So you had this dream website in your head and finally saved up some capital to have it built. You reached out to an agency and they said they can do it! Your dream build will be done on Magento. Though, this dream build also had a price tag, but that’s fine because it’s an investment. So you paid the price and you got something pretty close to what you wanted. Up to this point, you’re actually quite pleased. The rest of the minor design details can be handled over time. That’s why you pay a monthly retainer, right? So they can keep growing your site? You start to wonder if those monthly fees will accumulate.
There’s definitely an effort put into growth, but the biggest expense that your retainer is going towards is maintenance. A bug here, a problem there, a patch here, a new surprise there.
What if you didn’t have to worry about your indexing and caching being slow, or your payment integration not working, or problems with patches, or flexibility. Well then your monthly fees could actually go towards the growth of your business.
Monthly fees: On the low-end, you’re spending $5k/month, otherwise known as $60k/year
Indexing and Caching
Magento
To make a change to your front-end using Magento, you firstly have to have the right permission/access to the back-end of your site. You require permission because in this back-end, you can mess things up pretty bad. Yes, there is potential for you to make things worse. Secondly, the changes you make may or may not appear right away or at all on the front-end of the site. What do we call that? Frustrating…that’s all.
Shopify
When you go to make changes in Shopify, you just make the change, and it appears on your website. Communication between your table and the front-end is seamless. Just make a change, hit save and there you have it. No issues, no broken index, no problem. You’ll never find yourself creating problems.
Payment Gateway
Magento
Magento has been getting better at the integration of POS and payment processing, but at the end of the day they are just too far behind and they require too much from the merchant themselves. Less of a service, more of a product.
Shopify
Shopify has been very intentional on this one. They understand that you are using a different POS than the guy down the road, and a different payment processor than the next business. Making sure that everything is integrated is a top priority for Shopify, and that’s why we like them.
Patches
Magento
When there is a bug, there needs to be a patch. The patch is designed to solve all problems, not solve one to create another. With Magento, since their system is hosted the way it is, and you may not have the same software version as the next Magento user, then your patch might end up putting a bug somewhere else.
Shopify
Shopify is fully hosted with its own internal ecosystem so you know it will be constantly updated. That way when a patch comes along, you know you have the best version for the patch. Then BOOM, you’re all set.
Flexibility
Magento
You want to change the wording of a subheading on your site. Just the wording. That’s all. Now you’re spending your time sending an email to the agency, only to have to send more emails asking when it will be done by. And it’s cost you money! Not to mention that time money. So your expenses are just way higher than it should be.
Shopify
With Shopify, I like to think of it like a system that has built solid plumbing on your site. And on top of that they wanna give you all the materials to build a house the way want it. With solid plumbing and plenty of resources to build, you can really do whatever you want. The vast majority of customizations you may want, are doable. Shopify is stable and allows you to do what you want.
A monthly bill is going to happen. It’s just the way the industry works. But wouldn’t you rather have that money going towards pushing you upward, rather than trying to keep you standing.
Stop being worried about keeping your site running. Survival shouldn’t be your worry. Shopify has such a well-developed ecosystem that this is not your worry.
Dear Magento users,
You should be sick of paying these monthly fees and getting very little in return. I actually feel sick for you. Start investing in growth rather than fending for survival.
Sincerely,