Adobe Commerce
Our Magento Open Source page explains the core features of the unlicensed version of Magento 2. So, what extra features do you get when you sign up for Adobe Commerce?
OVERVIEW
The basic difference between Magento Open Source (the free version of Magento) and Adobe Commerce (the licensed version of Magento) is that Magento Open Source is aimed at small business who don’t have the resources for:
- Extensive product catalogues (10,000+ SKU's)
- High-volume sales (£1m+)
- Complex B2B discounting rules and pricing matrix
- Customer segmentation requirements, i.e. showing different products to designated customer profiles
- Complex attribute sets
- AI search
- AI Product Recommendations (Adobe Sensei)
On the other hand, Adobe Commerce is aimed at mid- to enterprise-level businesses that do require these features ‘out of the box’.
Magento Open Source can be modified with the addition of third-party modules / microservices to replicate some of these functions. But the performance would be better with the adoption of Adobe Commerce. You would also have to consider the maintenance costs for those third-party modules, and whether this would outweigh the automatic upgrades provided by an Adobe Commerce license.
Added to this, as of version 2.5, the core elements of the Magento code base will stabilise, with predicted enhancements being delivered by microservices, so that the Magento installation itself will not be upgraded over time. This might negate some of the differences, since the microservices that power Magento may not be available to Open Source.
In summary, if you have a high predicted turnover or product catalogue, or you have a complex attribute set and pricing/discounting rules, then Adobe Commerce is for you. Alternatively, if your business isn’t at this scale yet, then Magento Open Source still provides an excellent and feature-rich eCommerce solution, including the ability to integrate ERPs.
Request a personalised demo of Adobe Commerce to try it for yourself.
ADOBE/MAGENTO CERTIFICATIONS
There are many extended features in Adobe Commerce that are not found in Magento Open Source. As mentioned above, most of these can be added by third- party modules or microservices (such as Nosto vs Adobe Sensei), but given all these features are included in the On-Premise license, then this starts to become very cost effective as the list of features you require increases.
Adobe Commerce B2B Features
There are many extended features in Adobe Commerce that are not found in Magento Open Source. As mentioned above, most of these can be added by third- party modules or microservices (such as Nosto vs Adobe Sensei), but given all these features are included in the On-Premise license, then this starts to become very cost effective as the list of features you require increases:
Order By SKU
Users can add products to cart within a customer account via SKU and quantity–useful for repeat orders and/or where customers have a large volume of SKUs and want to speed up the process. A CSV upload can also be used, and the feature can be site-wide or restricted to designated customer groups.
Content Staging
Create, preview, and schedule content changes to Products, Categories, Promotions, or Content (Blocks, Pages, Widgets). Arrange for promotions to automatically activate at midnight and use the staging Dashboard for scheduled content that displays active and scheduled campaigns in a timeline.
Category Permissions
Limit access for users from designated customer groups to browse categories, view pricing, or disable Add to Cart for specific products within a category.
Related Product Rules
While Admins can manually specify related products, upsells and cross sells in Open Source, Adobe Commerce allows you to specify all these conditionally. These rules can be associated with customer segments for dynamic targeting. Given Adobe Commerce customers tend to have large product catalogues with exponential related products, this is a key feature for many Admins.
Wishlists
Useful for returning users. The ‘updating wishlists’ feature allows the management of such wishlists on a customer's account, by both Admins and customers. The wishlists search widget enables customers to search any public wishlist.
Gift Cards
Great for any occasion, or for that ‘difficult to buy for person’, virtual or physical (or a combination of both) gift cards can be added to a site’s catalogue. A record of cards issued can be kept in the Gift Card Accounts section of the Admin Dashboard.
Page Hierarchy
Identify related pieces of content and organise pages into a ‘parent/child’ relationship, shown in a tree structure. Use a drag and drop interface to add pagination, navigation, and menus.
Gift Registries
Perhaps a less widely used function, but very relevant to certain sectors. Customers can create a registry for special occasions and invite friends and family to purchase items from the registry via a search widget (that allows a customer to search another customer’s registry). ‘Stock levels’ can be assigned, and a record of items purchased maintained.
Private Sales & Events
Create sale events for designated customers and time limit the sale via a countdown display. Customers can send invitations to potential new customers. This activity is linked to a Private Sale Report that includes the number of invitations sent, accepted and discarded, plus related conversion rates.
