Magento Go, Going, Gone!

Magento, eBay's Enterprise Division ecommerce platform is to shut it doors on Magento Go and Prostores. The two ecommerce platforms, which are aim at small to medium sized online retailers, will be closed on February 1st 2015, leaving as many as 10,000 clients in the dark. 

Magento consolidates ecommerce platforms

According to several sources, Magento Go and Prostores failed to gain traction against competitors such as Bigcommerce and Shopify which resulted in it's demise. In March 2014, eBay's Magento Division had to cut the ecommerce platform's product and marketing departments in order to "focus more deeply on developing our core Magento products". 

Magento posted notices and information guides on the Go and Prostores websites directing clients to the 'Migration Centre' dashboards, commenting "It was not an easy decision and we understand it may not be welcome news" - too right! Magento's Enterprise and Community editions, which are geared towards larger retailers, will remain with eBay. 

What to do if you're an existing Magento Customer? 

To make the transition easier for those affected by the closure, eBay has recommended a competitor; Bigcommerce. Having agreed a deal, customers who wish to migrate their stores across will be offered a transition package. 

Mark Lavelle, senior vice president of product at strategy at eBay Enterprise commented:

We chose Bigcommerce to help with the transition because of their shared commitment to client success and their proven track record of migrating large groups of merchants onto their platform, throughout this transition period, we will fully support both ProStores and Go, and clients will receive the same level of customer service they’ve come to expect.

For existing customers on the Go and Prostores platform, the transition to Bigcommerce will be free. It is not quite clear whether money has exchanged hands, but it is certain that Magento chose Bigcommerce as its official migration partner due to previous experience in porting Magento customers to its platform.  

Over 6,000 Prostores have already moved to the platform and will sit alongside their existing 50,000 customers. 

For Magento Enterprise and Community customers we have an Ecommerce Connector which integrates with Brightpearl. Helping you to seamlessly integrate your ecommerce store with almost any shopping cart, why not talk to one of our developers and see what we can do for you.