Expert explains: today’s e-commerce success is no longer defined by bells and whistles

The choice of platform on which to build an online store affects a company for years. A few years ago, businesses primarily based that decision on how much ready-made functionality a platform offered. Today, however, a different question is becoming increasingly important: how quickly can the platform adapt to changing business needs? This is according to Margus Eha, CEO of Opus, a company that develops e-commerce solutions.

For that reason, choosing a platform should not begin with comparing Magento, WooCommerce, Medusa or any other technology. It should begin with an analysis of the company’s own processes. The more of the required functionality a platform already includes, the faster the solution can be launched, and the less development work is needed. However, if it is clear from the outset that a significant share of the required functionality will need to be rebuilt – or if the company’s business processes change quickly – it is worth assessing whether a more flexible architecture would be the better long-term choice.

This is particularly relevant for B2B online stores. Unlike a standard e-commerce site, B2B commerce is often not just about selling a product. It may also involve managing personalised price lists, customer-specific catalogues, user roles, purchasing limits and real-time data exchange with the company’s other business systems. The more complex the processes become, the more the platform begins to influence the company’s day-to-day operations.

The focus is shifting from ready-made functionality to flexibility

This shift has also changed which platforms companies tend to consider first. For a long time, the best platform was seen as the one offering the widest range of ready-made features. Magento is a strong example of this approach and has for years been one of the best-known B2B e-commerce solutions.

Magento’s strength lies in its extensive out-of-the-box functionality. Company accounts, user roles, purchase approval workflows, customer-specific price lists and many other B2B features are already built into the platform. This allows companies to implement complex workflows quickly, without having to develop them from scratch. As a result, implementation is faster, and the amount of development work is reduced in situations where the company’s processes largely follow standard B2B sales logic. The less the platform needs to be reshaped, the faster the new online store can reach its users.

At the same time, this approach brings greater technical complexity. When a company’s needs begin to differ from the standard solution, customisation becomes more time-consuming, and each subsequent development can affect an increasingly large part of the system. For this reason, many companies are now looking at solutions that allow systems to be developed in smaller steps and adapted as the business evolves.

One such platform is Medusa, which was designed from the outset as an API-based, headless architecture. Rather than offering as many ready-made features as possible, its emphasis is on flexibility. A company can use only the components it actually needs and add new capabilities as the business grows.

In practice, this means that the online store’s user interface, business logic and different services are not tightly coupled. If a company wants to change the checkout process, add a new payment solution or create an entirely new purchasing experience for a customer, it does not need to rebuild the entire system. Changes can be made to specific components, which speeds up development, reduces risk and allows new solutions to be introduced in smaller, more manageable stages.

An online store is part of a larger whole

In the past, an online store could function as a fairly independent solution. Today, however, orders, prices, stock levels and customer data are constantly moving between ERP systems, CRM platforms, logistics partners and other systems. As a result, a platform’s success no longer depends only on what it can do on its own, but also on how well it works with other systems.

Traditional platforms often offer a large number of ready-made integrations in this area. At the same time, companies increasingly expect the system to adapt to their existing workflows – not the other way around. This is where API-based architecture has an advantage: new integrations and business logic can be added without having to rebuild the entire platform.

This is also one of the key differences between Magento and Medusa. Magento’s strength lies in its ready-made integrations and standard solutions, which cover the needs of many companies. With Medusa, some connections need to be built separately, but thanks to its simpler architecture, they are generally easier to tailor to the company’s actual workflows. The more a company’s business logic differs from standard solutions, the more important this flexibility becomes.

This is becoming increasingly important with the adoption of artificial intelligence. Companies are looking to automate customer service, product management, search and other processes. Adding such solutions requires a platform that can communicate easily with other systems. New standards, such as the Model Context Protocol, or MCP, are also built around API-based logic and make it faster to introduce AI solutions.

For this reason, the choice of e-commerce platform should not be based only on what the company needs today. In many cases, most development work happens only after the online store has been launched. That is when it becomes clear whether the platform helps the company keep pace with change – or starts to hold it back.

Magento vs Medusa

Architecture

Magento is based on a traditional monolithic architecture, where the different parts of the online store are closely connected. Medusa, by contrast, was designed from the beginning as an API-first and headless solution, allowing different components to be developed and replaced independently.

B2B functionality

Magento’s advantage is its extensive ready-made functionality. Company accounts, user roles, purchase approval workflows, shared catalogues and advanced pricing rules are already built into the platform. Medusa provides core B2B capabilities, while more complex workflows are built according to the company’s specific needs.

Customisation

Magento supports customisation, but larger changes can make the system more complex and may affect future updates. Medusa’s architecture is designed so that new features and services can be added as smaller, independent developments.

Integrations

Many ready-made integrations with common ERP solutions are available for Magento. Medusa has fewer pre-built integrations, but its API-based structure generally makes it easier to create company-specific integrations.

Performance

Because of its monolithic architecture, Magento is more resource-intensive, and performance optimisation may require more work when larger customisations are involved. Medusa’s lightweight architecture makes it possible to build fast and flexible user interfaces.

Use of artificial intelligence

AI solutions can be added to both platforms. However, Medusa’s API-first architecture and MCP support give it an advantage in situations where a company wants to quickly integrate new AI services or automate business processes.

When to choose which platform?

Magento is well suited to companies that want to implement as much ready-made B2B functionality as possible from the start.

Medusa is a good fit for companies that prioritise flexibility, fast development, close integrations and the ability to evolve their e-commerce solution alongside business growth.