Magento, the E-commerce giant who stood tall for many years among its competitors as among the most complete E-commerce solutions has now been acquired by Adobe.
A good part of the Magento community is not really certain how to respond to or predict the future consequences of this acquisition.
To start with, let us clean up the air by mentioning that what transpired May 22nd was just an announcement of the acquisition which would slowly be put into place over the span of the following 6 months. Therefore, for the time being, we can only do an analysis to figure out exactly what this acquisition can mean to your own Magento community in the time to come.
Why Did Adobe Take On Magento?
The 1.68 billion investment to buy Magento was completed. So now, Adobe can compete efficiently with its competitors like Salesforce and SAP. While both Salesforce and SAP already are far ahead than Adobe -- with acquirement of Demandware and Hybris respectively, Adobe will surely receive a major boost by acquiring the community-driven open source Magento.
For individuals much aware of Adobe's offerings, Adobe has been providing"digital experiences" over three cloud platforms:
- Adobe Experience Cloud
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Adobe Document Cloud
Together with the addition of Magento, Adobe might have only discovered the missing piece to complete their Expertise Cloud which currently offers analytics, advertising, and advertising tools. Adding Magento to this list of solutions can give its competitors a run for their money.
Exactly What Adobe's acquisition Means For Magento?
For starters, Magento continues to be acquired multiple times before too. It's earlier acquisitions includes:
- 2014 -- Acquisition by eBay for $180M
- 2015 -- Acquisition by Permira
- 2017 -- Hillhouse became the single biggest shareholder by investing $250M
This time about far more money is pumped in and Adobe is one of the most significant software development company that has obtained Magento yet. Furthermore, Adobe's target audience has ever been Enterprise grade clients, whereas Magento creates their fair share of prospects from Small to moderate size companies. To not forget, the available source Magento CE is one of the most used E-commerce platforms.
This certainly raises some concerns as soon as it concerns the potential of Magento together with Adobe. Let us discuss some of those questions from inquisitive heads:
Will Magento CE Still Be Relevant?
This is probably among the most debated issues since the purchase, and appropriately so. With a large portion of the community Assessing the available source Magento community edition, nullifying the neighborhood model may be a really scary thought.
On top of that, Adobe's track record using open source applications and tastes towards enterprise customers could only make the sacrifices come true.
Our Analysis:
We still believe the Open Source version will not be nullified. Magento spent heavily in developing their Magento community -- most credits to Magento CE along with the development community which has built themes and extensions to match virtually every possible need. Not just that, Magento has partnered with different service providers like Page Builder, BlueFoot, Amazon Pay, but because the previous 12 to 9 weeks.
Moves such as these might only be a sign that Magento was simply preparing for your Adobe acquisition and their cloud.
To strengthen our beliefs further, Matt Asay, Head of Developer Ecosystem for @Adobe explained in his website and a twitter post that --"The purpose is: open source open development, is in our DNA."
Will Adobe Alter Magento's name?
With Magento going into the cloud beneath the "Adobe Experience" banner, you will find questions regarding if Magento will still be "Magento", or is going to have a title change --"Adobe Commerce" will have a nice ring to it.
Our Analysis:
A title change is definitely on the cards. Magento has experience of operating under changing management since their beginning. On the other hand, Adobe was famous to market their products and services. Including branding and marketing them. Don't be shocked when Adobe re-brands"Magento" in order to ensure it is an essential part of its cloud solutions.
Can Magento Enterprise Still be applicable?
Amid all the questions concerning the near future of the Magento community, there are worries regarding Magento Enterprise too. Magento supports some huge names such as Coca-Cola, Accent Group, JCB and others using their Enterprise version.
Our Analysis:
It seems hopeless that Adobe will restructure the Magento Enterprise version features entirely. On the contrary, we feel that advancements and support in characteristics for both Magento Enterprise along with Magento network will grow faster. Adobe will look to incorporate their current cloud services with Magento (maybe as bundle established add-ons) since Magento goes to the cloud.
Will there be a change of faces in Magento management?
During Magento's past imports, there haven't been any significant reshuffle in handling for Magento. It may be among many reasons for why Magento's achievement.
Our Analysis:
Over time, Magento's ever-growing neighborhood has established a certain faith in the group that has been conducting Magento so much and re-building the management is not even a question. In his website about Adobe getting Magento, Brad Rencher, Executive Vice President, and General Manager, Digital Experience, Adobe, stated,"Magento CEO, Mark Lavelle, will continue to lead the Magento team as part of Adobe's Digital Experience company, reporting to me."
Conclusion
It is correct that Adobe has not always preferred open source development. However, with the Magento acquisition, there certainly seems to be a reversal in vogue. While some view this acquisition as the conclusion of an era for Magento CE, while some look at it as an enormous vote of confidence in Magento by a gigantic software company/ecosystem that is Adobe.
Change is inevitable in this industry and huge acquisitions such as these always produce a few surprises down the line, but it is up to us for embracing the change and remaining the community that we have been over the past years.