Should I use Magento Enterprise or Magento Community Edition? Should I consider migrating from CE to EE?
First of all, it’s great that you’ve come to realize that Magento is currently the best thing when it comes to eCommerce platforms. When compared to other platforms, it’s much more flexible and scalable, powering retail giants such as Nike. But there is a prominent question now because you need to choose the best version of the platform.
What are Magento CE and Magento EE?
Magento CE – An open-source and free platform that anyone can use to build an online store. An excellent solution for small businesses and business owners who want to learn how to develop and run an eCommerce site. Users can enhance CEs functionality with different extensions as well as modify it (because it’s open source).
Magento EE – The premium version of Magento CE intended for those who need more than a primary eCommerce platform. It offers more customizable options and advanced features used by more prominent online retailers. Magento EE users get full support from the Magento team, unique features, and security updates.
Website and Store Management
Magento EE provides more advanced management tools. So, it’s a better option if you require more sophisticated management capabilities or if several people are working the backend of your online store. For example, with its RMA (Return Management Authorization) extension, you can process returns, refunds, and exchanges quite efficiently. You can also test new content before sending it to the live site, as you can stage, merge, and rollback content. All this drives towards a significant sales boost but is harder to implement with the CE version.
Performance and Scalability
Magento EE is a better solution for a high-traffic eCommerce website. Its Full Page Caching feature allows you to serve up a cached version of your CMS, product, and category pages. Magento EE has this feature out-of-the-box, while with CE you’ll have to find another solution. EE also offers optimized indexing which automates indexing tasks (so there’s no need to do a full reindex) that lets you add and update your products while being sure that all-important website elements are up-to-date.
As for performance, Magento EE has some performance issues because it is resource-intensive as a platform. There are ways to make it faster, however, with a few tweaks. Whether you choose to use Magento CE or EE, you’ll still need a robust server that’s set up correctly.
Magento Support
Now, what Magento Community Edition lacks is around-the-clock support by Magento tech team. Magento Enterprise Edition has an Account Manager to direct you to valuable resources and help you get the most of the platform. Having someone to rely on for support is an invaluable resource for your eCommerce business. Enterprise Edition also comes with diagnostic tools for an in-depth analysis of modified core files, key database tables, installed extensions, and other website aspects.
Search, Merchandising, and Marketing
No business can survive and thrive without a good marketing strategy and marketing tools to support it. Magento EE allows you to use various promotion tools, create SEO-friendly URLs, perform customer segmentation, use an analytics tool, and communicate with customers thanks to integrated dotmailer capabilities. Another great bonus is the platform’s Elasticsearch which enables customers to locate products they need.
There are various factors to choosing the right version of Magento. The Magento CE is more practical and free. Magento EE has some excellent additional functionality, but it’s not worth it if you’re not using it or planning to scale up your business. Nevertheless, you should choose wisely because it can make or break your business.
Contact Commercebees, and our experts can help you decide, set up,
and run your eCommerce site via Magento platform.
