At Portaltech Reply whilst our main competition in the eCommerce re-platform space is typically ATG and Demandware we do from time to time (in smaller deals) come up against Magento based solutions. Here is a quick look at the key reasons for selecting hybris over a Magento build:
- Much of what I’ve said about PIM powered eCommerce in my previous blog comparing ATG to hybris applies here, in fact even more so. The catalogue management capability in Magento is far less sophisticated making multi currency, multi language, multi site stores possible but heavy lifting in terms of customisation and development. Critically UTF-8 is not properly supported and the business tools for managing multiple catalogues are weak in comparison. If you a trading internationally in any serious way think carefully about whether Magento is the right platform for you. Ask for references and uncover the true cost of the implementation. Almost any platform can eventually meet the requirement given enough time, money and pain however what retailers need is pain free, low cost and rapid rollout of internationalised sites and trading functionality.
- One of the biggest issues around selecting an open source platform such as Magento, in particular over hybris, is the commitment to ongoing development and long term roadmap. A significant proportion of the development of the Magneto platform is driven by the open source community. As a result the company (Magento) itself is not in total control of a. quality b. development methodologies and processes c. roadmap and development strategy. Whilst some smaller retailers and online operators might not see this as an issue any significant online operator that is thinking long term (5-10 years) simply cannot take risk. I would in fact argue that even smaller operators should consider the impact of who is directing the development strategy of a product they are basing a significant proportion of their profits and growth on.
- Multi channel, multi channel, multi channel! Magento has an app or so I’m led to believe! Compared to hybris this is quite literally light years behind in terms of strategy. I would simply say this, point me to a single instance anywhere in the world of a retailer operating true, integrated multi channel operations off the Magento platform?
- Implementation community: This for me is the single biggest reason why a serious online operator struggles with the Magento offering. If you take a look around the market in the UK for instance and look at Magento partners you will find almost exclusively that no major eCommerce systems integrator / developer is using the Magneto platform. Magento attracts web agencies and small ecommerce operators as it requires a low level of investment to skill up (find a couple of PHP developers and you can get started) and Magneto itself provides no barriers to entry for partners to genuinely skill up and get certified before they can begin implementing. Simply download the software and go to work. Yeeks, Risk!
- Ownership: Picking up on the lack of control that Magento has over their partner community (you could never implement hybris without the right training and history of working with similar technologies and neither would they let you) ownership is an important related issue. So your web agency recommends a Magento build and you go ahead. Later you decide that the agency that built your site needs to be fired. Who owns that code, is that code re-usable by another Magento partner, what coding standards were adhered to in order to enable that transfer and what technical documentation was put together and do you have access to it? Often small web agencies do not adhere to these kinds of rigorous development methodologies which means effectively what you have is a custom build solution on a platform with no real roadmap, no ability to transfer the development ownership and a one way ticket with your development partner. If that relationship fails you will be re-building. hybris implementations are vetted and supported by hybris themselves, partners have to be highly credible (and go through training, assessment and have hybris professional services on the project) in order to be allowed to implement. When you consider that the two leading UK Magento partners have recently entered into a CVA (protection from bankruptcy) and pulled out of Europe respectively I’m tempted to say, I rest my case!
- Performance and scalability: This is critically important to larger retailers and online operators as they need to know that the investment they make now in growth can be supported by the software. Put simply I’m not aware of a single online operator doing in excess of £30m online in the UK that is running a Magento solution. In fact I’d hazard a guess that even globally these are few and far between. Until Magento is proven in £30 to £100m online environments there will always be huge concerns around scalability. I would also argue that even for smaller operators performance and scalability is an issue. Whilst it might be physically possible (add more servers) to scale it’s not always commercially viable due to high hosting and associated maintenance costs.