Magento

Enterprise Edition: Driving Magento’s Growth

Throughout Magento’s history, we’ve pushed ourselves to evolve our product and service offerings in order to support the growth and success of our customers. In the past couple of years, much of our growth has been driven by the widespread adoption of our Enterprise Edition offering. This product’s unique combination of features, flexibility and low total cost of ownership has attracted businesses ranging from industry-disrupting startups to established brands transacting hundreds of millions of dollars online. And our being part of eBay Inc. is accelerating this growth by opening up new opportunities for our customers and partners to access industry-leading capabilities and resources.

Innovation to Support Customer Growth

To help support the continued growth and success of our Enterprise customers, we are introducing innovations across every area of our business in the first half of 2013. The first of these moves is focused on strengthening a key driver of customer growth and success: the Magento Solution Partner Program.

As our merchants’ needs become increasingly sophisticated, they need to feel confident that they can find the right Solution Partner to help them build, deploy and grow their online business. We’re strengthening our Solution Partner program to ensure that every Magento Solution Partner has demonstrated:

• a strong knowledge of eCommerce and the Magento platform
• a broad set of design, development, integration and marketing skills
• and a record of successful Magento implementations

Raising the Bar for Solution Partners

We’re raising the bar for our partners by requiring them to meet more rigorous criteria, and by providing them with the resources they need to deliver the best possible Magento Enterprise implementations. The updated program includes:

• rigorous training and certification requirements for every Solution Partner
• ongoing monitoring of partner quality based on their customers’ satisfaction level
• and improved tools for helping merchants identify the best partner to meet their needs

Introducing Magento Associates

We recognize that there are hundreds of system integrators worldwide that work with Magento but may not meet the requirements of the updated Solution Partner Program. We’ve created the Magento Associate program as a way for these companies to create or maintain a relationship with us while strengthening their Magento practice.

Our goal is to help Magento Associates develop the skills they need to become Magento Enterprise experts and engage in Enterprise implementations. These companies may or may not have the goal of joining the Solution Partner program, but we will provide them the resources and opportunity to do so if they choose.

By building both our Solution Partner and Associate programs, we’ll maximize the opportunities for the healthy growth of our ecosystem, while ensuring that only the most qualified companies are designated as Magento Solution Partners.

Looking Forward

Our commitment to customer growth success doesn't stop there. In the weeks leading up to the 2013 Imagine eCommerce Conference we’ll be rolling out other enhancements to our product and service offerings that will set the foundation for our next wave of growth and the growth of our customers. Stay tuned for details on these efforts in the weeks ahead.

These new additions to the Magento family will continue to further position Magento Enterprise Edition as the solution of choice for innovative, agile online merchants. Our thanks to the merchants, Solution Partners, Associates and community members whose passion and commitment continues to fuel the growth of Magento.

The Magento Connect team is excited to announce our new Ratings & Reviews system! We’re making it easier for developers to use the power of the Magento Community to promote and support their extensions while making it easier for merchants to choose extensions that fit their needs.

The new Ratings & Reviews system will go live on February 19, 2013. Read our FAQ outlining the changes.

Developers: Do you currently offer extension(s) in the Magento Connect extension marketplace, or do you plan to submit an extension soon?

Be sure to read about the new features and follow the recommended actions outlined below:

