We had the pleasure of participating in Magento’s Imagine Commerce 2016 as a Gold Sponsor and it was remarkable, to say the least. There was a wealth of knowledge shared with focus across all aspects of eCommerce. This was my first Imagine and I can’t wait for the keynotes to be available digitally. If one thing’s for sure, it’s how strong and empowering the Magento ecosystem truly is.
The momentum behind Magento in growth and platform development is profound with over 250k downloads and the release plans of 2.2 underway.
Here are some key facts that really resonated and exemplify the growth and stability of both Magento and eCommerce.
Magento
- #1 Platform in Internet Retailer’s Hot 100, B2B 300, and Top 1000 – 2015
- 261,477 Live Magento Websites Accounting for over $50 Billion in gross merchandise volume
- Over 250K downloads and 800 live sites on Magento 2.0
Magento 2.0 is growing – 800 webshops live! #Magento2 #Imagine2016 pic.twitter.com/Vej5kungGg
— Tomek Karwatka (@tomik99) April 12, 2016
eCommerce
- Global online sales in both B2B and B2C are expected to reach over $8 trillion in annual revenue by 2020
- The predominant age group for online consumers is between the ages of 25-34 with more than half a billion paying users accounting for more than 33% of online consumers.
- Online sales account for 7.4% of total retail sales for 2015 and this is forecasted to potentially double by 2020
B2C
- $1.037 Trillion in revenue for 2015 globally and 15.8% growth from 2014
- More than $300 billion in revenue for US – 2015
- The user experience, especially across different devices, is more crucial than ever – Average Conversion Rate between 2-3%
B2B
- Growing faster than B2C eCommerce and expected to double B2C online sales by 2020 with expected global sales of $6.7 trillion
- More than $780 billion in revenue for US – 2015
- Increasing number of millennials as buyers
- Search engine visibility, ERP Integration, retention and the user experience are key drivers of conversion – Average Conversion Rate of 10%
Extending our leadership in B2B on the Magento2 Platform @ProductPaul @magento @magentoimagine pic.twitter.com/5vZ8BUytXM
— Mark Lavelle (@mklave1) April 13, 2016
#RoadToImagine
The DCKAP team really enjoyed the #RoadToImagine and I mean that literally. Four of the six of us that represented DCKAP at Imagine 2016 hit the road from Northern California to the Wynn in Las Vegas and made sure to capture some moments of our great journey.
We arrived right in time for #PreImagine 2016 the day before registration and kick-off. It was great to begin making connections right off the get-go in the sun while enjoying some refreshments. Great event interactiv4, thanks!
Day 1: Imagine 2016 Kick-Off
For three out of the six of us, it was our first time attending the Imagine Conference despite having over 10 years of Magento experience collectively. We had heard great things about it from numerous people and it definitely went above and beyond.
It was very well organized and the whole experience was remarkable. The Imagine 2016 Mobile App made it easy to track and schedule the whole journey. The classes were segmented well and attendees could digest content focused on one breadth of eCommerce or as many as desired.
For retailers, commerce conversations and merchant to merchant sessions were held throughout the day to facilitate an environment of learning from each other’s experiences, challenges and solutions.
The Design Thinking Workshops, between Partners and Retailers, gave a good understanding of best practices in the creative process: you have to think like the user. Remove the biases and ask yourself if you were buying your product what would be most important to you? Why do you buy from Amazon or your favorite online vendor? Think out loud and focus on usability to truly optimize the customer experience.
really enjoying the design thinking workshop #Imagine2016 #MagentoImagine pic.twitter.com/X9eYRDYX0d
— Tony (@tonygarc1a) April 11, 2016
Developers were given more insight into Magento 2 with numerous Deep Dive Sessions all focused on different areas of the Magento 2.0 Technology and Development. There were also various announcements on which products Magento has planned for release such as the Magento Commerce Order Management and the new functionalities to expect in upcoming releases.
