Magento

We’re pleased to announce the latest Magento releases: Magento Enterprise 1.12 and Community 1.7. The recent enhancements to our powerful eCommerce offerings help merchants provide a more personalized shopping experience for their customers.

Benefits include easier order placement, mobile optimization and multiple wish lists. These enhancements give merchants greater potential to boost consumer engagement, increase conversions and transaction size, and foster brand loyalty.

All merchants, including those running B2B businesses, can take advantage of improved customer segmentation and ordering capabilities. While those operating in Europe can use our new features to stay compliant with EU regulations.

Of course, our latest releases have lots in store for developers too, including a new API, and backup and rollback systems.

Read on to learn about the key features in our new releases and how they can benefit you.

	Mobile HTML5 Quickly and easily create a storefront optimized for mobile devices so customers can shop even when they’re on the go. This mobile interface uses HTML5 technology and supports iPhone, Android and Mobile Opera browsers. It includes out-of-the-box features such as: Device-specific media capabilities for audio and video User-friendly search and results display Clean display of product detail pages Pinch, multi-touch and scaling images Easy swipe between product images Zoom capabilities Cross-sell and up-sell capabilities Drag-and-drop of products to the shopping cart
	Visitor Segmentation Tap into a whole new customer segment – unknown site visitors. Whether they’re new visitors or returning customers who have not logged in, you’ll now be able to identify and target them with special promotions to convert browsers into buyers.
	Expanded Rule-based Product Relations Our rule-based product-relations functionality allows merchants to target specific customer segments with product recommendations. Pinpoint specific customers with up-sells, cross-sells and related products to create a more relevant shopping experience.
	Auto-generation of Coupon Codes Generate a set of unique coupon codes for each promotion you run and export the list of codes for offline distribution, email, newsletters and more. Easily manage and monitor coupon usage and generate detailed reports.
	Multiple Wish Lists Customers can save products to multiple wish lists and copy or move items from list to list. They can make their wish lists public so they’re searchable by anyone. And merchants can review them to learn about their customers’ wants and needs.
	Layered Navigation Pricing Enhancement We’ve introduced a new set of algorithms for price-layered navigation that provides much greater flexibility. Now you can display a range of prices that is based on having a similar number of products within each range, giving you better control of your customers’ search results, and helping your customers find what they’re looking for faster.
	Customer Group Pricing One price doesn’t always fit all. This tool allows you to create different price points for different customer groups, such as wholesalers and retailers. You can determine both base price and tiered price levels.
	Add to Cart by SKU Streamline the ordering process, especially for B2B customers, by enabling them to enter a list of SKUs without having to go into product pages. This simplifies large orders, recurring orders and ordering based on offline catalogs.
	REST APIs Support The new Magento REST API uses three-legged OAuth 1.0a protocol to allow applications to safely access Magento services. What this means for you? You can manage customers, customer addresses, sales orders, inventories and products using HTTP verbs (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE). Data requests and responses can be in XML or JSON format. This initial version of the REST API supports the following functions: Create/Retrieve/Update/Delete a simple product Retrieve a list of orders and specific order information Update/Retrieve catalog inventory Create/Retrieve/Update/Delete complete customer information
	European Union VAT-ID Validation This feature facilitates the tax collection process for online businesses in the EU and greatly simplifies international B2B transactions by automatically applying the correct tax rules. Taxes can be calculated and charged according to VAT customer groups, based on customer shipping or billing addresses and VAT IDs.
	EU Cookie Restriction Our response to the recent EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive? A new cookie notification feature that simplifies the compliance process. Once enabled, a message at the top of the storefront informs site visitors about the cookie policy and prompts them to accept or decline.
	CMS Page Hierarchy Enhancements Managing your CMS hierarchy tree just got easier. Now you can add CMS pages to the navigation menu without custom development. You can also create, copy or delete different CMS hierarchy trees for each website and store view individually or en masse..
	Backup and Rollback Manage and schedule a variety of backup operations with the option to rollback the changes to reverse any modifications. This feature is particularly useful when testing new modules or customizations, or when upgrading to a new version of Magento. You can review specific customizations and their impact on the new code. (We do not recommend using this feature in your production environment.) Three types of backup are supported: System Backup Database Backup Database and Media Backup
	Payment Bridge 1.1 Updates Magento Secure Payment Bridge, our PA-DSS certified payment application, adds multiple new payment methods. In addition to our existing supported gateways – PayPal, Authorize.net and Payflow Pro – we are introducing support for the following new gateways: Psi Gate RBS Worldpay Database and Media Backup Braintree First Data Card Gate Plus DIBS eWay Direct Ogone Directlink Paybox Payone Sage Pay CCAvenue Supported by services provided by Braintree or Authorize.net, customers can also securely save their credit card information for future transactions in a “My Credit Cards” section in “My Account.” And with support from Kount, you can integrate fraud-screening services with your payment methods (requires separate agreement with Kount).
	CAPTCHA Now you can enable CAPTCHA functionality on your site to help prevent automated software from attempting fake logins. This auto-generated test ensures that the login is being attempted by a person and can be enabled in both the admin and customer login areas.

