. Shopify takes care of hosting, security, and maintenance, allowing business owners to focus on sales and marketing. While it may have some limitations in terms of customization, Shopify excels in providing a hassle-free e-commerce experience.

3. Key Features and Customization:

When it comes to features and customization options, Magento stands out as the more robust platform. It offers an extensive range of built-in features, including advanced product catalogs, flexible pricing options, multiple storefronts, and powerful SEO capabilities. Magento’s modular architecture allows for deep customization, making it suitable for businesses with unique requirements.

Shopify, while not as feature-rich as Magento, offers a wide selection of tools to manage products, inventory, and orders efficiently. Its app store provides various plugins and extensions to extend functionality. Shopify’s themes and templates allow for some customization, but they have limitations compared to Magento’s flexibility.

4. Scalability and Performance:

When considering scalability, Magento shines as the preferred choice for larger businesses with high growth potential. Its ability to handle large catalogs, support multiple stores, and handle complex workflows makes it an ideal solution for enterprise-level e-commerce. Magento’s performance can be optimized by choosing the right hosting environment and implementing caching techniques.

Shopify, on the other hand, offers a reliable and scalable infrastructure suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. With its cloud-based architecture, Shopify handles server maintenance, security, and performance optimization, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers.

5. Pricing and Cost Considerations:

Magento’s open-source version, Magento Open Source (formerly known as Magento Community Edition), is free to download and use. However, costs associated with hosting, development, maintenance, and extensions can add up significantly, especially for larger projects. Magento Commerce (formerly known as Magento Enterprise Edition) is a paid version that includes additional features, support, and hosting options.

Shopify offers pricing plans starting from a monthly subscription fee. While the plans come with varying levels of features and support, they include hosting and security. The cost is predictable and manageable, making it easier for businesses with budget constraints to get started.

6. Support and Community:

Magento has a vibrant and active community of developers, agencies, and contributors, offering extensive resources, documentation, and forums for troubleshooting and support. However, official technical support from Magento comes with a price tag, and the level of support may depend on the edition you choose.

Shopify provides 24/7 customer support through various channels, including live chat, email, and phone. Their support team is known for its responsiveness and expertise, ensuring that businesses can get assistance when needed.

Conclusion:

Choosing the right e-commerce platform depends on your

Learn to Create Checkout-like Step Progress Bar In Magento 2 – Programmatically

by Cozmot | May 17, 2023 | General

D

o you want to create checkout-like step progress bar in Magento 2? In this blog post, I am going to share a detailed method to do that. 👇

Filling up never-ending forms online can be tiring.

Let’s admit it—we all have ditched such lengthy forms many times. The end experience is very poor! If you are a Magento 2 store owner, you can make this experience better for your customers by adding a checkout-like progress bar in Magento 2 forms.

We all are acquainted with the checkout progress bar in Magento 2, where the top bar shows the finished/unfinished steps by the customers.

The progress bar in Magento 2 checkout consolidates all the details on one page. Adding a progress bar in Magento 2 can be an effective strategy to increase form fill-ups. Just like us, other users also hate filling up lengthy forms. Breaking down the form into small steps can make the boring process look straightforward.

In this micro post, we’ll see how to add a checkout-like step progress bar in Magento 2.

Let’s dive into it.

Code to Create Checkout-like Step Progress Bar in Magento 2

Creating a checkout-like step progress bar in Magento 2 is straightforward.

We can re-use the core Magento 2 opc-progress-bar class for the checkout progress bar in .phtml file to do that.

For example:

Modify the above code snippet and add it to .phtml file of the page where you want to show the progress bar.

• In the above code, the opc-progress-bar class refers to the main progress bar in <ul> HTML tag.
• The opc-progress-bar-item class refers to the individual step.
• The _active class is added to the <li> tag for the currently active step.
• The _complete class is added to the <li> tag for the completed steps.

Customize the above code to display the checkout-like progress bar in Magento 2 according to your requirements!

That’s it! I hope this blog post has added something valuable to your Magento knowledge!

In case you still have any queries, feel free to comment.

How to Import and Export Products in Magento

by Cozmot | May 15, 2023 | General

Things to Know Prior to Magento Import & Export

Before we start there are a few things you have to know prior to moving products. 

Magento import and export works with the CSV file types. So you have to know how to work with CSV files before you export or import products. 

The best way to do this?

Google Sheets for sure. The main benefit is it is completely free and you most likely already have a Google account to use it. Besides, Google Sheets don’t break the CSV formatting and you can download the file without any changes to the separator or delimiter values.

If you considered Microsoft Excel or Open Office, we don’t recommend it since you’ll have a hard time editing delimiters and separators as these tools break the formatting.

CSV File Structure

Once you export products from Magento 2 you will have a sample of the CSV file with the columns you can update or edit. However, if you’re just preparing a CSV file for import you have to know the structure of the product CSV file.

