Hey there, fellow e-commerce enthusiasts! Let's talk about spicing up your online business game with some top-notch solutions. If you've been on the lookout for ways to boost your online store's efficiency, you're in luck! Enter Magento - the superhero among e-commerce platforms that's been hitting the mark.
Hey, savvy e-commerce wizards! Are you ready for a whirlwind adventure into the vibrant world of online selling? Picture this: you're about to embark on a quest to find the ultimate e-commerce platform that'll skyrocket your business to the stars. Today, we're spilling the beans on the hottest topic around – the top alternatives to Magento in 2024.
Hey there, fellow Magento store managers!
As a leading Magento extensions company, we can say with 100 per cent confidence that all store owners, big and small, are worried about the rising competition. Even well-established online stores are finding it difficult to stay ahead of the competition. What’s behind the sudden rise in competition? There are several explanations but the one we find the most plausible is that every individual is trying their hands at eCommerce.Why? Well, the topmost reason is that this business requires the least amount of investment. All you need is a compelling website, in-demand products, and an effective marketing strategy. Check Out Our Magento 2 Marketing Extensions: SEO Ultimate Pack Social Feed Google Rich Snippets Secondly, the learning curve is not steep. There are cloud-based platforms that let you set up a store in a few minutes. They offer in-built marketing tools that individuals with no prior marketing experience can use to engage the target audience. With the help of internet, finding and procuring the required products is no longer a hassle either. Therefore, store owners are always looking for ways to remain relevant and continue to grow. The easiest strategy to offset the competition is to find new markets. Unlike a traditional business, online stores can expand internationally with relative ease. All they need to do is finding reliable shipping partners and that’s it. As soon as a customer place an order, the store can ship their order overseas. While all this seems quite easy, it is not. There are too many factors that need to be considered before expanding overseas. The most important part is the store itself. In other words, the website. Setting Up a Magento 2 for International Expansion Suppose your store is based in the US. Based on your research, you identify Germany as the most lucrative market for expansion. You cannot target US and Germany using the same website/webpage. For one, there is a language difference. It makes no sense to target German users through an English website. Second, search engine optimisation (SEO) is a key marketing strategy for any online store. If you wish to target multiple countries, you need to have relevant keywords on your website. Of course, its impossible to target each country’s keywords using the same webpage, especially when there is a language difference. Therefore, to create localised content and to rank on local keywords, you need separate webpages or country specific domains/subdomains. If you are offering the same products, you will effectively be translating your website from US to German. In other words, you will have the same content but in different languages. This is where things start to get complicated. How will you ensure that audiences from the two countries access the relevant pages only?In other words, German users access the German website, whereas US users get the US version. Secondly, how will you let the crawlers know that the translated pages are not spam? Hreflang Attribute The only answer to the previous and similar questions is hreflang. Using the hreflang attribute, you can redirect users to the relevant pages and let Google know how to rank your site properly.It looks like this: Hreflang is an HTML meta element that you can use to mark duplicate content but in a different language. In other words, it redirects users to the relevant webpage based on their location and language preferences. Benefits of Hreflang Boosts User Experience What would happen if German users were continuously redirected to the US version of a website? Would they end up buying the product? The answer is no. Not only would they not buy the product, but it is unlikely they will return again ever. They may also opt to leave a negative review due to the poor experience. When users are redirected to webpages that match their language and location, it leads to a positive user experience. Low Bounce Rates Did you know that Google and other search engines use the bounce rate as an indicator of a website’s quality in their ranking algorithm? If a website has a high bounce rate, Google will consider it low quality. In turn, the said website will automatically go down in the rankings or disappear altogether. By sending users to the relevant webpages, the bounce rate remains low, thereby boosting the search ranking. Avoids Duplicate Content Penalties Duplicate content is a recipe for disaster. Google and other search engines will penalise your website, making it near impossible to recover. By correctly implementing hreflang attributes, you can tell Google the content is duplicate but for localisation purposes. This helps save your website from any penalty. Improves SEO Performance When you have a multilingual website, you can target keywords from different countries and languages. This leads to higher traffic and can boost your sales. Hreflang and Online Stores – When to Implement Hreflang Attributes? You must use Hreflang in your Magento 2 store if you have multiple languages set up in your store. Secondly, if you have content that is localised for different regions. Localisation is not confined to the language aspect alone. Instead, if you vary pricing or promotional strategies based on the region, you need to add Hreflang tags.Secondly, if you target different countries, you need to add Hreflang tags to target regional keywords. Magento 2 HreflangTags – How to Add Them? There are different ways to add Hreflang tags. HTML Tags To add a Hreflang tag, all you need to do is insert them into webpage’s head tag. The emphasis here is on tag and not the header. Remember, they are two different things. It will look something like this: Copy Code As you can see for yourself, this is indeed quite easy. Even an individual who is not a Magento