Magento Imagine 2019 Recap
THE ENERGY THAT COMES FROM FOCUSING ON THE CUSTOMER
Magento Imagine 2019 was a special experience. The energy was palpable with so many enthusiastic and skilled Magento site operators, operators-to-be, partners, and – of course – the added juice that Adobe brings to the equation upping the ante. At McFadyen Digital, we view the online marketplace model as the future of Ecommerce, and Imagine didn’t disappoint with a session focused entirely on marketplaces, many sessions discussing the model, and expert office hours also covering-off on the topic. With so much of the benefits of the Magento platform focusing on providing a superior customer experience, this makes a lot of sense given the added product selection and increased satisfaction levels that marketplaces tend to bring. Magento put customer experience in the limelight, not only with Magento Commerce and the marketplace model, but with customer experience improving add-ons such as Magento Shipping and Magento Order Manager, which expands order fulfillment and customer service capabilities.
THE MCFADYEN TEAM SURE KEPT BUSY
Tom McFadyen discusses the technology architecture behind The Marketplace
Our experience at this show is something we’ll remember for a long time. In addition to exhibiting and sponsoring, we were fortunate enough to be part of an on-stage roundtable discussion, and honored to win an Imagine Excellence Award for the Albertsons Marketplace. The conversations we had at our booth on the show floor were engaging and fascinating, as learning about the challenges and aspirations of these passionate people fuels us during these long shows.
THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE MODEL IS HEATING UP
On Monday afternoon, McFadyen’s CEO Tom McFadyen participated in the Growth Strategies: Key Considerations for Building an Online Marketplace session [download the presentation deck] along with our client Subroto Chakrabarty of Albertsons, and teams from MasonJars.com, and The Grommet, a makers marketplace. This information-rich roundtable session discussed topics such as motivations behind starting an online marketplace, how to ensure a proper balance of sellers and buyers as you get started, how to provide an endless aisle experience, and the technical makeup required to launch such a property. The audience Q&A was one of the highlights of the session, with several thoughtful questions posed to the panel about the realities and challenges of employing the online marketplace model. It was a thought-provoking as it was entertaining and the conversations carried on well after the session ended.
THE ALBERTSONS MARKETPLACE WINS MOST INNOVATIVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
The Albertsons Marketplace wins an Imagine Excellence Award
Speaking of the marketplace model heating up, the highlight of the show for us at McFadyen Digital was when our customer, Albertsons Companies, won the Magento Imagine Excellence Award for Most Innovative Customer Experience along with us and marketplace platform partner Mirakl for The Albertsons Marketplace.
This is a project we are extremely proud of, as it represents what happens when a world-class organization like Albertsons puts the focus squarely on addressing unmet customer needs. From the onset of this project the Albertsons team worked with the McFadyen team and teams from Magento, Mirakl, Avalara, and Stripe to ensure this marketplace delivered an endless aisle product selection to Albertsons customers, providing the with a wide assortment of relevant items that they couldn’t find in any other single source. The result is an award-winning experience offering over 44,500 SKUs from over 140 sellers. Check out our write-up, The Anatomy of the Award-Winning Albertsons Marketplace.
LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE CUSTOMER SUCCESS
We’d like to thank our partners at Magento for being so incredible to work with and for putting on such an amazing show with Imagine, and also the partners we work with every day to do amazing things for our mutual customers, and of course, the customers and site operators we spoke with at the show. It is this combined energy that makes for such a special experience.
For those interested in how Magento works with the Mirakl marketplace platform to create powerful online marketplace experiences, please check out the Marketplaces for Magento Ebook and the Marketplace Maturity Model guide to get you started.
Please reach out to us at info@mcadyen.com if you have any questions or would like to get started on your own marketplace journey today.
AUTHOR
Thomas Gaydos
CMO & Marketing Practice Lead
McFadyen Digital
@ThomasGaydos
