Magento is an open source PHP build that makes it possible for programmers to create e-commerce websites. Magento was launched on March 31, 2008 by Varien and it is developed on the Zend Framework platform.
Magento history
Magento officially started development in early 2007. On August 31, 2007, the first public beta was released. On May 30, 2010, Magento mobile version was released, this version is understood as a separate software that can be installed directly on mobile devices. Buyers can use this software to shop online instead of visiting the website by the browser.
In February 2011, eBay claimed to own a 49% stake in the company. June 2011 eBay owns 100% investment in Magento. eBay announced that Magento will join eBay’s new X.Commerce initiative.
Why use Magento?
Magento provides all the features and tools to quickly build and install an e-commerce website.
- Product management: with many pictures, product reviews, favorites, inventory.
- Category management: easily search and select products by category
- Inventory management: manage remaining products in stock, import, export
- Customer account: account status, transaction history, favorites, address, shopping cart.
- Customer service: enhancing features and forms of customer contact; Comprehensive tracking, email service.
- Payment: multiple payment methods like a credit card, PayPal, Authorize.net, Google Checkout, support external payment modules like CyberSource, ePay, eWAY, and more.
- Search technology: fast, friendly, supports searching on Google SiteMap
- International support: with multi-languages and currencies
- Promotion and marketing tools: coupons, promotions, and many options.
- Analysis and reporting: integrate with Google Analytics service and provide many reports.
The technical background of Magento
- Magento is build by PHP language and uses MySQL database.
- Database based on EAV model (entity – attribute – value)
- Magento is built in a modular architecture (all functions are modular)