If you’re a retailer planning to take your business online, one of the hardest decisions you’ll have to make is choosing how to build your website. With plenty of open-CMS platforms out there, deciding which is best for your and business is no easy feat.
Like many open CMS platforms, Magento offers a range of templates and ready-made themes to help design and build your site. While this option might be quick and cheap, it might not be the best solution in the long run. In this blog we have compared Magento templates against a bespoke approach – a must read before you set out on your e-commerce adventure.
Pros & Cons of Magento Templates
Pros:
- Quick & easy – One of the biggest benefits of using a Magento template is that it’s a quicker way to get your site designed, developed and ready.
- Fully functional – Nearly all Magento template themes are designed to work well with websites built using the Magento platform. That means you don’t need to worry about any glitches or issues with your website once you’ve chosen a Magento template.
- Completely free – Undeniably, one of the best perks of designing your website using a standard Magento template is that it will cost you nothing! Magento offers its users hundreds of template themes, at no charge at all.
Cons:
- Unoriginal design – Leading on from the pro point of Magento templates being free of charge, there is a significant disadvantage to this. Customers will be able to tell the difference between a website that is using a free theme and one that has had a bespoke design and build. This goes hand in hand with building customer trust, loyalty and a name for your brand.
- No development support – With Magento templates there are regular updates and changes to the themes. Sometimes things might go a little pear shaped and you might come across errors in your site. By using a free Magento template, you won’t have the developer support you need for a quick fix.
- Not always optimised – There’s no guarantee that the Magento template you use for your website will be optimised for conversion. Although the theme you’ve chosen might look great, there’s no guarantee that it will be best optimised for your business, audience and overall conversion rate.
- Limited customisation – With an off-the-shelf Magento template, what you see is what you get. That means limited customisation and an inability to make your website truly reflect your brand or function in a way that helps your business model.
As you can see, the cons outweigh the pros when it comes to using a free Magento template for your website. Although it’s tempting to go with the cheaper and quicker option, the long-term benefits of choosing a bespoke built Magento website are well worth the money.
At Fluid Digital, we specialise in designing and developing Magento e-commerce websites for many retailers. By creating unique, functional and stunningly designed online stores using the Magento platform, we help our clients sell their products and services online.
Benefits of a bespoke built Magento website
- Unique to you – An e-commerce store that accurately reflects you, your business and your brand will never fail to attract customers. With a bespoke built Magento website, you can ensure every last detail of your online store accurately conveys your brand message and attract your niche audience.
- Helping hand – Our team of certified Magento developers will always be on hand to help answer any questions you might have or make changes you need to your site. So whatever the query, you know who to contact.
- Personalised features – Whatever niche or industry you work in, you might find that your website needs to be customised to feature specific functions for your business to operate online. With the help of experienced developers, we can ensure all your require features are built-in to your site.
- Flexible budget – Getting a bespoke build doesn’t have to cost a fortune. With our tailored web design services, you can ensure you get the highest quality e-commerce site built at a rate you can afford.
To find out more about how our bespoke built e-commerce websites can help you and your business contact us today by calling 0161-452-7146 to book a free web design consultation.