What are the significant advantages and disadvantages of using Magento as web development and E-Commerce platform?
Magento is a very pretty good ecommerce builder, I believe, it is definitely for non-starters. The customization process will take a lot of heavy technical work. So, if your technical knowledge is close to zero, choose another easy-to-use website builder, maybe one of these – http://www.beautifullife.info/web-design/10-best-ecommerce-builders/ Hope this helps
The most significant advantage to Magento is it can be extended without modifying core code. Allowing you to upgrade relatively easily for feature additions and bug/security fixes (make sure you back everything up first!). I’ve seen many ecommerce sites that cannot be upgraded without losing significant functionality that makes them unique. There are thousands of extensions for Magento that meet most needs, many of which are open source (we released three extensions for Magento as open source). The biggest disadvantage is complexity. Changing one thing may take longer then anticipated. Another disadvantage is speed. Unless you’re hosting with a company that understands how to optimize for Magento, you will probably have a very slow site. I suggest using Nexcess for hosting, they do a great job on making sure sites are responsive at a reasonable price. We use Magento almost exclusively for any ecommerce projects we do. Once you’re over the curve, it’s much easier to deal with.
