The alternative to Magento
Magento is the largest e-commerce platform. But the largest doesn’t always mean the best. We’ll gladly explain why Katana Commerce could be the best alternative for you.
Starting an online store through Magento can seem alluring. They’re large and well-known, their entry-level product (Community) is free, it’s open-source, many companies will set it up for you, there’s community forums to ask questions on and with thousands of plugins it’s like nothing can stop you. This will be fine for many companies but more and more businesses are looking for something different. Different, more personal and, in the end, better.
Because wouldn’t it be more efficient to let 1 business do everything for you? A close team with 15 years of e-commerce experience that develops all its own software, keeps it up-to-date, hosts it themselves on secure servers, has their own design department, has experience with the whole e-commerce chain, has their own support with 24/7 monitoring and can even handle emergencies in the middle of the night. We even operate our own fulfillment center.
Our mission is to unburden you. You can focus completely on your products or your service. We’ll handle all the technology for you.
The most important differences
Magento is a fine platform, but it could be so much better, faster and more flexible. Why do we advise using Katana Commerce over Magento? We’ve summed up the most important differences.
Everything under one roof
With Magento you can only hope that your online store is hosted safely on your own server or on a third party’s server. And who keeps an eye on it 24/7 to make sure it’s running smoothly? Katana Commerce is hosted on our own secure and reliable servers in a secured server farm. We design, develop, host, monitor (24/7!) and secure your Katana Commerce online store.
Speed
A notorious problem with Magento shops is speed. Magento’s complexity has made it into a heavy and cumbersome platform. Katana Commerce is balanced and quick, even with large quantities of data. And we’re constantly working on optimizing our performance. With smart tech like ‘ElasticSearch’, high-powered servers, optimized files and a platform that’s made to fit together, we can realize better performance.
Updates
With a Magento online store you’ll have to hope that everything goes right when the platform or your plugins get updated. And are you still running Magento 1.9? Switching to 2.x will be complex and expensive.
With Katana Commerce you won’t have to worry about incompatible plugins when a new version is released. We make sure that your Katana Commerce platform is up-to-date and gets the latest expansions and improvements. You won’t have to worry about it.
Design
A Magento online store is designed using standard templates, meaning you’ll run the risk of others, maybe even your competitors, using the same template. And if you want a custom-made template, it’ll cost a lot. The Katana Commerce design team has their own web designers and front-end developers that can create and implement a design effectively within the project. We even design entire corporate brandings from logo to packaging.
Made-to-measure
Want to get an online store made-to-measure, and don’t want to use a bunch of plugins that might not even be safe? Magento might not be the best choice for you. The team behind Katana Commerce is specialized in complex made-to-measure projects and can integrate your online store safely with existing systems like ERPs and WMS’s.
We use structured workflows to make sure your custom project is tested extensively before it goes live. This means we can guarantee the quality and continuing stability of your platform.
Support
Magento doesn’t have personal support for your Magento shop. You’re left with a huge forum or a support contract from a third party. With Katana Commerce there’s far less hassle. On a custom project, you can consult with the developers of the platform yourself. We have 24/7 support for emergencies and we’re available during the day for any questions or requests.
The alternative to Magento by and for professionals
Katana Commerce vs Magento
A summary of some of the most important parts of a professional e-commerce platform.
| Subject | Katana Commerce | Magento |
|---|---|---|
| API |  | |
| Affiliate connection | Through our in-house developed software 'ChannelEngine' it is possible to connect with channels such as Tradetracker, DaisyCon, Affilinet, Adform and Adchieve. | Via plugins |
| B2B én B2C | | |
| Backups | The website/shop daily, the database continuous or every 15 minutes. | Self-regulation |
| Caching | In-memory cache, ElasticSearch, Redis | Full page caching only at Magento Enterprise. |
| Carrier connection | Standard with PostNL (including location selector, delivery time, track & trace) and Sendcloud. We develop tailor-made links with other carriers. | Via plugins |
| Checkout process automatic address search | | Via plugins |
| Comparison of products | | |
| Comparison website link | Through our in-house developed software 'ChannelEngine' you can connect to comparisons like Beslist, Fashionchick, Kieskeurig and Compare.nl and many other channels. | Via plugins |
| Cookie (notification) according to latest EU standard | | |
| Dashboard with sales overview, to-do's and statistics (in the back office) | | |
| Data traffic | Large, flexible limits (fair use policy) | Depending on the hosting party |
| Design developed in-house | |  |
| Discount codes with advanced settings and requirements | | Via plugins |
| E-mail software connections | We have a standard link with Mailchimp & Mailstudio. We make other tailor-made links. | Via plugins |
| Exact online connection | | Via plugins |
| Google analytics link + internal knowledge & support | | Through third parties |
| Hosting & security | On our own secure servers with 24/7 monitoring. | Through third parties |
| Hosting costs | €100 - €400 (including redundant hosting, database mirroring and backup and SSL) | Depending on the hosting party |
| Imports/exports that can be scheduled | | Via plugins |
| Import with custom mapping (advanced including image mapping) | | |
| Import types | XLSX, CSV, XML of bestand url | CSV only |
| KiYoh connection | | Via plugins |
| Licence fee | €250 to €1.500 p/month | € 17,000 p/year for Enterprise € 0,00 for the free version. |
| Logs of e-mails, imports, etc. are available for programmers to be able to detect any problems more quickly. | | |
| Loyalty program | | Via plugins |
| Maintenance & expansion of logistic links | | |
| Marketplace connection | Via our in-house developed software 'ChannelEngine' it is possible to connect with marketplaces such as Bol, Amazon, Google Shopping, Rakuten, Fonq, Blokker and many other channels. | Via plugins |
| Maximum number of products | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Multilingual | | |
| Multiple shops from one back office | | |
| Payment Methods Couplings | Buckaroo, Adyen and Capayable available as standard. We make other custom couplings. | Via plugins |
| PIM variant available (if only a PIM system is required). | | |
| Quick order via account (previous orders) | | |
| Reports (in the back office) | | |
| SEO friendly fixed url's (permalinks) | | Via plugins |
| SLA costs | €250 to €2.000 | €500 to €3.000 |
| SSL (TLS) | | Self-regulation |
| Support | Internal support department, available 24/7 for emergencies. | Through forums or third parties |
| Synonyms list and 'auto-completion' search terms | | |
| Social media connection with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. | | Via plugins |
| Store finder | | Via plugins |
| Tailor-made | Internal custom development. Personal contact with project managers and developers. | Via third parties |
| Unique meta titles and descriptions | | Via plugins |
| Updates | | Via plugins |
| Uptime warranty | 99.8% | Depending on the hosting party |
| Vouchercodes | | Via plugins |
| WMS connections | We have a standard link with Active Ants and Fulfilment Solutions. We make other tailor-made links. | Via plugins |
Did you know Magento 1.x is discontinuing updates?
Does your online store still run on Magento 1.x? You’ll have an important decision to make soon. From November 2018 Magento will discontinue updates for Magento 1.x. After that, the security of your online store is not guaranteed anymore. Continued use of Magento 1.x is not an option anymore after this, if you want to keep your customer’s personal data and your online payment traffic safe.
But changing to Magento 2 isn’t that easy either. It’s a completely new platform and will take quite some man-hours to implement. And there’s a substantial risk that your plugins won’t work anymore. In short, more than enough reasons to look around for alternatives. Get in touch today and we’ll talk you through the possibilities. Or have a look at the Katana Commerce website.
Vondellaan 47, 2332 AA Leiden
+31 (0)715288792
info@tritac.com
KVK: 28096738
