eCommerce is exploding and leading Johannesburg-based e-commerce and software development specialist Syncrony Digital has the solution for those companies eager for reliable technology to seize the opportunity: Magento.
Released in 2008, Magento is an open source eCommerce solution, with an enterprise option. Magento currently runs over 250,000 active online shops around the globe and is supported by an army of over 150,000 trained developers.
Founded in 1999, Syncrony is one of South Africa’s premier Magento developers. The company has worked with customers throughout South Africa and abroad from as far afield as Australia, the USA and Europe.
“We work hand-in-hand with customers to create a turnkey Magento ecommerce website that will provide the best foundation for growth and ROI for your hard earned cash. Running a Magento online store is an interesting business. It’s an endurance sport, becoming more sustainable the longer you keep going. If you can keep your online customers engaged and make it worthwhile for them to keep coming back, it’s like licensing ongoing revenue,” explains Howard Rybko, CEO, Syncrony.
Rybko adds that Magento is an online store sales system like Shopify on steroids.
“The best news for Magento users and developers is that it been an Adobe company since mid-2018. This means bigger growth potential, greater integration into Adbobe’s product line-up and assurance for professional and enterprise organisations running their businesses on the Magento platform. Shopify, is great for entry level and proof-of-concept stores, but all the serious players and big stores run Magento.”
Rybko says Magento has ensured Syncrony continues to dominate its market and lead from the front.
The company’s best looking online store is currently skins.co.za, which, he says, is well worth a visit to see beauty that one can almost smell online!
Skins is focused on the cosmetic fashion industry and the main challenge was around design and the need ‘to making Magento look stunning’ because Skin represents so many well-established upmarket brands.
Rybko adds that the main obstacle was to make Magento, which is essentially a sales platform, come over as trendy and beautiful.
To achieve this objective Syncrony also developed a tightly integrated blog – called Whisper, which blends products and articles about fashion.
Special attention was given to the site’s search facility. “On an e-commerce site, the better your search, the better your sales,” says Rybko.
“We spend a lot of time on search to highlight the brand as well as the products. Each brand’s landing page became a work of art.