Ready to take your business to the next level? Contact us and we’ll help you get started.

If you’re already a Magento Enterprise customer, you can immediately access the new 1.12 release in the My Account section. And developers can access the new Community edition by clicking here.

We hope you enjoy these new features and look forward to helping you achieve greater eCommerce success.

Testing. Testing. Are you there? Good. Now that we’ve got your attention, we want to tell you about the new Magento Test Automation Framework, or TAF for short.

This software package is ideal for running repeated functional tests against a normally installed Magento application. And if you’re a developer or QA specialist, you’re in for a treat. You can quickly develop all kinds of tests for the current Magento version without having to tediously build an automation infrastructure.

Besides running repeated tests, Magento TAF can also be used to create tests and write test automation scripts. Test automation scripts created within the framework can be used for testing most Magento functionality. And we’re constantly updating the Selenium-based framework to cover even more tests and meet users’ broad needs.

In this latest release of the framework, we’ve introduced a robust set of new tests and capabilities:

	1000 Functional Tests We’ve created a comprehensive Smoke Test Suite that evaluates the full range of functionality of the Magento Community Edition. This suite covers all test cases that are run during Magento nightly builds and tested by our development team. And it’s designed specifically for developers to use and expand upon.
	Error Screenshot Capture Test failure errors happen. And when they do, Magento TAF captures and stores screenshots of any open pages in .png and html formats in the tmp/screenshot folder. If a JavaScript error occurs, the screenshot is captured and stored in the .png format. And Markup errors are captured and stored in the html format. The failed test name contains the class name, test name and a timestamp, this way it’s easy to retrieve the screenshot. And the full path to the screenshot is stored in a log next to the error message so it can be accessed directly.
	Unlimited UI Testing With Magento TAF, you can test as many UI areas as you’d like. This comes in especially handy when testing several store views or stores utilizing different designs. Each store – or store view – can have a unique UI map but operate with the original set of tests. This removes nesting and naming restrictions for UI map folders and allows users to organize them as they wish. The UI areas can be determined in the local.yml file for each url to be used by Magento TAF. Based on user-defined urls, Magento TAF automatically detects which set of UI maps should be used and loads the relevant descriptors for the current page. With this enhancement, the tester doesn’t have to worry about switching between UI areas within the test body. Users can declare separate UI maps for non-Magento side services specific to their store and write tests in the same way they’re written for Magento services.

See the Installation Guide under “Example of config.yml File” for an example of a UI map area declaration. Please note, before your first run, search for the ‘YOUR CREDENTIALS’ string within the data folder and update that value with your account credentials.

Magento TAF’s newest features help take the task out of testing. And, even though it just came down the product pipeline, it’s already been adopted and put to good use by many developers. In fact, we have to give a virtual fist pump to Kristof Ringleff from Fooman and Nick Jones (punkstar) from Meanbee for all their contributions.

To download the Magento TAF, go to the Magento Test Automation Framework section at the bottom of this page:

If you’d like to read the complete repository, installation and configuration guidelines, check them out at:

Can it really be that the disruptive platform we launched just 4 years ago has become the market leader?

According to a recent survey of the Alexa Top 1 Million sites, the answer is a resounding “yes!”

UK developer Tom Robertshaw just released the latest edition of his quarterly eCommerce survey. The survey looks at all sites in the Alexa 1 Million that are doing eCommerce, then analyzes those sites to identify which platform is being used.

Once again, Magento topped the field. In fact, the survey found that 20% of all eCommerce sites in the Alexa 1 Million were using Magento – a higher share than any other eCommerce platform. Robertshaw continues to invest time in improving the survey’s methodology, providing an even clearer picture of which platforms are leading and which are lagging.

Our thanks to Tom Robertshaw for creating this valuable tool. And most of all, we thank all the merchants, developers, partners and community members whose rapid adoption of our platform has taken Magento to the top of the eCommerce world.

Lax World is a company that sells gear and goods to lacrosse devotees nationwide. Originally a successful chain of brick-and-mortar stores, Lax World expanded into eCommerce a few years ago, with strong initial results.

In fact, it became clear to Lax World that their existing platform couldn’t keep up with their growth. That’s when their Solution Partner, Groove Commerce, recommended Magento Enterprise as the perfect platform for building a new online store that would reach the entire range of lacrosse enthusiasts.

Lax World was committed to delivering a unique shopping experience to each major customer segment. Groove Commerce embraced this challenge: taking advantage of Magento Enterprise’s flexibility, they built a site that presents different product options, recommendations, and branding based on player position, gender, and even purchasing power.

Now Lax World has a site that makes it easy for every lacrosse fan, athlete, or supporter to find (and buy) just what they’re looking for: since launching the new site, Lax World has experienced a 15% increase in sales and a 20% lift in average order value for first time users. That’s a winning game plan in any sport!

