AspDotNetStorefront vs Magento
Deciding which ecommerce platform to run a business on, is not a decision that should be taken lightly. Realistically, business operators should be doing a large amount of research on what ecommerce platform they decide to use, because having the right platform can save your business lots of capital and labor hours. There are a lot ecommerce platforms to choose from, how does one go about knowing which one is best for their business? I will be discussing the two of the better ecommerce platforms on the market, Magento and AspDotNetSotrefront, and telling you which one I believe is the best for your business.
Features and Tools
Features and tools incredibly important parts of an ecommerce platform. In order to maximize revenue, a business needs to have and be able to utilize the provided features adn tools in order to drive new sales and engage returning customers.
When it comes to modules and applications both platforms have a lot of them available. Because Magento is open source, it allows 3rd party vendors to create applications and modules for the platform. AspDotNetStorefront is not an open source platform, but if you contact the right website software developer (Example: equaTEK), custom modules and applications can be created for the platform.
Magento and AspDotNetStorefront are easily two of the most scalable ecommerce platforms available, although Magento is more scalable. Magento can support up to 5000 products and thousands of transactions in an hour, with multistore tracking. AspDotNetStorefront does have multistore tracking too, but cannot reach either of those volumes, however, it is able to manage over 2500 products and more than 600 transactions in an hour. One of the coolest parts of AspDotNetStorefront is that it has multi-channel selling integrations with Google Shopping, Shopzilla, and Amazon, with PayPal integration available for your website.
Customization
AspDotNetStorefront is one of the more customizable ecommerce platforms on the market, as is Magento, and the high levels of customization can become very time consuming, especially if you are inexperienced with web design. The problem with Magento’s customization, however, is the loading speeds are slower than most of its competitors. Both platforms have a lot of features and tools available, such as SEO tools, inventory management, return management, and customer accounts.
PCI/Secuirty
A big upside for AspDotNetStorefront is that it is PCI Certified. Magento is not PCI Certified, only PCI compliant. PCI Certification declares that the platform is secure against hackers and fraudulent online activity.PCI compliant means that the platform has not completed or passed the PCI test administered by the PCI Council, however, the platform managers believe that the site meets the requirements to pass. Since AspDotNetStorefront is PCI Certified, it ensures that your business and your customers will be protected from illegal online activity.
Cost
The pricing for each platform varies vastly, so be ready to crunch some numbers by the end of this article.
For AspDotNetStorefront the pricing structure is $180/month for full access, or a $5,500 one-time payment for the most up to date version with overhaul updates sometimes costing an additional fee. A developer, such as equaTEK, will charge $175/hour to produce and maintain your AspDotNetStorefront ecommerce site, and will charge additional fees if application development is requested. The pricing options for Magento are much more complex.
Magento is not offered at a specific price, instead the price is built around the buyer, mostly by their partners. We found these pricing estimates from their partner ZFort Group: Magento Edition from $0 to $100,000, Magento Hosting from $2.77 to $100/month, Magento Themes from $17 to $25,000, Magento Website Development from $4,900 to $100,000, Magento Maintenance from $50 to $125/hour, Magento Support from $1,000 to $40,000/year, and applications from $0 to $100,000. The two pricing strategies are very different and can be overwhelming to compare, so make sure your price out both platforms appropriately.
What is the best?
Now that the facts have been laid out, which platform is best for your ecommerce business?
AspDotNetStorefront is the platform you should be using to start your website and even use as a second-generation website. AspDotNetStorefront should be used until your website is almost no longer able to scale anymore, because you are processing too many transactions an hour, and frankly, most ecommerce businesses never reach that limit. AspDotNetStorefront is the easier platform to learn at first and when things become too advanced for you, an ecommerce developer, like equaTEK, can assist you by unleashing the full potential of the platform by implementing its complex functionalities onto your website.
Magento should be used if your ecommerce website becomes so big in scale that you feel the need to leave the AspDotNetStorefront platform to continue growing. If you are using Magento its recommended that you either have a partner, team, or highly experienced individual managing your website, because the platform is so complex. If you are at the point of growth where you feel like you need to move to Magento to continue growing your business, then a list of Magento partners can be found on the company’s website to assist you. We hope that you found this article helpful in discovering the best ecommerce platform for your needs.
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