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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
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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/