Have a Magento success story you’d like to share? Contact success@magento.com.

SumAll offers a new data analytics tool for Magento store owners to use their sales and revenue data to make better decisions and more money.

Stores easily sync up with SumAll's online tool, and within a matter of minutes, real-time information about company revenue history, customer groups, sales patterns, and trajectory can be accessed.

You can answer questions such as:

• Are new customers worth more than returning customers?
• Which day of the week is the best choice for running a promotional campaign?
• How would offering free shipping affect your bottom line?

You will never miss a major shift in your numbers again!

Best of all, SumAll presents all of your information in live, easy-to-read charts, which means no more messy Excel spreadsheets or reports.

Some of their key features include:

Actionable insights: Use your data as a roadmap for making better decisions about what to do next. Predict your future earnings, based on data patterns of your past.

Identify Patterns: Use filters to drill down deep into your sales data to uncover trends and patterns.

Note Campaigns and Effects: Directly associate marketing, advertising, press, or other relevant events to your metrics to help track what caused your revenue numbers to move up or down.

Revenue Comparisons: Use chart sliders to compare and contrast sales data from two periods of time.

Alerts: Stay on top of all important metrics with revenue alerts that keep you on top of key metrics, wherever you are.

SumAll is free for all Magento customers, and can be downloaded here.

With all the buzz in the market (and on these pages) about Magento Developer Certification, you may be wondering: “Who are these Magento Certified Developers? What are they like? And how can I get a hold of one to help me?"

We decided to address those questions by profiling some certified developers in our blog. Today’s profile features one of the first developers to earn Magento Developer Certification: Matt Kammersell.

Matt put the code aside for a few moments to answer some of our questions:

Magento: When did you start working with Magento, and what attracted you to the platform?

Matt: I began working with Magento when the first beta was released. I was intrigued at the prospect of an eCommerce platform written in Zend Framework, because I had built a few enterprise applications on it.

Magento: What do you enjoy most about being a Magento developer?

Matt: I absolutely love how extensible this platform is. With the right knowledge there are literally very few limits of where you can take Magento or what you can do with it. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work on some large scale projects for some of the biggest partners in the Magento “universe” and I look forward to a bright future at the helm of my own company.

Magento: How does it feel to be one of the first Magento Certified Developers?

Matt: I am elated! I believe I can go anywhere in the space now that I have this certification.

Magento: What else would you like our readers to know about you?

Matt: The types of projects I’m most interested in are the ones that are considered to be expressly difficult or challenging. The less people feel it can be done, the more I want to do it! As I said earlier, I’ve worked on some of the largest, most prominent Magento merchant sites. I’ve also built integrations for fulfillment, returns & exchanges, recurring billing, analytics, Facebook and more.

Magento: Thanks Matt. How can a partner or merchant contact you about a project?

Matt: Visit my site, www.intellectlabs.com, or email me at

Developers: Want to be like Matt? Visit our certification page and learn how you can become a Magento Certified Developer.

A great online store holds the promise of strengthening your brand, building your customer base, and increasing your overall revenue. Whether you are launching your first online store or updating an existing site, you may need advice on how best to approach a project of this size and scope:

• What strategic direction do you want to take your brand, and what role will eCommerce play?
• What features of an online store are essential vs. nice to have?
• Do you require extensive integration with existing business systems?
• Will you do your own photography and create your own product descriptions?

Implementing an amazing site involves many considerations. It takes creativity, eCommerce knowledge, and development expertise.

Magento Solution Partners are here to help you achieve excellence in eCommerce. These companies are design and eCommerce implementation experts, but just as important, they are Magento specialists.

We have hundreds of partners all over the world with a range of vertical industry and technical expertise. Find one that’s the perfect fit for your company.

Today marks another milestone in Magento’s brief but rich history: the 4 millionth download of our free, open-source, game-changing Magento Community software.

Our Community project is where the Magento story began. Starting with our beta release in late 2007, developers and merchants have embraced Magento Community, which set a new standard for what an eCommerce platform could be. We’ve continued to enhance the Community edition, making it an even richer tool for exploring the possibilities of eCommerce with Magento.

Our business has experienced phenomenal growth since that first beta release. We’ve introduced commercial solutions such as Magento Enterprise and Magento Go… we’ve nurtured a community of over 600,000 registered members…we’ve built an extension marketplace where 3rd party developers offer more than 5,000 extensions for our software…and we’ve become part of eBay, Inc.

But our roots are still firmly planted in the incredibly rich soil of open-source eCommerce. The Community edition is what fuels the passion of our growing ecosystem; this passion is what makes the Magento community so unique in the world of eCommerce.

To all the merchants, developers, users and fans who have embraced the Magento Community edition, we thank you for your ongoing passion and support. You have our commitment that we will continue investing in making the world’s best eCommerce software even better.