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Leveraging Magento to Build

Alternative Business Models

Brian Fritton, Zenya.com

@bfritton

#altMagento

“Move fast and break things” - Mark Zuckerberg

What I’ll Give

• Alternative business

models at a 10,000ft level

• Magento as an alternative

model’s platform

• Building your Model in

Magento

• Glimpse of a working

alternative model

• Significant new knowledge

to apply to new and

existing projects

• Insight into new depths of

Magento’s architecture

• Working Examples and

Resources

• Forward-looking ideas of

your own

What You’ll Get

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Alternative Business Models at

a 10,000ft Level

What is an Alternative Business Model?

• It’s a loose term

• Deviation from the

standard add-to-cart flow

• Makes you unique

• Helps attract and convert

your visitors

Examples

Why Talk About This?

• Give resources to those building these

sorts of things on Magento • Every model strays from the norm a bit

• Reveals new possibilities to Solution

Providers, Engineers, Shop Operators and

Partners

• Diversity in the way eCommerce is done is

growing and its time to realize the

advantages that Magento offers us

1

2

3

4

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Magento as an Alternative

Model’s Platform

Innate Benefits of Magento

• Wildly customizable

• Growing technical and entrepreneurial community

• MVC

• Modularity

• Abstraction and pathing of features is consistent

• Open source

Refactoring Magento’s Features

• Think outside the box!

• Conceptually:

– Most features are immediately leveragable with a

change of the view (blocks)… categories, reports, etc.

– Example: Magento Products can become…

Products can become…

Hotel Rooms

Image courtesy AheadWorks

Products can become…

Auctions

Image courtesy MageStore

Products can become…

Projects

Image courtesy Patch of Land.com

Categories can become…

Event

Showcases

Image courtesy FMEextensions.com

Refactoring Magento’s Features

• Be careful of short cuts… Remember:

“Magento should be able to perform like a

normal eCommerce site for another website or

store in your installation, even with your

alterations.”

• How do we do this technically?

Disable what you don’t need

Build your modules with configurable scope

Create blocks and layout updates instead of hacking the theme

Block

Template

Avoid the use of configurable functionality that is easy to

forget, misconfigure or become complicated

Database: Separate tables, leave core alone if possible

Table: cron_schedule (core) Table: cron_schedule_params (custom)

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing…

• Do I need a cart and / or checkout process?

• Can I leverage Magento’s features?

• Am I willing to buy and use 3rd party extensions?

• What happens if Techcrunch mentions me?

• Is my model very simple? Would it be assisted

by Magento’s abilities?

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Building your Model in Magento

Planning

Building your own modules

Using / Altering 3rd party modules

Theming

Reporting & analytics

Performance & caching

Briefly…

Planning

• Simple tweaks to your normal planning

• Know what you are not using

• Contingencies and plan Bs

• Avoiding spaghetti code

Using / Altering 3rd Party Modules

• Tips and tricks through examples using available Magento Modules and in-progress projects

• We’ll talk about what is technically behind each of these and how it results in:

– Quicker build time

– Lower development cost

– Better all around support from the community

Rentals and

Reservation-Based

Models

Crowdfunding Models

Image courtesy Patch of Land.com

Group & Flash Sale Sites

Images courtesy developers-inc.com

Marketplaces & Auction Sites

Image courtesy MageExtended.com

Subscription Based Models

Guidelines for Your Own Modules

• Use your own modules to extend 3rd party modules

• Standards, standards, standards

• Extend Magento abstract classes

• Take advantage of Magento’s objects

• Architect before diving in

– Controller & model classes

– Database

– Block classes

– Sequence of events

Theming Challenges & Tips

• Do as much as you can through layout updates

• Build your own blocks

• If a template is working against you, move up a

level and start there…

• Separate CSS for the majorly alternative

sections of your site

Reporting and Accounting Thoughts

• As you build, keep your financials in mind

• Ensure you have a plan to get accounting

information out of Magento

• You may need to create new custom reports

• You may need to custom tailor your analytics

Performance and Caching for Alternative

Models

• Watch the number of modules installed and

sequence of events

• Profile as you engineer

• Ask for performance data on 3rd party modules

• Read up on how to provide cache coverage for

custom parts of Magento

• Keep Magento up to date

The End Result – a Working Example

Subscriptions Managed and Automated through MagentoAheadWorks Subscriptions and Recurring Payments / Custom Development

The End – Items to Remember

• Think outside the box

• Plan and architect before beginning

• Build in a modular way

• Leverage community support

@bfritton

Linkedin.com/in/bfritton

magentocommerce.com/boards/member/26067013/