Interesting Facts about Shopware

Shopware is a well-known shop solution for digital entrepreneurs around the world. We thus thought it would be interesting to present you some factual information about the company and its CMS. In the following article, you will find some insights about Shopware, its history and what makes it a great solution.

The company has existed for more than 10 years

Actually, Shopware has been around since 2005. In terms of digital companies that is half an eternity. Over the years, it developed steadily. Version 3.0 came out in November 2008. Version 4.0 about 4 years later in August 2012. It would take almost another 3 years for version 5.0 to see the light of day. And in May of 2019, version 6.0 launched. Every version brought some vast improvements to the table. It will be interesting to see which direction Shopware will take in the future. It is already a very useful solution and will have more chances to prove that in the years to come.

From Germany, but popular globally

Maybe you weren’t aware of the company’s origins thus far. Shopware is actually a German company. Its headquarters are in Schöppingen; a city with less than 10.000 inhabitants not too far from Münster. The company was started by Stefan and Sebastian Hamann. As you might have noticed, those two men share the same family name, which is no coincidence. The two brothers founded the company and still run it to this day. Shopware has also gotten quite a few investments. To date, the company has raised over 100 Million USD. This amount will likely help the company to increase its international market share over the next years. In addition to German speaking markets, Shopware is already used internationally. 2 particular strong markets for Shopware are France and the United States. In addition, Dutch and Italian entrepreneurs are also quit fond of Shopware. Given its numerous language packs and its ease of use, Shopware is a shop CMS that can help entrepreneurs and merchants around the globe.

Available for free and for money

To this day, there is a free version of Shopware available. It is called the community version. This version is open source and can be downloaded free of charge. Users won’t get any support and have to look after their own hosting options. 

There is also a professional version of Shopware available. It costs either 199 Euros per month or 2495 Euros once if you decide to purchase it. If you choose the professional version, you will also get support and have quite a few options at hand. You don’t need to self-host and can use the cloud. It offers you integrated marketing and SEO-tools, which will help you with making your brand well-known. Lastly, there is also an Enterprise version of Shopware available. This version currently costs 2495 Euro per month or 39995 Euro if you purchase it. This version is suitable for larger companies and offers a few more advantages. You will get your own account manager and developer support from Shopware directly. In addition, there is also a 24/7 emergency support that you can reach. Moreover, you will receive your own on-boarding, better hosting and the option to integrate Guided Shopping. Depending on your needs, it might be worth your consideration.

Would you like some certified help? No problem

Working with a quality partner can take your Shopware efforts to the next level. Shopware also offers certificates for different designers and developers. They start at 399 Euro and can cost up to 999 Euro at this point in time. The more expensive certificates tend to be for advanced classes. Those certificates have the goal to teach students quite a bit about the technology behind Shopware and how templates work. Users will learn about the block system, Twig, SASS and JavaScript, as well as working with Shopware in a development environment. If you choose to pursue template certificates, you will learn about HTML, CSS, working with jQuery, as well as the API among many other things. If you plan on becoming a  Shopware developer or theme designer, the certificates are worth looking into.

Extensions are part of what makes Shopware great

Extensions are a great help when working with Shopware. They allow shops owners and administrators to make their shop even more desirable. In essence, extensions provide many additional options. They can help shop owners to create a label for their parcel. If you need an age verification, customer feedback or language packs, extensions are also a quick and easy solution. There are already a few thousand extensions available which will make running your Shopware store and adding new functionalities much easier. Take a look at the extensions store and get some inspiration. Also, take a look at the reviews other people have left. They might help you to understand the quality of an extension.

What a great app of the week ;)

Shopware themes can make a big difference

The first impression is very important. This applies for people as much as for websites. As the owner of a Shopware store, you should also think about how your shop will look to future customers. If they don’t like what they see, chances are that they might leave your website as fast as they found their way on it. Themes can help you to provide your shop visitors with a pleasant visual experience. The Shopware store has numerous different themes; some are free, others cost a handful or even a few hundred Euros. Take your time and browse the different themes. It’s also a good idea to check reviews and what kind of support the seller/developer might offer when you purchase their theme. The features list shows what kind of features potential buyers can expect from a theme. It’s a good idea to compare not only prices, but also features to find the theme that best suits your needs. Naturally, you can also change a theme later on. However, please be aware that doing so might involve some time. In addition to changing the theme, it is also a good idea to conduct a website audit to ensure that the theme change went smooth and nothing looks strange/everything works the way it is supposed to.

