Magento announced the release of Magento 2.3.0 during Imagine 2018 conference in Las Vegas. With new functionalities, numerous bug fixes, and back-end efficiencies, it’s beta version was released on September 21, 2018. The new exciting additions in Magento 2.3.0 are believed to help online store owners to deliver innovative and engaging experiences to their customers.
In this blog, we have highlighted some outstanding features of Magento 2.3.0 that tend to transform the eCommerce experience of the store owners as well as online buyers.
Magento 2 Multi-Source Inventory (MSI)
The MSI functionality of Magento 2.3 empowers store owners to manage their inventory directly from the Admin panel of the website despite different locations. Precisely, this feature helps merchants in the following ways:
- Managers can manage all inventory sources without installing any third-party platforms or extensions.
- Stock management is easy in multiple locations.
- Inventory can be reserved for high-performing checkouts. This reservation system improves checkout performance and eliminates re-indexing issues during peak order times.
- In order to accelerate integration with an external ERP system, MSI provides better import/export process.
Enhanced Security
All the efforts of Magento are geared toward building and enhancing customers’ trust. In order to minimize the probabilities of attacks by bots and prevent password hacking, Magento has added Google ReCaptcha and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
The Two-Factor Authentication lets the Admin add an extra layer of security that requires some other piece of information other than a username and password to login to the account. The 2FA authentication requires the user to verify via phone call, SMS, etc.
Google ReCaptcha prevents excessive invasions of bots, thereby protecting your website from abuse and spam. This feature provides security to certain web pages such as Login, Register, Contact Form, Forgot Password, and Admin Login. This module is available for earlier versions of Magento via the GitHub portal.
Magento 2 PWA (Progressive Web App) Studio
Though smartphones and tablets have increased the number of online buyers, conversion rates from these devices are less than laptops or desktops. In an effort to improve the shopping experience on mobile and boost sales, Magento has introduced its own PWA (Progressive Web App) Studio in Magento 2.3. PWA is a website having features of a native application but can be accessed without downloading or installing it.
Developers can create online stores as progressive web pages using PWA Studio. PWA Studio comes with various amazing features like offline support, home screen shortcut, faster user interface support, fast page load, push notification, etc.Page Builder
The previous versions of Magento require extensive coding to build dynamic CMS pages. The Page Builder functionality in Magento 2.3 makes it easy for merchants to prepare and review the content and render it across multiple third-party platforms leveraging the intuitive interface, drag-and-drop editing tools, and APIs. Page Builder can be used for blocks and dynamic blocks, product, content, and catalog pages. Page Builder will be available 6-8 weeks after the launch of Magento 2.3. Howbeit, its features will be available as a paid extension or in Magento Commerce 2.3.
GraphQL Support
The previous Magento version leverages SOAP and REST. Magento has introduced GraphQL API language in Magento 2.3. GraphQL will empower the merchants to define the exact data and join various data in a single request. GraphQL enables the Magento PWA to work efficiently even if the mobile network connection is slow. Magento will write a new layer to provide a direct interface to the Query API, in order to support GraphQL.
Streamlined Magento 2 Payments
This feature will be available in the first quarter of 2019. Merchants will be able to streamline the risk management process and payments by integrating Signifyd, PayPal, and Braintree. This feature will also enable store owners to synchronize order and payment details on Magento backend, make payment balance transparent, and prepare a report on transaction details.
Declarative DB Schema
Declarative DB Schema is a new approach introduced by Magento 2.3 that changes database structure in XML files. The XML Schema files will be converted into SQL statements. Moreover, database changes implemented on a functionality or module can be rolled back to a previous version. This feature simplifies the installation and upgradation of the Magento.
PHP 7.2 Support
Magento 2.3 supports the latest version of PHP, i.e., PHP 7.2, for enhanced security and performance. PHP 7.2 lacks mcrypt, that’s why; the libsodium module will be used for encryption purposes.
Cache Management ACL
Magento 2.3 will extend and enhance the Access Control List (ACL) of the cache system to empower merchants to control and define the cache-related actions; thus providing fine-grained administration access control. Merchants can manage and define which user roles can delete and view the Magento caches.
WYSIWYG Upgrade
Magento 2.3 has an upgraded version of TinyMCE, the WYSIWYG editor. TinyMCE has been upgraded from version 3 to 4. Widgets, media gallery, and variables can be defined on per shop instance or globally and are implemented as plugins.
ElasticSearch Updates
Previously, ElasticSearch was available for Magento Commerce only, but now it has also been made available for Magento Open Source. With this upgrade, merchants will be able to integrate powerful search engine capabilities to their online stores. Magento 2.3 will support Elasticsearch v5. However, in the future, Elasticsearch may become a default search engine.
Asynchronous API
In order to enable users to make a quick request without waiting for the server’s response, Magento 2.3 will be released with a new feature – Asynchronous API. This feature will provide a huge benefit big online stores that receive a large number of API requests on a daily basis.
Magento 2.3 is expected to bring new opportunities for administrators, merchants, and developers as well as improve the customer experience. If you want more information about Magento 2.3 or want to migrate to Magento 2.3, consult an experienced Magento eCommerce development agency.