Order Archiving
Admins can automatically archive orders to maintain performance and clean up the admin interface. This applies to invoices, credit memos and shipments on an automatic or manual basis and data can be retrieved at any time. It may be more relevant for sites with a high volume of transactions.
Shopping Assistance
Assist registered customers by editing their shopping cart contents in real time from the admin interface following a refresh.
Scheduled Import/Export
Admins can schedule imports and exports on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Imports and Exports natively support the Customers Main File, Customer Addresses, Products. Imports also support Advanced Pricing. This is particularly useful for when a site is integrating with ERPs and third-party services
Visual Merchandiser
Admins can define the order in which products appear within a category based on popularity, profit, or stock levels, for example. Adobe Commerce’s Visual Merchandiser module uses a drag and drop interface or can be configured using rule-based conditions based on ‘smart attributes’.
Additional Payment Methods
Adobe Commerce supports PayPal, Braintree, Klarna and Amazon Pay, in addition to ‘conventional’ third-party payment gateway modules such as Worldpay, Sagepay, Paypal and Adyen. This means these integrations are always up to date and secure.
Admins can negotiate rates and BNPL solutions like PayPal Pay Later and Klarna, a fast-growing feature of the eCommerce mix. The new ‘Payment Services’ is an integrated payment solution that can be managed from the Adobe Commerce Admin, rather than integrated third-party payment providers. Payment Services for Adobe Commerce will be powered by the PayPal Commerce Platform and is available for Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source. Payment Services is now compatible with Adobe Commerce versions 2.4.0 to 2.4.3-p1.
Returns
‘Returned Merchandise Authorisations’ or RMAs are a major issue for many eCommerce merchants. Make returns, either by refund or replacement.
The Orders and Returns interface can be accessed by a customer and a return requested. If approved, a unique RMA number is assigned. RMAs can be enabled for all products or designated products (some products being non-returnable). Most physical products are eligible for RMAs, but not virtual products, gift cards or downloads.
Customer Segments
Dynamically display banners and promotions to specific customers based on location, contents of Shopping Cart, order history, and more.
Because this information is updated in real time, customers may enter or be removed from a segment as they shop, so Admins can tailor campaigns based on customer behaviour. This information can be exported via a Customer Segment report, highlighting the number of customers in each segment.
Dynamic Blocks
Dynamic Blocks were added to Magento in version 2.4.0. Admins can add interactive content that is driven by logic generated from price rules and customer segments. The equivalent in Open Source is Content Blocks (sometimes called static blocks), although these display fixed information like text, images and video, and dynamic information only if supplied by a widget. Rotating Dynamic Blocks can display in a set sequence, or randomly, so that Admins can curate ‘slide shows’.
Email Reminders
Sometimes called ‘abandon cart’, email reminders are automated emails sent to a customer based on their shopping cart or wishlist, to encourage a return visit and subsequent purchase. Emails can be sent according to ‘number of days abandoned’ or ‘item quantity’ or ‘cart total’ and more.
Store Credit
Admins can refund customers using store credit, rather than a direct refund for a credit card or cash transaction. A credit memo is issued following an order, purchase and refund, with the credit being added to the customer’s account for future purchases in your store. Users can track credit levels via their account dashboard.
Rewards & Loyalty
A points-based loyalty program for users, in which they can earn points for activities such as registration, newsletter sign-up, purchases, referrals, and product reviews. Admins can control how these points are allocated, manage their expiry dates, and decide the GBP value of a point, and allow points to be redeemed against future purchases. Points can be awarded to users based on cart price rules.
Google Tag Manager
The industry standard for adding tags or JS pixels. Google Analytics Enhanced eCommerce is also integrated natively in Adobe Commerce.
Gift Options
Users can add gift options to their purchases before checkout. This could be a dedicated message or gift wrapping, including a gift receipt and greeting card. These options can be added as an extra charge with taxes configured separately for these options if needed. While the configuration is site wide, this can be overridden at product level.
Customer Attribute Manager
Admins can add additional customer attributes beyond the default Magento set. These can include custom attributes to the Account Information, Address Book and Billing Information.
Action Logs Report
An ‘audit trail’ for all Admin actions creates a time-stamped record of the usernames and IP addresses, as well as the Admin’s user data and changes made during the session. This is especially useful with large Admin teams to identify where and when errors have been made.
Support Tools
Flag known issues when they occur with Data Collector and System Report tools. These are especially useful for the development and optimisation of your site.
CONTACT
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