expert can add Hreflang tags this way. The problem is that this method is too time-consuming if you have too many webpages or plan on adding new ones. HTTP Header This method is a bit confusing for beginners and even advanced Magento users. Therefore, we don’t recommend it all unless you know what you are doing. Magento 2 Hreflang Tags Implementer The third method involves using an extension, specifically FME Extensions’ Magento 2 Hreflang Tags Implementer Extension . This extension allows you to automatically generate Hreflang tags for your website, providing users with the right content. You can book a live demo to know more about it. Adding Tags Using the Magento 2 Hreglang Tags Implementer Extension Step 1: After installing the extension, go to FME EXTENSIONS > Hreflang Configurations . This will take you to the General Settings as shown below: The first thing to focus on is the URLs scope. There are two options available – website and global. The latter option means the Hreflang tags will work across multiple websites, whereas the former option means it is limited to a single website only. The next option is titled ‘X-Default’ wherein the x-default attribute tells that the current page is the default webpage. When you select the URLs scope to ‘Website’, then you need to select one store view for each page as x-default. In case the URLs scope is set to ‘Global’, you need to select one website as x-default. By leading the option at ‘Please Select’, there will be no x-default. When you turn Enable Hreflang Tags to ‘Yes’, all succeeding options also become ‘Yes’. You can turn them to ‘No’ depending on your requirements. Step 2: Language and Currency Settings As you can see, there are three options available. In ‘Select Language’, you have two options. By selecting ‘Current Store Locale’, the extension selects the language from the current store locale. The second option is ‘Custom Language’, allowing you to add any desired language. In ‘Add Country’, you can turn it to ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. If ‘Yes’, the Hreflang tags will the include the country in addition to the language. In ‘Select Country’, two options are available similar to the ‘Select Language’ option before. If ‘Current Country’ is selected, the extension selects the country from the current store country. The other option allows you to add a country outside the store country. The above picture shows the Hreflang tags on the product page. The above picture shows the Hreflang tags on the category page. Conclusion This concludes our article on Magento 2 Hreflang tags. We have discussed everything there is to know about Hreflang tags and how to add them using FME Extensions HreflangTags Implementor Extension. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us . Thank You. Other Extensions You Might Be Interested In: Canonical URL Sitemap Generator SEO Meta Tags Templates function myFunction() { var copyText = document.getElementById("myInput").value; var textarea = document.createElement("textarea"); textarea.value = copyText; document.body.appendChild(textarea); textarea.select(); textarea.setSelectionRange(0, 99999); document.execCommand("copy"); document.body.removeChild(textarea); alert("Copied"); }
In today’s digital landscape, one of the most pressing concerns for any business, including online stores, is ensuring their user’s safety. A simple mistake or lax security controls can result in a data breach. This can undermine your store’s reputation, compromise users’ confidential information, and lead to legal repercussions. Therefore, ensuring your store’s security must be a top concern.When talking about enhancing your store’s security, there are a wide range of options. The simplest and one of the most effective is to set up two-factor authentication or 2FA. A recent survey of leading developers supports this point. Source: Statista As you can see from the above statistic, the topmost priority for developers from a security perspective is to increase two-factor authentication adoption. Password security is the second most important priority. Remember, just by setting up 2FA and having a strong password, you can ensure 99 per cent security. In 2FA, you need two separate forms of identification.First, you will need to enter your password to login to Magento as an admin or a user. After entering the password, a unique code will be sent to your mobile device or email. This is the 2nd form of identification. You will need to enter this code to complete the login process. As you can see for yourself, 2FA is undoubtedly more secure than simple password protection. If your store is based on Magento 2, we have some bad news. Unfortunately, Magento 2 does not have a pre-built 2FA function.In other words, if you wish to set up Magento 2 OPT login, you will need an extension. The good news is that you don’t need to hire a Magento development company for this purpose. The reason is that we already have a Magento 2 Mobile OTP Login extension . In this article, we will guide you on how to configure mobile OTP login using our extension. Using FMEExtensions Magento 2 Mobile OTP Login Before we discuss the steps to set up mobile OTP login in Magento 2, let’s get a brief overview of this extension’s most notable features. Enable OTP Login with Mobile Number/Email It means you can set OTP on the user’s mobile number and email. Enable OTP on User Registration Form To curb fake registration, you can implement 2FA during the registration process. We have a separate ‘Restrict Fake Registrations’ extension as well. Enable OTP on Checkout Page To curb fraudulent transactions, you can set up an OTP on the checkout page. Unless the user enters the OTP, the transaction will not complete. Allow OTP in Specific Countries You can set up OTP requirement in specific countries. This is a great feature for stores serving multiple countries. Setting Up Mobile OTP Login Step 1: Go to FME EXTENSIONS > Configuration . You will get the following options. As you can see from the above image, we have already preconfigured the extension in this case. We have enabled OTP for customer registration, login, checkout, and mobile number update. Step 2: Set Up Firebase SMS to enable SMS OTP. Before setting up Firebase, you need to have a Firebase SMS API Key. For this, you’ll need to register here . In case you run into trouble, check out this tutorial or reach out to our team . Once you complete the registration