The challenges faced by the e-commerce industry are growing dynamically every day. Today, companies must overcome these challenges in order to meet their customers’ expectations and secure their engagement. This means that keeping your technological know-how up to date has become a necessity, as is responding quickly to new functionalities.
From this article, you’ll learn:
- What is Shopware?
- Should you choose Shopware 5 or Shopware 6
- How an API works
- What are shopping worlds and experience worlds
- How to be flexible in e-commerce
- Why the user experience matters
Shopware is a modern, open-source e-commerce platform, which means that anyone can freely modify it and redistribute its source code. Currently, there are over 100,000 global users of this incredibly flexible sales system.
Thanks to the fact that the developers of Shopware are its sole owners, they have the freedom to expand the platform according to their vision. Shopware users can view the product map to learn about upcoming updates. Their feedback is also taken into account when new functionalities are introduced.
Some of the well-known brands that use Shopware are Philips, Douglas and Stabilo. However, these are only a few examples of the companies that have opted for Shopware and the platform’s many advantages, such as its flexibility and intuitiveness.
Shopware 5 or Shopware 6: which one should you choose?
Before we discuss the differences between Shopware 5 and Shopware 6, it should be noted these are not just two variants of the same platform. The differences between Shopware 5 and 6 are considerable enough to treat them as separate solutions.
The most prominent difference between Shopware 5 and Shopware 6 is the approach to the user experience; specifically, the latter version puts an even greater emphasis on this than the former. If a piece of software is intuitive and relatively convenient to use, it is certain that businesses will want to use it.
Use of an API
The way that Shopware 6 lets you take advantage of an API means that you no longer have to use additional plugins to upload images, videos or audio. The frontend is clearly divided from the backend (as with Headless), which allows a user of the platform to focus on developing their business, without worrying about other technical issues.
Choice of technology
Shopware 5 and Shopware 6 are based on different technologies. The former uses ExtendJS, while the latter uses the Vue.js framework. As a result, even though both variants offer a range of convenient functionalities, Shopware 6 is more responsive, including in terms of the backend operations.
Template engine
A template engine is a tool that allows you to make visual adjustments to the frontend. While Shopware 5 uses Smarty as its template engine, Shopware 6 uses Twig – a solution that can separate the presentation layer from the rest of the app, and is regarded by programmers as a very flexible and highly scalable tool.
User experience
Shopware 5 offers various functions tailored to the sales environment. However, Shopware 6 incorporates not only the feedback from consumers, but also the experiences of its users and their customers, which makes 6 altogether more applicable and intuitive than Shopware 5.
Flexibility and applicability
Shopware 5 is an effective tool, but it has its limits; for instance, with respect to the end devices. Shopware 6 eliminates such obstacles, which means that its users can freely combine various functions and use them to their full potential across all devices.
The above examples show that, even though Shopware 5 is a popular solution among businesses throughout the world, it’s worth considering ‘upgrading to a newer model’. Shopware 6 is an intuitive and modern response to the real needs of e-commerce users that offers a host of new possibilities and that streamlines daily operations.
A reliable API
Shopware is equipped with an advanced API, whose main benefit is the unrestricted transfer of data between different systems. Effective sales are practically impossible without the synchronisation between different types of software.
An API is the perfect tool for the e-commerce industry thanks to the many functionalities it provides, including:
- Management of multiple sales channels
- Process automation
- Cooperation between sales and marketing functions
- Improved internal communication
Automation makes your everyday business duties easier. Integrated systems translate into a quicker flow of data and, if needed, are an effective way to introduce new functionalities; for example, when adding new services to your portfolio.
The app programming interface in Shopware 6 is much more user-friendly than the one in Shopware 5, because it’s been tailored not only to experienced users of the platform, but also to first-time users.
Shopping worlds and experience worlds
Another important difference between Shopware 5 and Shopware 6 is their approach to experiences, which is much more promising for the users of the latter than the former.
To start with, Shopware 5 provides an additional tool called ‘shopping worlds’. Here’s a summary of shopping worlds from the developers of the platform:
Shopping worlds enable you to easily create impressive landing pages, product presentations and marketing campaigns all by yourself. Shopping worlds will help you capture your customers’ attention and take them into the world of emotionally-driven stories – no matter what display or device they are using!
Even though this sounds very exciting, Shopware 6 raises the bar even further with ‘experience worlds’, which incorporate not only consumer behaviours, but also the needs and expectations of the Shopware users.
With experience worlds, you’re able to create platforms tailored directly to your target group. A rich content section lets you develop eye-catching solutions that incentivise your customers to experience incredible stories, leading to a consistent and reliable brand image.
Flexibility in e-commerce
The e-commerce industry relies not only on the sales process, but also on good marketing. A well-designed content marketing strategy can both draw in new customers and maintain their long-term engagement.
Shopware 6 offers exceptional flexibility that makes building your sales and marketing pages quick and problem-free. Aesthetic and effective landing pages or portfolio subpages can be created almost instantaneously, even without the help of additional experts.
Because the latest version of Shopware focuses on intuitiveness and user friendliness, anyone interested will be able to take advantage of the platform’s functionalities without any difficulties. This also allows e-commerce companies to reduce the costs of hiring experts, as they’re able to introduce many of the core functionalities on their own.
Modern user experience
Pay attention to what your users do, not to what they say
- Jakob Nielsen
The functions offered in Shopware 6 prove that the user experience is crucial in the e-commerce industry, because it’s a means of acquiring new visitors who become loyal and engaged customers.
Effective marketing and sales strategies require you to know the needs of your target group. When you’re unfamiliar with the user behaviours it is difficult to create consumer-oriented solutions, which is why it’s so important to constantly monitor the level of consumer satisfaction.
Shopware has an innovative approach to the user experience, which proves that understanding the decisions of consumers is a difficult challenge. Analysing the purchase processes is not enough – it’s also important to identify the needs of your target group and investigate the user paths.
Whether you work with B2B or B2C customers, Shopware will provide you with:
- A direct means of reaching your customers
- Effective sales processes
- Integration between your sales and marketing
- Multiple channels to reach your consumers (simultaneous B2B and B2C sales)
- Visually appealing content
The user experience also depends on a good choice for your e-commerce platform. It’s worth considering hiring experienced Shopware developers to help you with choosing the best solutions for your business.
Summary
Before you opt for either Shopware 5 or Shopware 6, bear in mind that e-commerce is one of the most rapidly developing industries in the world, with thousands of global users per day.
A good e-commerce platform allows you to meet the expectations of your customers through reliable software and modern technologies, to guarantee that the visitors to your website have a positive experience.
Do you already know how important the customer experience is for your business, but you can’t make up your mind about which e-commerce platform to choose? Or perhaps you use Shopware already, and would like to ask some questions?
In that case, it’s high time to contact us. We promise we’ll do everything we can to help you choose the most beneficial solutions.