Learn more about Shopware with Shopware TV

Shopware does not only offer numerous options. It also grows and changes over time. Luckily, Shopware also has a format by the name of Shopware TV. With Shopware TV, different aspects of running a Shopware store receive some attention. It’s an interesting concept with different highlights. Some episodes focus on great entrepreneurs and their mindsets. In addition, there are also episodes that talk about different aspects of developing for Shopware. That could be WASM or how to develop apps. It’s great to see that Shopware also supports and helps younger developers. The website also offers some videos from 2021’s Community Day. By watching those videos, you will get a good idea what kind of content awaits you at the event. Overall, Shopware TV has some very insightful and helpful videos. It’s definitely a good idea to take a look at them.

Shopware even has its own superhero

Superheroes are a great invention. They are also a great help. It thus comes as little surprise that Shopware has its own hero. He’s called Shopman! The company’s mascot can be seen at different events. Some might spot him during Shopware’s Community Day where you can take a picture with him. There are also comic strips that feature him. He tends to help people who are in dire need of a good shop solution. His secret weapon: using Shopware! No wonder he succeeds with his mission.

Guided Shopping is the future

Guided shopping helps customers to find the product they are looking for. The solution comes in different shapes and forms. One example can be a catalogue of questions that helps to learn more about the customer and what he/she is looking for exactly. Another option would be chatbots, which tend to be more personalized. The advantage of guided shopping is the ease of use. Normally, when a user enters a website, there tends to be an abundance of choices. This sheer amount of goods can also confuse a lot of website/shop visitors. It might thus be a good idea to offer some help by providing guidance on a website. This help likely leads to less people leaving the website and thus potentially more buyers.

Shopware’s rule builder is very helpful

Sometimes, rules do make life easier. This also applies for your digital dealings. The rule builder allows you to establish some processes that make running your Shopware store a lot easier. You can set up certain criteria. If those criteria are met, a rule is applied. This can apply to just one criteria or numerous criteria. You can also choose, if one rule is more important than another, thus enacted with higher priority. A rule can also apply to specific currencies or on a certain day. In addition, you can also choose to show certain content only to website visitors who are signed into your store. You can also label a client as a VIP-client. This might be important for different reasons. If this person spends a lot of money at your store, it might be helpful to treat said customer especially well. For instance by thanking him/her personally for her purchase or adding a handwritten thank you letter to the order. You could also pay for the shipping, since the customer spends a lot of money at your store. There are certainly a number of things you can do to let a good customer know that their business is appreciated.

Shopware bets on headless commerce and rightfully so

Headless commerce is an important development. It makes the frontend and backend more independent from one another. Thus, Shopware turns into an even more flexible solution than it already has been. It makes testing and implementing new features faster and less risky; based on an API-first approach. Shop owners benefit from this development and can now focus on what really matters: Making the customer happy!

Find out more.

Shopware PWA for the win

PWA abbreviates Progressive Web Apps. It’s a framework that’s part of what makes Shopware a great solution. PWAbasically is a fusion of an app and a website. It connects with Vue.js and offers shop owner numerous exciting possibilities to take their store to the next level. PWA helps with a number of tasks, such as improving page loading speed by working with edge caching. It also allows for push notifications and can often be found in combination with headless commerce. Overall, it’s a good idea to further look into Shopware PWA and to familiarise yourself with the numerous options it offers.

Shopware is an open platform

What does it mean for Shopware to be an open platform? The answer is pretty easy; it means that Shopware is based on open source code, which can be looked at by everyone who would like to do so. This makes it easy to understand how Shopware was programmed and allows developers to do a more custom job. If everyone can look at the code, it is much easier to understand how to write extensions for it or change something according to a merchant’s desire. Thus, programmers from around the world can check the same source code and decide how to program a new feature.

Shopware talks about new developments in its roadmap

Shopware is not only an open source solution. The company is also pretty transparent about the changes it implements. It talks about features that are currently in development, those that have already been released and features that are scheduled for implementation. This is very helpful for developers and merchants alike, because they have an overview about the direction that Shopware is taking in the foreseeable future. It’s also interesting to note, that some changes will only be implemented for a specific edition. Some features might just be available in the professional edition and others might only be available in the enterprise edition.

We hope you gained a better understand of Shopware and what makes it a great solution. We will highlight more of its capabilities in future articles. If you have questions regarding Shopware, feel free to reach out to us.