New Feature	Description	Recommended Actions
Star Ratings (1-5)	Users can leave an Overall Rating, plus additional ratings for: Developer Support, Functions as Described, and Usefulness.	Depending on your outreach policies, consider asking your customers to rate the extensions they use after the launch date.
Reviews	Users who leave ratings can also write detailed reviews to provide additional information that benefits the community. Reviews will be screened for support questions and inappropriate material. Users may be directed to rewrite reviews, enter their support questions in the Q&A section; or contact the extension developer directly.	Answer all support questions in existing reviews before 02/13/2013, 11:59pm PST. Valid, existing reviews will remain. However, existing reviews containing support questions will be removed without notification at launch on 02/19/2013. Please note that the existing reviews system will “go dark” from February 14 – 18 to help us prepare for the launch Sign up for New Reviews notifications after the launch date.
Review Response Privileges	Only the extension owner can respond to a user’s review for his/her extension.	Consider clarifying the issues presented in mixed reviews by providing an appropriate response.
Q&A for Support	Users can ask support and other questions in the Q&A forum. This separates questions from reviews, so questions may get answered in a structured, timely manner. Anyone (extension owner or another user) can answer a question.	Sign up for Q&A notifications after the launch date. Input your most frequently asked questions & answers in the Q&A section to educate new customers.
Multi-Language Support	The Magento Connect team can moderate user reviews in 10 languages:    English    German    Spanish    Chinese    Portuguese    French    Russian    Italian    Dutch    Japanese	Ask customers to review your extension(s) in any of the languages we support.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What happens to the popularity score?
A: The popularity score will continue to be on the site.

Q: Will the default sort be based on ratings or popularity score?
A: At launch the default sort will be based on popularity score. Once we have a sufficient number of reviews the default sort will be based on ratings.

Q: What happens to our existing reviews?
A: The Magento Connect team will screen existing reviews for support questions and inappropriate content. Those not meeting our requirements will be removed beginning on Feb 19, 2013. Please answer any support questions in your existing reviews before Feb 13, 2013, 11:59pm PST. Reviews written after our launch date will be moderated through our new process.

Q: What happens to new support questions that are posted in reviews?
A: Support questions posted in Reviews will be rejected through our moderation process. If a post is rejected, the user will be notified via the email address he/she provided, and given three options: 1. Re-write the review; 2. Leave question in the Q&A widget on the extension profile; 3. Contact the developer via the support link provided on your extension page.

Q: What is being moderated?
A: We are moderating user reviews for support questions, profanity, inappropriate comments directed at other users or companies, reviews that intentionally direct business away from the developer, competitor references, and meaningless work strings.

Q: Why ask the user to include "other extensions in my store"?
A: It is beneficial for merchants looking for extensions to see what other extensions users have used. Think of it as: "People who bought this also bought this." This feature is important for merchants who may be concerned about extension combinations working well together. We can’t guarantee how extensions may work together, but this gives merchants more information in making their purchasing decisions. Developers get the advantage of seeing what other extensions merchants may be using along with theirs.

02/22/2013 Update: We are still moderating the old reviews (i.e. the reviews posted before Feb 19, 2013), and they are showing up on the Connect site in a rolling pattern. We plan to complete moderation of all old reviews by 03/04/2013.

02/25/2013 Update: We have received feedback from extension owners requesting old reviews to be displayed on the Connect site sooner than later. We understand how valuable the reviews are in promoting your extensions; hence we have decided to publish all old reviews (pre-Feb 19th) and we will be post-moderating them through March 4th to remove support questions and inappropriate material. Please contact the Connect team for any further queries.

Magento Certified Developers are our heroes! We love to hear their stories—and help them get recognition by sharing their stories on our blog.
In the spotlight today is Tim Wagner, Head of Design and Development for TechDivision GmbH, a Magento Gold Solution Partner based in Bayern, Germany.

Tell us a little about your business, and how you became involved with Magento.
I had my first contact with Magento while working on a project that used Magento as a framework, and not as a shop system. At that time Magento’s potential was already recognizable, although the software was in its early stages. As TechDivision had already decided to offer Magento exclusively to its customers, we were able to hone our Magento skills before most agencies. Over time our projects grew larger and larger because customers were looking specifically for agencies that had a great deal of Magento experience and a number of reference projects.

What are some of the key factors behind your success with Magento?
The extensive experience we gained by starting early with Magento and the number of projects we finished successfully were very important factors behind our current success. Another important factor is the quality of the Magento extensions we have developed for our customers, and our ability to reuse those extensions for new projects. 