process, enter the required information. Please note that the above information will vary from user to user. Therefore, only enter your Firebase information. Note: If you wish to configure email OTP too, refer to the user guide . You will need our SMTP Extension to set up email OTP. Step 3: After configuring SMS and/or email OTP, go to the ‘Other Features’ tab. You can set up OTP expiry time. As you can see from the above image, the default duration is 60 seconds. You can change this depending on your requirements. Another key function is that you can change the OTP button and text colour. Our Magento 2 experts recommend matching the colours with your store theme. Step 4: Refresh the Cache. After you complete all the previous steps, you must refresh the cache for the changes to take effect. Steps to clear cacheare System > Cache Management > Select All from Mass Actions > Click Refresh the Cache. Final Thoughts on Magento 2 Mobile OTP Login This concludes our article on how to configure mobile OTP login in Magento 2. If you still have questions, you can book a live demo . Our experts will guide you in detail about the extension’s working and answer your queries. Other Related Extensions: Age Verification Popup GeoIP Ultimate Lock Force Login
As a leading Magento development company, we act as consultants for online store owners. Our recent interactions have revealed that all stores, big or small, are increasingly worried about decreasing profitability. Based on a comprehensive analysis of these stores and wider industry research, we can confirm that there a multitude of reasons contributing to this problem. One such reason is the poor customer experience. Of course, we understand and acknowledge that customer experience is a broad term. It includes everything, ranging from the pricing to the way the checkout phase is set up. Indeed, the checkout phase is the single most important step. This is where the customer decides whether they will complete the purchase or abandon their cart. One might think that after taking so much time in deciding the product, there is little reason to abandon the cart. But that’s not the case as evident from the below statistic. Source: Statista According to this statistic, the average global cart abandonment rate is above 70 per cent. This is indeed alarming given the fact that businesses have access to more customer data than before. On top of it, advertising mediums have become more refined. What’s more surprising is that the statistic only represents the average global cart abandonment rate. In other words, for some industries, the rate is above 80 per cent. Source: Statista The above statistic confirms that online store owners need to focus their attention and resources towards optimising the checkout phase. Over the years, there have been various innovations in this field. They range from one-click checkout to completinga purchase without registering with the website. This brings us to Magento 2’s notable feature. Magento 2 Guest Checkout Feature Magento allows users to checkout as a guest. In other words, users have no need to sign up. Instead, they can complete the purchase just by entering their contact information, address, and payment details. From the store perspective, this is a drawback as they need user’s information to target them through emails and other marketing strategies. Asking them to register will force them towards competitor websites. This is where the Magento 2 Convert Guest to Customer Extension by FME Extensions plays a crucial role.While this extension offers numerous features, its overall purpose is to automatically convert a guest buyer to a registered user. In other words, users don’t need to enter any information or complete any additional steps. Book a Live Demo Now! Benefits of Converting a Guest Buyer to a Registered Customer There are notable benefits of converting a guest to a customer in Magento 2, including: Faster Checkout Users don’t need to enter information every time since billing and shipping information is already stored. This leads to a faster checkout process. Order Tracking Registered users can easily track their orders. The same is not applicable for guest users. The only way they can do is if the store has set up an extension for it. Refined Marketing Store owners can use the customer’s information to send personalised marketing messages. This can increase chances of repeat purchases and foster greater customer loyalty. How to Convert Guest to Customer in Magento 2 After installing the extension, follow the below steps. Step 1: In the admin panel, go to FME EXTENSIONS > Configuration . This will take you to the extension’s configurations. Step 2: In the General Configurations tab, set the following options. As you can see from the above image, you can either opt to convert guest to customer automatically or do it manually. For this tutorial, we are going to teach you how to do it manually. Customer Group refers to what category the new customers will be assigned. Import Guests allows you to import a CSV file containing guest buyer details. After importing them, you can convert them to customers. Step 3: Send Mail As you can see from the above image, there are two options. Select the one which matches your requirements. Step 4: Guest Management In the admin panel, go to FME EXTENSIONS > Guest Management. You will get a window similar to the above image. This window represents all guest customers. All you need to do is select which guest buyers to convert to a registered customer. You also have the option of converting guests to registered users in bulk. How to Import Guests Via CSV File & Convert to Customers As mentioned earlier, this Magento 2 convert guest to customer extension allows you to import guests via a csv file and then convert them to customers. For this, first go to FME EXTENSIONS > Import Guests . Then, select the file to import. That’s it. A success message will appear detailing how many guests are converted to registered customers. Make sure that the guest emails match the email in the guest management grid. Otherwise, you won’t be able to convert them. Conclusion This concludes our detailed guide on Magento 2 guest to customer conversion. If you have any questions regarding this article, extension, or anything Magento-related, don’t hesitate to contact us . Thank You. Other Related Extensions: Guest Wishlist Custom Registration Fields Cancel Order by Customer