Beyond the areas already mentioned, The Solutions Spotlight was the last session of Day 1 as technology and solutions partners showcased their products and services. It was a relief to be in such an innovative and entrepreneurial atmosphere. I know I stopped at the LiteSpeed Booth more than a couple of times, I came across their solution while testing ways to improve site performance on Magento 2.0 months before Imagine and after seeing it reduce both my load time and total page size I had to know more.
DotMailer hosted a great party at the XS Nightclub, I really enjoyed it and it was awesome to see that work hard play hard mentality exemplified. I mean people were dancing, networking, drinking like they used to in college, and everyone had a blast. Great job Brinda Sitham and the rest of the DotMailer team for planning and hosting a great event.
The @dotmailer #PlatinumParty is open with @newrelic @temando @NucleusCommerce @Rackspace @magento @NortonOnline pic.twitter.com/y37nJQPi1u
— Jonny Dixon (@jonnydotdixon) April 12, 2016
Day 2: Rich Content, ‘Magic’ Johnson and The “Legendary” Event
Day 2 kicked off with exciting news and Mark Lavalle shared the level of growth Magento is experiencing. Magento is “profoundly disruptive” . Jamie Clarke compared it to a tool he think is most useful and that he couldn’t do without. An ice pick, it has limitless applications and extensions can be attached to make it more unique, a limitless tool.
Honoured to be back! @magento #Imagine2016 @liveoutthere pic.twitter.com/Hb59xNEJli
— Jamie Clarke (@JC_Climbs) April 12, 2016
The remainder of the day was more fast paced with shorter breakout sessions on more niche topics or solutions within eCommerce. There was a lot of rich content powered by data and experiences. The marketplace had a lot of activity and we personally had a great reaction to our Productimize Demo, a new solution for customizing products within Magento.
There’s not much I could say when I heard that ‘Magic’ Johnson was going to be speaking at Imagine except AWESOME! A very successful basketball player and possibly even more successful businessman, ‘Magic’ gave a great, engaging speech and gave an understanding of what contributed to where he is today and how he faced the challenges that he faced. It was truly inspirational and liberating, he was in the crowd taking selfies, being a giant, just ‘Magic’.
Karthik Chidambaram , our CEO, took a selfie next to ‘Magic’ Johnson except on a chair. Amusingly, one of our acquaintances took a picture from the best angle ever. Don’t just look at the chair and the alarming difference in height but the reactions of everyone captured. It still makes me chuckle.
The night concluded with the infamous Magento Evening Event or “Legendary” Event, great people (from all over the world), great food, drinks, great memories, and a memorable hangover if you have enough of those drinks. It really was *cue Barney Stinson voice* “Legendary”.
Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition
Magento announced the general availability of Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition, a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) environment for its flagship Magento 2.0 digital commerce platform. Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud and is built to power innovative e-commerce experiences with the rapid deployment of fully customizable, secure and scalable Web storefronts, combined with a leading hosting and managed services infrastructure.
Day 3: Wrap-Up and Moving Forward
The final day of Imagine 2016 featured more announcements and Magento 2.0 News as well as some final breakout sessions. There was some time for networking and final business card exchanges or swapping of marketing materials but once the Marketplace closed at 2:00PM it was a partner and Magento environment due to the Partner Summit.
The Partner Summit is an event sponsored by Nexcess, in which various awards are given to partners and where Magento and the partners are able to discuss the announcements and pick the brains of Magento Management.
Final Words
Congratulations to everyone who won an award, both merchant and partner. It’s great to see the partners dedicated to the business growth and needs of the merchant. Congratulations to all of the experts recognized under the new Magento Masters Initiative, the helpfulness of the Magento Community is empowering and has helped foster a strong culture of people working together to fix solutions and constantly make the best platform even better.
For those who missed Imagine 2016 , watch the highlights here…
Thanks to all of our clients and contacts who traveled to join us and Magento at Imagine Commerce 2016 as well as everyone we met or who stopped by our booth, till next time!