Column	Example	Description
sku	sku_123	An alphanumeric identifier is used to track inventory. Can be up to 64 characters long with letters and numbers separated by underscores or dashes. (SKUs with more than 64 characters will cause the import to fail)
store_view_code	English	Specifies the store views where the product is available. If you leave it blank the product will be available on the default store view.
attribute_set_code	Default	Assigns a product to a specific attribute set (you should have attribute sets created before importing products) based on the product type. If the product is created, you can’t change the attribute set.
product_type	simple	Defines the type of product: simple, grouped, configurable, virtual, bundle.
categories	Default Category/Gear,Default Category/Gear/Fitness Equipment	Defines a category assigned to a product. Separate category paths with the pipe (|) symbol.
product_websites	base,website2	Indicates a website code where the product is available. To set multiple websites, separate each with a comma without a space.
name	Sprite Yoga Strap 6 foot	The name of the product.
description	<p>The Sprite Yoga Strap is your untiring partner in demanding stretches, holds and alignment routines. The strap’s 100% organic cotton fabric is woven tightly to form a soft, textured yet non-slip surface. The plastic clasp buckle is easily adjustable, lightweight and durable under strain.</p><ul><li>100% soft and durable cotton.<li>Plastic cinch buckle is easy to use.<li>Three natural colors made from phthalate and heavy metal-free dyes.</ul>	Defines the product name that is used in the listing. Can include valid HTML tags.
short_description	<p>The Sprite Yoga Strap is your untiring partner in demanding stretches, holds and alignment routines.</p>	Identifies product description. Includes valid HTML tags.
weight	1	The weight of the product is in the 1.00000 formats.
product_online	1	Determines whether a product is enabled or not.
tax_class_name	Taxable Goods	Defines the name of the tax class associated with this product.
visibility	Catalog, Search	Defines whether a product is not visible individually, in the catalog, in search, or bot catalog and search.
price	14	The price of the product.
special_price	10	A discounted price of the products during a specified period.
special_price_from_date	2022-07-19 03:34:20	A date when the discount price is activated.
special_price_to_date	2022-07-19 03:34:20	A date when the discount price is deactivated.
url_key	sprite-yoga-strap-6-foot	Defines the part of the URL that identifies a product.
meta_title	The Best Sprite Yoga Strap 6 foot	A meta title of the product that appears in the search results list.
meta_keywords	sprite yoga, best sprite yoga strap, yoga strap	Meta keywords are separated by a comma with space.
meta_description	The Sprite Yoga Strap is your untiring partner in demanding stretches, holds and alignment routines.	Product meta description.
base_image	https://cozmot.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/sprite-toga-strap.png	Defines a relative path for the main product image. (images should be uploaded to pub/media/import). You can also use the direct URL of the image.
base_image_label	Base image “Alt Text”	A label of the base product image.
small_image	https://magefan.com/media/logos/default/logo.png	A name of the small image file that is used on catalog pages preceded by forward slash.
small_image_label	Small image “Alt Text”	A label associated with the small image.
thumbnail_image	https://cozmot.com/media/logos/default/logo.png	A file name of the thumbnail image that will appear on the product page gallery preceded by forward slash.
thumbnail_image_label	Thumbnail image “Alt Text”	A label associated with the thumbnail image.
created_at	2022-07-19 03:34:20	Defines the date when the product was created. Use the following format: yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss.
updated_at	2022-07-19 03:34:20	Defines the date when the product was last updated. Use the following format: yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss.
new_from_date	2022-07-20 03:34:20	Specifies a date when the product starts to be featured as a new product. Use the following format: yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss.
new_to_date	2022-07-20 03:34:20	Specifies a date when the product stops being featured as a new product. Use the following format: yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss.
display_product_options_in	Block after Info Column	Determines where product options should appear on a product page if a product has multiple options.
map_price	10	A minimum advertised price of the product.
msrp_price	10	A manufacturer’s suggested product price.
map_enabled	0	Determines if the Minimum Advertised Price is enabled.
gift_message_available		Determines if a gift message will be displayed for a product during purchase.
custom_design		List themes that can be applied to a product page.
custom_design_from	2022-07-30 12:12	Specifies a date when the selected theme is applied to the product.
custom_design_to	2022-07-30 12:12	Specifies an end date when the selected theme is applied to the product.
custom_layout_update		Specifies additional XML code that is applied to product page layout.
page_layout		Defines the layout of the product page: No layout updates, 1 column, 2 columns with left bar, 2 columns with right bar, 3 columns, empty.
product_options_container	Block after Info Column	Determines where product options will be displayed on the product page.
msrp_display_actual_price_type	Use config	Determines where to display the actual price of the product for a customer; in the cart, before order confirmation, on gesture.
country_of_manufacture	Sweden	Identifies the country where the products was manufactured.
additional_attributes	has_options=1,quantity_and_stock_status=In Stock,required_options=0	Defines additional attributes created for a product. (custom product options)
qty	100	Quantity of products that are currently in stock.
out_of_stock_qty	0	The stock level to determine when the product is marked as out of stock.
use_config_min_qty	1	Determines whether to use the default value from the config.
is_qty_decimal	0	Determines if the qty attribute has a decimal value. Set 1 is the qty can be decimal.
allow_backorders	0	Defines whether your store allows backorders. Set 1 if you allow backorders.
use_config_backorders	1	Determines whether to use the default backorders config.
min_cart_qty	1	Defines the minimum qty of the product that can be purchased per order.
use_config_min_sale_qty	0	Determines whether to use the default value from the config.
max_cart_qty	0	Defines the maximum qty of the product that can be purchased per order.
use_config_max_sale_qty	1	Determines whether to use the default value from the config.
is_in_stock	1	Defines if the product is in stock.
notify_on_stock_below	1	Specifies the number of products that trigger the out-of-stock notification.
use_config_notify_stock_qty	1	Determines whether to use the default value from the config.
manage_stock	0	Defines if inventory control is used to manage a product. Set 1 to control the stock quantity.
use_config_manage_stock	1	Determines whether to use the default value from the config.
use_config_qty_increments	1	Defines whether to use product quantity increments from the store config.
qty_increments	0	Determines if the product is sold in quantity increments.
use_config_enable_qty_inc	1	Determines the default config setting to enable quantity increments.
enable_qty_increments	0	Defines if the quantity increments are enabled for a product.
is_decimal_divided	0	Defines if some part of a product can be shipped separately.
website_id	1	Defines a specific website where the product is available. When black the product will be available on all websites.
related_skus	24-WG087,24-WG086	List of the related products SKUs comma-separated.
related_position	1, 2, 3, 4	Determines the position of the SKUs listed as Related Products.
crosssell_skus	24-WG087,24-WG086	List of the cross-sell SKUs comma-separated.
crosssell_position	1, 2, 3, 4	Determines the position of the SKUs listed as Cross-sells.
upsell_skus	24-WG087,24-WG086	List of the up-sell SKUs comma-separated.
upsell_position	1, 2, 3, 4	Determines the position of the SKUs listed as Upsells.
additional_images	https://cozmot.com/media/logos/default/logo.png	The file names of all additional images associated with a product.
additional_image_labels	Additional image “Alt Text”	Labels of the additional images associated with a product.
custom_options	name=Custom Yoga Option,type=drop_down,required=0,price=10.0000,price_type=fixed,sku=,option_title=Gold|name=Custom Yoga Option,type=drop_down,required=0,price=10.0000,price_type=fixed,sku=,option_title=Silver|name=Custom Yoga Option,type=drop_down,required=0,price=10.0000,price_type=fixed,sku=yoga3sku,option_title=Platinum	Defines the values and properties assigned to each custom option.