Why did you decide to have your developers take the Magento Developer Certification exam?
To earn the Magento certification it is necessary for developers to fully understand the Magento architecture and the underlying technology. For this reason each developer who successfully completes the certification can rightly be called an “expert,” which validates what we do. Another reason is that we need at least four certified developers on staff to retain our Magento Gold Partner status. We have always emphasized providing our employees with career development and training, and because of this we also have certified scrum masters and product owners as well as Google certified employees.

How many Magento Certified Developers do you currently have on staff, and how will having these Magento Certified Developers on staff help your business?
Currently we have ten Magento Certified Plus Developers on staff, which makes us the agency with the most certified developers in Europe. Large customers value the fact that their agency of choice has so many Magento Certified Developers, because this ensures the successful implementation of a Magento shop project, and ensures that Magento expertise won´t get lost even if an employee leaves the project. In this way we’re able to maintain the highest level of customer support.

The certifications are also important for our Magento consulting business and our new Magento Code Review offering, because they reflect our depth of experience and the quality of our development services. 

What types of projects have you worked on? What types of projects most interest you?
For me the most interesting and challenging projects were the re-launches of the Ritter Sport shop and the WMF shop because of its extremely short time-to-market. The size of the WMF project and the fact that you can implement extensive enterprise systems on Magento was very impressive to me.

Beside my work with Magento, the progress of PHP in recent years has fascinated me and I’m excited about how development will evolve in the future, especially for enterprise systems. Really interesting and also a lot of fun for me are the Magento events in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Besides learning a lot of new information we always find that Magento organizes the best parties.

Would you like to share anything else about TechDivision?
Our agency is located in a beautiful area, where other people like to spend their vacations. I spend most of my free time in the local mountains, and on my bike or on a weekend trip to nearby lakes such as Chiemsee, often called the Bavarian Sea, or Lake Garda in Italy. Come for a visit!

Developers: find out how you can join the growing ranks of Magento Certified Developers:

For only $250 you can network with some of the leading companies in the Open Web – including major players in eCommerce.

Attend the The Small Business Web Summit in San Jose, CA on February 18-20. The Magento partner team will be hosting a half-day event with Todd Lutwak, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz as guest speaker.

The Small Business Web it is an organization comprised of almost 200 SaaS companies with the common goal of making the Open Web the best place to build, find, and sell software for small businesses.

The annual Summit is an intimate and interactive gathering of marketing, technology, and business development leaders making decisions to move the small business software industry forward.

Your event ticket includes an open-bar networking event on Monday with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and investors in the SMB space, plus lunches, dinner, and two days of interactive sessions!

>> REGISTER NOW for THE SMALL BUSINESS WEB SUMMIT & MAGENTO EVENT <<

The Magento event will be held on Wednesday February 20th at 9am. Registration to The Small Business Web Summit is required to attend the Magento session.

• Trends in commerce featuring Guest Speaker Todd Lutwak, Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
• How Magento became the #1 shopping cart developer ecosystem
• Marketing your extension & Magento's Industry Partner Program
• How to build extensions in Magento… framework, languages, APIs etc.
• How to extend your partnership with eBay, PayPal, and GSI Commerce

GET NOTICED! Sponsorship opportunities are available!

We’ve added two new courses to the Magento Checkout Series to help you distinguish yourself from the competition and take your training to the next level. These new courses represent the second and third installations in a six-part series designed to teach experienced Magento developers how to customize Magento Checkout.

Magento Checkout – Part II: Onepage Checkout*
Course Description: A strong understanding of the architecture underlying Onepage Checkout is critical to learning how to create extensions and customize checkout. The foundational knowledge you’ll gain in this on-demand course will prepare you for learning how to customize other areas of Magento Checkout, including Shipping, Taxes and Payment methods.

Dates: This course can be completed online anytime.

Magento Checkout – Part III: Shipping**
Course Description: Magento developers will gain a deeper understanding of the architecture underlying Magento Shipping methods and the role of the Shipping Address object in this instructor-led, online course. Students will then learn how to more easily and efficiently create custom shipping methods and calculations, customize the shipping-related user interface, and more.

Dates: March 4 – 7, 8am – 12pm PST.

