This was the second Magento Live event hosted in Australia. There were over 450 attendees and more than half of them were retailers. This has been the highest turn-out for a Magento event in Australia. Magento has a 45% market-share in the Australian region. If you are a retailer in the Australia / New Zealand region, magento would certainly be a platform you should consider for your Ecommerce needs.
The event kicked off with a Customer Driven Innovation session, neatly organized by Keith Howard, User Experience Design Manager @ Magento. He made sure that the session was interactive, and emphasized that solution providers should seek surprises, not validation when we interview users during discovery. It was great to interact with other retailers on what they thought about magento, what impact it had on their business and the other platforms they considered before choosing Magento.
First program at magentolive Australia – Customer Driven Innovations. #MLAU14 pic.twitter.com/P88YmNh6Jf
— Keren Adam Aminia (@MagentoKeren) November 12, 2014
Mark Keishner, Vice President, CMO, eBay Enterprise walked us through eBay and PAYPAL operating as separate entities and Magento being the core offering of eBay Enterprise. eBay’s financial backing and focus is a great news for magento and its community. Mark asked some very interesting questions while interviewing Gary Wheelhouse, Chief Digital Officer, Harvey Norman. The focus was on omnichannel and how magento assists in operating the Harvey Norman website.
Ben Pressley, Head of Worldwide Sales @ Magento during his talk reiterated the commitment to Open Source and Magento has a robust ecosystem where everyone benefits. (evident from the largest retailers using the magento platform)
commitment to open source and Most robust ecosystem. Thank you @magento @brpressley #MLAU14 pic.twitter.com/Ka0xse9NUJ
— DCKAP (@DCKAP) November 14, 2014
World’s most innovative retailers use @magento thanks for the data/client list @brpressley brpressley #MLAU14 pic.twitter.com/ZUeFAuPBF7
— DCKAP (@DCKAP) November 14, 2014
Paul Boisvert, Director of Product Management, Magento, officially announced Enterprise Edition Version 1. 14.1. Visual Merchandiser, Drag and Drop merchandising tool was a great add on. This tool was originally created as a plug-in for Magento Enterprise and Community editions by fellow partner ON TAP. The magento community loved the Visual Merchandiser tool and Magento decided to integrate the tool to the Enterprise editions and Magento 2. Thanks for embracing the partner work! Appreciate it.
Announcing magento enterprise edition 1.14.1 available today #MLAU14 new features. Thank you @magento pic.twitter.com/l25CFhWzbT
— DCKAP (@DCKAP) November 14, 2014
Dan Garner from @ontapgroup talking about the Visual Merchandiser in Magento 1.14 at #MLAU14 pic.twitter.com/Hj6SPZ885T
— Ben (@benmarks) November 14, 2014
A highly vertical specific talk was given by Craig Peasley, Director of Product Marketing. It is always great to listen to Craig and vertical specific focus on Fashion was a highlight in his talk. Craig also mentioned about magento being prevalent in the b2b industries. These were just 2 examples and there is an array of verticals using magento.
The channels partners session was convened by Art Boyd, Director of Channel Management. I was listening to Art speak for the first time, his commitment to partners and speed of work is a great add on to the partners community. Magento is also looking to hire new channel managers to manage channels in the different regions of the world. Simon Underwood, Country Manager, (Australia and New Zealand) was also introduced at the event. For any new retailers in the ANZ region, considering magento, Simon would be the contact.
The evening party on Thursday evening was a delight with drinks and food. The best thing was we got to play Poker and Black-Jack with virtual currency (Courtesy Magento) and you could use the virtual $$$ to win raffle prizes.
Opening festivities casino night was a great success. Lots of fun and lots of shop talk! #MLAU14 pic.twitter.com/lehlh7ndA3
— Magento (@magento) November 13, 2014
There were a host of customer success stories in Australia presented at the conference. The list of big Australian brands using magento is growing every day and there is great opportunity in this market.
Magento 2 code is being pushed to GITHUB every week, developers can get a preview of what is coming and wait for Magento 2 beta in December.
Congratulations Magento Team for the great show. Thank you and see you next year.
It’s over. #MLAU14 Great show and Congratulations @magento team and @ebaymagento @MagentoKeren see you next year. pic.twitter.com/YefSZi7ZBi
— DCKAP (@DCKAP) November 14, 2014