Now that you know what columns will the sample CSV file contain and what each of them means, you can move to the Magento import and export.

How to Export Products in Magento 2?

To export products in Magento 2: 

1. Navigate to System > Data Transfer > Export.

2. Choose Product as the Entity Type and CSV — as Export File Format. 

3. Filter through product attributes to export only those you really need and click Continue.

You’ll get a message that the import was scheduled and once the cron runs the products will be exported. So make sure your crons are configured correctly.

How to Import Products in Magento 2?

Magento product import is a little harder than export since you need to import product images separately. But we’ve got you covered.

Just follow these steps to import products to Magento 2:

1. Navigate to System > Data Transfer > Import and choose Product as the Entity Type. 

Note: you can download the sample file right on this step to make sure your CSV file follows the sample. Also, make sure the size of the import file doesn’t exceed the limit of 2M and upload images to pub/media/import if you want to specify image paths in the CSV file.

2. Configure Import Behaviour. 

• Select what Import Behaviour you prefer in a corresponding section: Add/Update, Replace, Delete.
• Define the Validation Strategy to determine what happens if any errors occur during import.
• Set the Allowed Errors Count to define how many errors can occur before the import is canceled.
• Accept the default value on a comma in Field separator and Field separator fields.
• Check the Fields Enclosure if you want to enclose any special characters found in the data.

3. Identify the Import File. 

Here you have to upload your CSV file and enter the relative path to the server where uploaded images are stored in the Images File Directory field.

Once you fill out all of the required field, click Check Data in the upper-right corner and wait for the process to complete. 

If your CSV file is valid, press Import and import products to Magento 2. You can track the import via System > Data Transfer > Import History.

Magento import & export feature is more than enough to perform some basic editing or updating tasks when you operate your products between Magento instances.