MagentoLive Australia is over. It was a great event with some amazing sessions and speakers. We weren't able to attend, but we tried to follow it as much as possible to get a taste of it.

The event offered some amazing insights about Magento 2.0, eCommerce, store management and other aspects of running an online business. Seeing Magento 2.0 grow stronger and stronger is great. We already have the first globally launched Magento 2.0 store - Venroy. This is absolutely great.

If you didn't make it to the event, just like us - don't worry. We gathered some interesting highlights from this 2-day event.

#1 eCommerce Platform

There were some big numbers thrown around during the conference. But the most impressive statistics came from Magento itself. Check out its current position in the world of eCommerce. Very impressive. That's why Magento is #1.

These numbers once again prove that Magento is one of the most flexible eCommerce platforms out there, very versatile and useful for big and medium brands that want to scale and have the same functionality available to them at all levels. Small companies are also building interest towards Magento, probably because other platforms just can't match the knowledge base, resources and support, available for Magento. A lot of this is made possible by Magento community enthusiasts. 

As an example - Dick Smith Electronics presented their growth figures after switching to Magento. Impressive, if you ask us.

Magento 2.0 Brands

There are companies that already utilize Magento 2.0 to their advantage. Some big names on in the list include: 

Once again, this proves that big brands are excited about Magento 2.0 and the opportunities that it offers. Of course, Magento, as a company, did a lot to facilitate these transitions and we can applaud them for their ongoing dedicated to online businesses.

Magento Connect Magento Marketplace

The official Magento Marketplace will be called just that. Its features will include:

 Curated sets of extensions, hand-picked by the team at Magento. The goal here is to have only the best products available to the merchants.  

 Complete integration with the best 3rd party solutions: ERM, CRM, OMS, marketing and payment eCommerce products.  

 Enhanced verification procedures to stop any malware or poorly coded extensions from entering the marketplace. This will also include automatic code verification and plagiarism checks. 

 Educational content for merchants about eCommerce, business practices, successful case studies and much more. 

With some of these innovations, it's clear that Magento is making a push towards becoming an all-around tool for eCommerce merchants that can help them build a more successful business. And this is happening soon - the Marketplace will go live in Q1 2016. 

Our Partners at MLAU15

We're proud to see our partners taking part in this great event. DCKAP - is a very successful Magento solutions provider with a very experienced and professional staff. Their founder and CEO - Karthik Chidambaram, along with their Client Services VP - Bart Jensen, shared an awesome collection of informative and practical tips about Magento. We think that the most important were the insights about Magento 2.0  and it's functionality:

 Magento 2.0 frontend is very convenient from a developer's perspective: it has a logical structure, makes it easy to develop different store views and has a set of other useful traits.

 Magento 2.0 has a number of great advantages: built-in Varnish, improved checkout, database separation, great support for integration with other tools and more. 

Keep in mind that all of this comes from people that are actively working with Magento 2.0, which says a lot about the evolution of Magento and it's successful transformation. For example, powerful features like video management and data grid customization - come out of the box with Magento 2.0.

Magento Is as Strong as Its Community

One of the important themes that was brought up during the conference was the community of Magento enthusiasts and professionals, who dedicated their time and efforts to making Magento and at this point - Magento 2.0, the best eCommerce platform out there. Paul Boisvert talked a lot about this in his presentation.

Magento 2.0 and Its Future

Paul jointly with Alan Kent shared some insights on the milestones that they're working towards with Magento 2.0. A lot of their attention will be focused on testing, stability, integration and personalization. Expanding the available selection of Magento products and their scope is one of the important topics to take note of. Appeal of Magento 2.0 grows every day.

The theme of these sessions could be described with this short video: the team is proud of their work and the final product is massive achievement on their part:)

ECommerce Sessions

Of course, Magento 2.0 was the center of attention during this event. But there were some great sessions, which focused on eCommerce and marketing. Here's a couple of facts to take away from these sessions: 

 mCommerce is crucial for a modern online store that is trying to beat the competition and attract more customers. There are curently over 7 billion mobile devices, practically 1 device per 1 person alive on this planet. 

 Think globally, if you want to build a successful online business. Don't just focus on your local market. 

 Moving to Asian markets may seem difficult, but the untapped source of revenue is worth it. For example, Chinese eCommerce market is potentially even bigger than the North American. 

What do you think about MagentoLive Australia 2015? Do you have a favorite session or a speaker? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.