Is Magento 2 mobile friendly?

Operating an online shop these days requires more focus on mobile users. Why? There are simply so many people that prefer using their smartphones or tablets to place online orders than ever before. This is also the reason that Google introduced its mobile-first index to do a better job at sorting out mobile websites.

Optimizing a shop to be mobile-friendly is not as hard as you may think. The Magento 2 ecommerce platform is one of the best suited for the task. It offers more tools for mobile optimization while still providing you with everything you need to create a desktop oriented website should you need one.

This article will go over the improvements made over Magento 1 and highlight the features that make Magento 2 mobile-friendly even though it is not a mobile specific platform. This way you will have a better understanding of what is important to have on your shop in order to keep your recurring customers and attract new ones as well.

Mobile suitable API

The new internal API in Magento 2 is better for both creating mobile apps and managing them. As a developer, you can reveal core modules individually to see their functions. You can even expose them as REST or SOAP, as WebAPI is supported by Magento 2.

Along the lines with improved design and responsiveness for the UI, there is also some improvement with generating files. For instance, the WSDL files in Magento 2 are given only for essential services. The days of parsing lots of WSDL files with countless methods for no reason are long gone.

Magento 2 is not only mobile friendly in regards to having a well optimized mobile API but it is also better equipped to aid java developers of different skill levels. Creating a mobile app with the new API is easier said and easier done.

Improved design

Having a successful online shop demands a great UI. Often this doesn’t happen on mobile websites because of how many features and content end up being dropped in favor of a smoother experience. While you may want users to get around faster on a small screen device it’s not a good idea to compromise on browsing customization and product information.

Magento 2 is more of a mobile-first oriented platform. It still focuses on displaying just the essential features but it helps you do a better job at figuring out what they are. This way, smartphone users won’t feel misinformed or have trouble finding the products they want.

With Magento 2 you can also have a more consistent UI between your initial website and your mobile version of it. The differences between the physical and software capabilities of a device are easier to asses in Magento 2. Because of this, your mobile site is easier to adapt for multiple user devices.

Now, there’s another issue that needs to be addressed. In the past a lot of mobile sites still had responsiveness problems even though they were stripped down iterations of the parent website. Magento 2 has a lot more responsive themes available with many more in development.

Caching also sees a big improvement in Magento 2. The advanced caching that was only available previously for Enterprise Edition users is now available for all Magento 2 users. This has a dramatic impact on the user experience. No longer will your shop be at the mercy of the user’s connectivity.

The implementation of Magento 2 responsive themes is also a bit easier if you’re at all familiar with the platform. At least from a customization perspective, Magento 2 is very mobile friendly. With more and more users steering towards the use of tablets and smartphones, Magento 2 is certainly the future of ecommerce when compared to Magento 1.

Universal analytics optimization

Another reason why Magento 2 is mobile friendly is the interaction it offers with Google Universal Analytics. It allows the use of a new tracking code to improve data collection and monitoring. This works for both online and offline devices.

Google Universal Analytics lets you customize your parameters for tracking in Magento 2. It’s as simple as signing up for the tool and then configuring it in your Magento admin panel. Currently, this is one of the easiest ways to track user behavior on mobile devices. This is essential if you want to really improve your website with every new update.

Payment gateways and services

You can’t have an online store without at least a few payment methods available. One of the most popular online payment gateways is still PayPal. Magento 2 has full support for the PayPal Payment standard which means your customers can get a convenient alternative to credit cards on the checkout page.

There’s an even more interesting feature for shops outside the US. It’s called the ‘PayPal Website Payments standard’ and it introduces the swipe option on mobile devices. This means customers can swipe a credit card. Currently only Visa, Discover, American Express, and MasterCard are accepted.

The responsiveness of the checkout procedure is also vastly improved compared to Magento 1. Precious seconds have been shaved off the time it takes to make a purchase. This should help not only with generating more return customers but also in acquiring new ones.

There is also a feature that can generate price offers based on the customer’s browsing history. Depending on how much information is given, facts such as age, location, gender, and more can be taken into account when creating offers and promotions with Magento 2.

Conclusion

Magento 2 is not a mobile only ecommerce platform. However, it does have plenty of new features that improve the development of mobile apps. The themes start out optimized for smaller screens. Mobile-specific features are easier to implement than on previous Magento iterations.

The new internal API and the focus on website responsiveness help deliver a better overall UI for both mobile users and desktop users. With all of this taken into account, Magento 2 is certainly mobile-friendly and should help you attract more customers as well as get more relevant feedback to make further improvements.