Additional courses in the six-part Magento Checkout Series will cover Payment, Order Placement, and Taxes and Discounts. Stay tuned for course descriptions and dates!

*Requires developers first complete Part I: Shopping Cart & Price Calculations (next class starts February 4!)
** Requires developers first complete Requires Part I: Shopping Cart & Price Calculations and Part II: Onepage Checkout

Jan 29, 2013 | 9:00am PST

Learn how to integrate your Magento site and connect via EDI with suppliers, systems, and marketplaces. Easily add drop shipping to expand your product offering without the headaches of managing your own inventory. Sales orders, purchase orders, invoices, shipment notices, and other procurement related transactions flow electronically without data entry or human involvement. Amazing speed and significant cost savings has made EDI the medium of choice in today’s omni-channel retailing and eCommerce ecosystem.

Takeaways

• What is EDI and what can it do for my business?
• What are the options?
• How to incorporate drop ship with my Magento site?
• How can automation reduce time and errors in my order entry process?

Score all the benefits of having an online store, without the burdens of maintaining and storing your own inventory, by registering and attending this webinar by Logicbroker.

With today’s Presidential Inauguration Magento is pleased to share that both the Obama and Romney campaigns tapped the Magento platform to engage with voters in new and innovative ways in the 2012 campaign season. Much like the 2008 campaign was a turning point for social media use in politics, 2012 was the coming of age of ecommerce in political fundraising. What started as a successful experiment in the Obama camp in 2008 is now a new standard for both Republicans and Democrats that can drive new channels of fundraising. We can expect the 2016 campaign season to take an even more targeted approach to encourage micro-donations (under $200) from voters during critical election milestones. While both Obama and Romney turned to Magento to support the astronomical scale of their ecommerce initiatives, each campaign used the platform to engage their voters in very different ways.

Obama targeted a younger demographic with the Runway to Win campaign which partnered with the fashion community to source limited edition items from top American designers including a geometric tote by Derek Lam and a floral scarf by Thakoon. First lady Michelle Obama helped drive critical awareness heading into the Democratic National Convention through her support of the Runway to Win designers.

Source: Obama Blog

Romney on the other hand worked with Magento partner Groove Commerce to hyper-target voters with an integrated social campaign with great results. A day after launching his presidential bid site on July 4th weekend, the Romney campaign kicked off a Facebook drive offering fans t-shirt from the campaign’s online store that was claimed by more than 13,000 people over a three day period. Integrating the Magento ecommerce initiative with social strategy helped push the boundaries of what was possible – Groove Commerce expected the offer to generate sales of more than 20,000 t-shirts alone.

Source: Mitt Romney Official Facebook Page

As we look ahead to the next election cycle, it will be interesting to see how both Democratic and Republican campaigns might innovate on the Magento platform for future state, senate, and presidential campaigns.

Registrations are filling up fast so don’t delay and secure your spot at Magento’s premier eCommerce conference. We have had an overwhelming response since registration opened on Tuesday at 12:00pm PT and expect to sell out of the discounted early bird tickets by the end of the weekend! Register now before the first $100 price increase goes into effect. Still trying to decide if you should attend the 2013 Imagine eCommerce Conference?

Here's a quick reminder of some of the many reasons to join us:

• Hear firsthand from the Magento leadership team and world-renowned guest speakers on technology, retail, entrepreneurial spirit and building success
• Meet and hear about our new family members and leadership from eBay
• Attend sessions on Magento and eCommerce technologies, merchant case studies, building your business and many other topics
• See the latest apps and extensions to drive conversation, traffic and lifetime customer value
• Learn best practices from professionals with vast experience in leading brands, retailers and eCommerce sites
• Network with more than 1,500 eCommerce professionals from around the world

If You Miss Out on Early Bird Pricing, There is Always the Imagine Challenge!

Every year we offer an opportunity for Magento community members to win a trip to Imagine! Magento enthusiasts can enter the contest by showing off how they are leveraging Magento to create a unique site design, promotion or customization. To view the official rules and enter for your chance to win the grand prize, visit the Imagine Challenge site.

We hope to see you there!