Choose the right e-commerce platform for your business.

Compare the e-commerce platforms Viskan, Optimizely and Magento/Adobe Commerce

Your choice of e-commerce platform affects how far you can develop your e-commerce business and improve profitability. Choosing the right solution becomes even more important when your business needs more capacity and more functionality. You need to balance the functionality your business requires with the platform’s complexity and cost. Advanced enterprise solutions do give you deep functionality and a high degree of customisation, but they often require strong technical expertise to run and develop, and they come with high licence costs. There are alternatives that solve this in a simpler and more cost-effective way. To help you choose the right platform, we’ve compared Viskan E-handelsplattform, Optimizely and Magento/Adobe Commerce.

Optimizely, Magento/Adobe Commerce or Viskan E-handelsplattform? 

Compare the platforms’ capabilities, features and characteristics

Optimizely – an enterprise platform with advanced content management and testing tools

Optimizely (formerly Episerver Commerce) is a DXP (Digital Experience Platform) aimed primarily at larger enterprise businesses that want an advanced platform focused on content management and optimisation. Optimizely started out as a CMS and has advanced content management capabilities. The platform also includes testing and analytics tools for A/B testing and optimisation of personalised digital experiences.

At its core, Optimizely was not built for e-commerce. It is a CMS that has evolved over time to also handle e-commerce. That makes it primarily suited to content-driven retailers with a strong focus on content, analytics and optimisation, so they can deliver tailored content based on user behaviour. Among other things, Optimizely uses AI to power personalised search, product recommendations and targeted messaging for customer-centric experiences.

Optimizely features and characteristics:

• CDP (Customer Data Platform) with features for data collection, segmentation and predictive analytics.

• Strong focus on content management.

• Advanced testing tools for A/B tests, multivariate tests and personalisation testing for conversion optimisation.

• Provides metrics such as traffic, conversion rate and engagement for>Capacity to handle complex organisations and markets.

Magento/Adobe Commerce – for larger e-commerce businesses that want full control over code and logic

Magento/Adobe Commerce comes in two versions. Magento Open Source is a free open-source version for businesses with their own development resources. Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Commerce) is a paid version with extended functionality aimed at large, technically demanding businesses that need a highly customisable solution with advanced enterprise features.

Magento/Adobe Commerce is scalable and flexible, and suits retailers with more complex needs who have access to the IT expertise and resources the platform requires. Magento Open Source includes basic e-commerce functionality but requires your own hosting and development. Adobe Commerce offers extended functionality with advanced tools for marketing, segmentation and personalisation. Depending on the licence level, the licensed version may also include cloud hosting, enhanced security and dedicated support.

Magento/Adobe Commerce features and characteristics:

• Extensive customisation options through coding and custom development.

• Headless support via PWA Studio.

• Can be tailored to specific target groups and different geographical markets.

• Includes advanced SEO and marketing tools.

• Support for complex product logic and multi-store.

• Integration with Adobe’s ecosystem (applies to Adobe Commerce).

Viskan E-handelsplattform – high performance and smooth scalability that lets your e-commerce grow quickly and with full control

Viskan E-handelsplattform is built for retailers who want to grow freely without being held back by technical limitations in the platform or by having to bring in developers and consultants to manage growing demands. Viskan is composable, and from the outset the platform includes broad core functionality that gives you more control, while also letting you connect the parts your business needs as it grows through Viskan Open API and a wide range of ready-made partner integrations. That gives Viskan E-handelsplattform strong scalability while keeping it easy to manage and allowing you to adapt your e-commerce with full control.

Viskan E-handelsplattform has a high level of automation that streamlines your e-commerce processes and gives you more time to focus on sales. The platform also delivers high performance, with 99.99% uptime and the ability to handle large volumes and traffic growth with ease.

Viskan is a Swedish provider that knows your market and understands your conditions. Alongside the platform, you also get a local partner with deep e-commerce experience and expertise, giving you fast, hands-on and personal support. In addition to its own expertise, Viskan also gives you unique access to levels of knowledge, tools and security that are usually only available to very large businesses.

Viskan features and characteristics:

• Comes with extensive core functionality from day one, including powerful core features for orders, campaigns, product management and more.

• Easy to scale and adapt thanks to a composable architecture, Viskan Open API and a large number of ready-made third-party integrations.

• Delivers strong performance and high security that smoothly handles the increased load of growing e-commerce businesses.

