Ridge Marketing Launches Azurskin.com

I recently got a chance to build out an E-Commerce site using Magento for www.azurskin.com, designed by Rob Quincy at Ridge Marketing. Rob’s design is awesome, and I just wanted to blog a little bit about Magento. I have to admit, I am blown away by this platform. The fact that it is free [...]

I recently got a chance to build out an E-Commerce site using Magento for www.azurskin.com, designed by Rob Quincy at Ridge Marketing. Rob’s design is awesome, and I just wanted to blog a little bit about Magento.

I have to admit, I am blown away by this platform. The fact that it is free in amazing. In short, the platform allows you to get an E-Commerce website up that has almost all of the features and functionality you would find in a large, custom application, the likes of Amazon, Overstock, etc. for much less then anyone would ever imagine.

Now, this product has been out for over a year or so now, and it was highly anticipated from what I have read. I do my best to try and keep up with all of the latest open-source platforms out there, but I must admit, I can’t keep up with everything. However, after diving into this for a few days, I realized it was extremely important for me to have the ability to build a website using this platform in my arsenal, because I think it is only a matter of time before it becomes the preferred e-commerce platform for start-ups.

Now, like most CMS or E-commerce platforms, it may claim to be easy to use and simple for the non-techie. But we all know that isn’t the case. The learning curve for Magento was definitely somewhat steep, and I can’t say I know the product inside and out. The fact that it was so new, meaning there were less forum posts, wiki articles, and basic tutorials available than say, a WordPress, made some customizations a bit tricky. The front-end architecture also has some very specific setups that require you to re-read some of the tutorials a few times.

However, in the end, once you get the front-end HTML/CSS and template setup and run through the features and functionality a few times in the admin, learn where everything is, etc., you realize you have a dangerous weapon at your disposal. I feel confident now in saying that within a week I could have a full fledged top of the line e-commcrce site built. I’m talking DONE done, with categorized products, customized e-mails for every customer notification/interaction, multiple options for payment, fulfillment management, user management, coupons, gift certificates, product ratings, reviews…the whole 9.

The Azurskin website only had 4 products to start out, but I see the potential to manage hundreds. Also, you can easily build multiple sites using the same backend layout, skin them differently, and create various websites that would seem to be competing against each other, but are all managed from the same admin. It’s definitely going to be a reason some small shops blow up into bigger household names

I am anxiously waiting for the next project I get to build out another site using Magento. I also am trying to come up with some ideas for my own business, as this platform has finally made me feel like if I can get the right product set, I have everything I need to let the idea take off. If anyone has any great ideas for an E-Commerce product suite, please let me know. I’m dying to get something off the ground.

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