Estonian e-commerce leaders tend to raise an eyebrow in surprise when we have talked about Commerce licenses for more complex Magento projects. In the chat rooms of larger international e-commerce companies, on the other hand, they are surprised – does Magento have a free version?
First, an explanation about the names. The free version is called Magento Open Source (formerly Magento Community) and the licensed version is called Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Enterprise). The name change took place because Magento INC was merged into the Adobe product family in 2018. Photoshop is the most well-known solution from the Adobe product family to the average person, but Adobe also offers various other solutions for large e-businesses such as Adobe Analytics, Adobe Sensei, Adobe Experience Manager, and buying an ambitious e-commerce platform to connect with other e-business products is a logical step.
Why consider?
A commerce licence is worth considering for a well-established and growing e-business. By 2020, Adobe Commerce was chosen as their e-business platform by 13% of the top 1000 largest e-businesses and the three main reasons are outlined below:
- A huge range of additional B2C and B2B functionalities, with new features added with almost every release (we’ll give an overview in the next posts). While it is theoretically possible to buy similar solutions as separate modules, this is more costly and buggy. With Adobe Commerce, you get a boxed set of functionalities modelled on worlds best practices, in a single working solution, and your e-commerce can be up and running faster.
- You are an Adobe customer. Adobe customers are assigned an Account Manager, who will provide you with invitations to educational events and share in international innovation. While the store is implemented and deployed by a development partner, Adobe Commerce is responsible for the operation of the basic functionality and you can communicate directly with their technical support.
- The pluses of Open Source remain 😊. Adobe Commerce is just as scalable and flexible, with large user base. If you can develop Open Source, you can work with Commerce. Technologically, in simple terms, Adobe Commerce is a module that is added to Magento Open Source and a upgrade is possible.
As the Estonian market is small, competing major e-commerce platforms have not invested in selling to customers in Estonia. Magento has achieved a high penetration in the Estonian market thanks to its free/freeware version and vendor lock does not and cannot exist. It should also be noted that the Commerce licence price lists are not public – a Adobe representative is entitled to make an offer and the price depends on the turnover of the e-store.
How to get the most from Adobe Commerce?
With a Commerce licence, you get a powerful toolbox – it gives you new capabilities, but you need people to get it up and running and keep it running. Unfortunately, there have also been cases where merchants don’t know exactly what extra features they get with a licence, and don’t keep up to date with the latest functionality. Let’s be honest – the guidance material is very voluminous. This is where we come in and start to provide regular, one-by-one reviews of Adobe Commerce capabilities in the Lumav blog.
Any questions? Lumav team has 10+ years of experience in e-business development and we are happy to think along with you – write or call us and let’s talk.