• High level of automation for a more efficient e-commerce operation that frees up time for growth and increased sales.

• Easy to combine B2B and B2C in the same platform.

• Flexible CMS with 100+ ready-made components, making it easy to create engaging content without limitations, coding skills or external consultants.

Successful e-commerce businesses that have grown with Viskan:

Compare Viskan E-handelsplattform, Optimizely and Magento/Adobe Commerce in terms of operations, costs and development.

Different platforms can vary greatly when it comes to operations, scaling, maintenance and costs as your e-commerce business develops and grows. Here’s how Viskan, Optimizely and Magento/Adobe Commerce differ when you start with, run and develop the platforms.

Implementation

• Optimizely: Offers advanced functionality that requires specialist expertise and careful planning during implementation and configuration.

• Magento/Adobe Commerce: Implementation is a complex process that requires time, resources and significant technical expertise. The learning curve for getting started with the platform is very steep.

• Viskan E-handelsplattform: Offers a smooth and comprehensive implementation where your needs guide the process. Viskan takes full responsibility for configuration, integrations and launch, so you do not need your own technical resources. During onboarding, Viskan guides you step by step so you get a complete solution tailored to your business. The combination of the platform’s ease of use and support from Viskan’s experts means you are ready to scale your business from day one.

Start-up and operating costs

• Optimizely: Depends on partners for implementation and customisation, which leads to high implementation partner costs. Requires hosting through Optimizely’s cloud or PaaS. That comes with high operating costs, enterprise-level licence fees and a high TCO.

• Magento/Adobe Commerce: The Open Source version is free but requires your own development, hosting, support and security. Adobe Commerce brings implementation partner costs and high enterprise-level licence fees, which increase further if you need dedicated support and more managed cloud services. The hosting environment needs to be optimised for Magento. It is version-dependent, where new versions require costly usage upgrades. It has a high TCO.

• Viskan E-handelsplattform: Gives you extensive functionality, business-specific adaptation, secure operations and personal support at a significantly lower cost than enterprise solutions. That leads to highly cost-effective scaling and a lower long-term TCO.

Customisation options across the e-commerce platforms

• Optimizely: Is flexible and can be adapted through modules and headless APIs for integrations. In most cases, it requires expert skills to develop and customise.

• Magento/Adobe Commerce: The open-source version can be freely customised because all code can be changed, but that also requires deep technical expertise. The paid version, Adobe Commerce, offers extensive customisation options, but they come with increased complexity and require specialised technical expertise to implement.

• Viskan E-handelsplattform: Viskan gives you broad core functionality while also offering strong adaptability through dynamic templates and a wide range of ready-made partner integrations via Viskan Open API. That gives you great flexibility and the control to adapt your e-commerce yourself.

Performance

• Optimizely: Is built for high performance and scalability, especially in cloud-based environments. Actual performance, however, depends on the complexity of the implementation and how well the platform is optimised. Many external integrations or poorly optimised code can create performance bottlenecks.

• Magento/Adobe Commerce: Can be high-performing and scalable, but performance depends heavily on active optimisation, robust infrastructure and technical expertise. Every customisation and extension can affect performance if it is not implemented or optimised correctly.

• Viskan E-handelsplattform: Is built for growth, with high performance and stable operations that handle very high transaction volumes and major traffic peaks without issue. Viskan Open API has no call limits and is updated weekly for secure operations and continuous access to the latest development.

Complexity

• Optimizely: Is user-friendly when it comes to managing content, but otherwise has high technical complexity. The broad feature set, links between separate services, configuration, authentication and more create complexity and often require specialised .NET expertise.

• Magento/Adobe Commerce: Has a detailed and deep architecture that makes it highly complex to understand, maintain and develop. Highly specialised expertise is required at every stage of using the platform.

• Viskan E-handelsplattform: Is a powerful platform with well-developed core features that form a flexible foundation you can build on based on different business needs. It has a broad ecosystem of integrated third-party systems, carefully selected to create real customer value. Viskan’s ready-made integrations reduce lead times and workload. Together, this gives the platform a stable core and the ability to add specialised solutions when needed. The platform is also built so you can make changes yourself without coding skills or the need for external help.

Support

• Optimizely: Support depends on each customer’s licence level, from standard support to extended support and Managed Services. It is a costly support model regardless of level. It also offers online documentation and knowledge bases.

• Magento/Adobe Commerce: Support for the Open Source version comes from the global community through forums and blogs. As with Optimizely, support for the paid version depends on the licence level. In general, strong in-house technical expertise is required to handle support cases effectively.

• Viskan E-handelsplattform: As a Swedish local provider, Viskan offers fast and personal support in Swedish, Finnish and English. Its extensive support section includes guides, webinars, insights and more. A dedicated account manager supports each customer by getting to know your business and needs.

Customer relationships

• Optimizely: Works with implementation partners who are the main point of contact for operations and customisations. That means the customer relationship depends heavily on which partner you work with.

• Adobe Commerce: Like Optimizely, Adobe Commerce is based on a partner ecosystem. Here too, the customer relationship depends largely on the partner.

• Viskan E-handelsplattform: Is a partner that works through close, long-term customer relationships, while also having implementation partners. Viskan stays in close contact to help each customer get as much value as possible from the platform. Every customer gets a dedicated account manager for personal support.

* Depending on version or licensing model

Which e-commerce platform is the best fit for your needs?

The right e-commerce platform for your business depends on several factors, such as your needs and goals, growth plans, budget, in-house technical expertise and ability to manage platform complexity. In the end, it is often about finding the right balance between the functionality and performance you need, and how costly and complex the platform can afford to be. Here’s how Viskan, Optimizely and Magento/Adobe Commerce fit depending on your e-commerce maturity and needs.

Optimizely is a good e-commerce solution if you:

• Are a large global business with complex needs and business models, and have a strong focus on personalisation and optimisation.

• Want to deliver AI-driven and tailored experiences to each individual customer for a better customer experience.

• Operate in B2B e-commerce with complex buying processes and multiple customer types.

• Have a primary focus on content and run a content-heavy site with an advanced content marketing flow that requires an advanced content management solution.

• Want to work in a>Have the need and the budget for a partner-driven enterprise solution with deep functionality at a higher cost, and want the option to choose a higher licence level for advanced support and managed services.

• Can handle major skills and resource demands, and are comfortable relying on an implementation partner and developers with .NET expertise. 

Magento/Adobe Commerce is a good e-commerce solution if you:

• Run a very large business that needs an advanced e-commerce platform for complex and unique business requirements that call for detailed customisation of almost every feature and process.

• Have complex business processes and product logic, along with very specific needs for pricing, product presentation, customer management and order flows.

• Want complete control over the code so you can make deep customisations without being limited by the platform’s framework.

• Need a personalisation engine to create detailed customer personas and the ability to use AI-driven pattern recognition for targeted product recommendations and experiences.

• Either have an in-house development team with specialist expertise or the budget to work long term with specialised agencies, since the platform’s complexity requires continuous effort and strong technical knowledge.

Viskan E-handelsplattform is a good e-commerce solution if you:

• Want one of the market’s fastest e-commerce engines and a powerful platform with well-developed core functionality, high performance, stability and scalability that can be expanded smoothly around your business needs.

• Run a mid-sized to large business, or have clear growth ambitions and need a powerful e-commerce platform that lets you grow and develop your e-commerce freely, easily and without obstacles.

• Want access to a broad ecosystem of integrated third-party systems, carefully selected to create real customer value. Viskan’s ready-made integrations minimise your lead times and workload. The platform gives you the best of both worlds: a stable and proven core, combined with the ability to easily add specialised solutions entirely based on your own needs.

• Plan to evolve and want to combine business models such as B2B/B2C sales, omnichannel and subscription in the same platform in an efficient way.

• Want strong functionality and flexibility without the very high licence costs that come with enterprise solutions, and want to avoid being dependent on developers to make changes.

• Have a long-term strategy for your e-commerce and want a low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as it grows and develops.

• Want to free up time with the help of automation and advanced tools that minimise manual work so you can focus more on strategic work and sales.

• Want a personal and long-term partnership with an experienced, knowledgeable and local partner who can contribute expertise in e-commerce and different business models to help develop your business.

Choose the right e-commerce platform to meet all your e-commerce needs

What matters when choosing an e-commerce platform is thinking through what you want from your e-commerce business. List your needs and identify which features and capabilities matter most for your goals. Look at the budget you have and how you can meet your needs within it. Also work out what level of complexity you actually need, so you do not invest in a solution that is too costly and too difficult to manage. That way, you can compare solutions strategically and find the one that is right for you.

Would you like help finding the right platform for your needs? Talk to us and we’ll tell you more about our e-commerce solutions for brands, retail, B2B, B2C, omnichannel and subscriptions.

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