Despite its robust eCommerce features and great scalability, Magento has some drawbacks like any other platform. If you want to unlock Magento’s full potential, it’s important to be aware of the common Magento issues out there and how to overcome them.
We’ve compiled a list of 10+ popular Magento issues and provide you with tried-and-true solutions.
Here’s a sneak peek of what we’ll walk you through in this blog post:
- A glance at Magento
- Types of common Magento issues and solutions
- Impact of Magento issues on your business
- Our recommendations to avoid issues with your Magento store
Let’s dive in!
Overview of Magento as an eCommerce platform
Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform famous for its flexibility, scalability, and extensive customization options. With various robust sales and marketing tools, Magento empowers large-sized businesses to create unique online stores tailored to their specific needs.
Despite its strengths, Magento is not without its challenges. This means the platform has some issues you must deal with to ensure a seamless and secure shopping experience for your customers.
>> Check out our Magento 2 Review for more detailed information about the platform’s pricing, key features, pros & cons.
Types of Common Magento Issues and How to Fix Them
1. Performance issues
1.1. Slow loading times
Did you know that if your store takes over 3 seconds to load, you will risk losing 40% of your potential customers? Hence, slow loading times can significantly impact your Magento store's user experience and conversion rates. This issue is often exacerbated by Magento's complex architecture and feature-rich nature.
Our suggested solutions:
- Compress your images using tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to reduce your file sizes without losing quality.
- Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML with Magento's built-in minification features or tools like Grunt.
- Leverage a Content Delivery Network (CDN) if your potential shoppers are coming in various countries.
- Utilize Magento's caching features to speed up your page loading
1.2. Database performance challenges
As your product catalog grows, database performance can become a bottleneck. This means that the system might take longer to find and display the information your customers need, slowing down their experience.
Our suggested solutions:
- Regularly remove unnecessary logs, expired sessions, and orphaned data to keep the database running smoothly.
- Ensure your database is organized in a way that makes it easy to quickly find information, similar to how a well-organized library works.
- For large catalogs, consider breaking up your database into smaller, more manageable pieces to improve efficiency.
2. Security issues
2.1. XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability
The XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability is a security problem that allows hackers to access private files on your system. This can lead to data theft and even give hackers control over your system. The issue occurs because your system doesn't properly check incoming data.
For example, if your system processes an XML file that references an external entity, it might inadvertently access sensitive files on your server, like configuration files, without your knowledge.
Our suggested solutions:
- Always use the latest version of Magento to fix known security problems.
- Ensure all data entering your system is safe and doesn't contain hidden threats.
- Tools like web application firewalls can help block suspicious activities
2.2. Vulnerabilities in extensions
Though Magento extensions are lifesavers when you need to extend your store’s functionality, some can pose potential threats to your store's security. These Magento issues often arise from outdated or poorly coded extensions, which hackers can exploit to gain unauthorized access or steal data.
Our suggested solutions:
- Only use extensions from developers who regularly update their products.
- Make sure you update all your extensions to fix any security holes.
- It’s important to review your extensions for weaknesses regularly.
3. Installation and set up issues
3.1. PHP and server configuration
One of the biggest issues that prevent you from installing Magento is incorrect PHP settings and server configurations. These problems can usually happen unless your server meets Magento's specific requirements, like missing PHP extensions or wrong PHP settings.
Our suggested solutions:
- Make sure your server meets all Magento requirements, including the correct PHP version and necessary extensions.
- Adjust PHP settings by editing the php.ini file to activate required configurations.
- Enable Apache's mod_rewrite to support URL rewriting during installation
3.2. File permission and ownership
You might not be able to install Magento due to improper file permissions and ownership settings. This can lead to errors where Magento can't create directories or access certain files.
Our suggested solutions:
- Set appropriate file permissions to ensure Magento can access necessary resources.
- For directories: Set permissions to 770. This means the owner and group can do everything (read, write, and execute), but no one else can access them.
- For files: Set permissions to 660. This allows the owner and group to read and write the files, but others can't access them at all.
- Correct file ownership by assigning the web server user as the owner of the Magento directory.
- Use commands to reset permissions and ownership to recommended settings for a smooth Magento installation
4. Configuration issues
4.1. Email configuration issues
One of the common issues in Magento is the failure to send emails, which can disrupt communication with your customers. This often arises from incorrect SMTP settings, server restrictions, or authentication issues.
Our suggested solutions:
- Ensure that the SMTP host, port, and authentication details are correctly configured in your Magento admin panel under “SMTP” > “SMTP configurations”. (you’ll need to install SMTP extension first).Then, make sure your SMTP settings are set as below:
- Enable Magetop SMTP: Yes.
- Host: Click “Load Settings” to display a list. Select Gmail and load the settings to automatically adjust the Port and Protocol accordingly.
- Authentication: LOGIN.
- Username: Enter your Gmail address
- Password: This is the application password you created
- Consider using services like SendGrid or Mailgun to handle your email delivery, which often provides better deliverability and troubleshooting logs. These mailing platforms are also more user-friendly and more feature-rich than Magento’s built-in email features.
4.2. SSL configuration
Improper SSL configuration can lead to security warnings or inaccessible pages when your customers try to access your store over HTTPS. This is typically due to incorrect SSL certificate installation, mixed content issues, or outdated SSL protocols.
Our suggested solutions:
- In the Magento Admin Panel, update the Base URL and Base URL (Secure) to use HTTPS under Stores > Configuration > General > Web.
- Consider enabling HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to enforce HTTPS connections and enhance security.
5. SEO issues
5.1. Problems with indexing
No matter how much effort you put into optimizing your site for search engines, if your store has indexing problems, its visibility will be significantly affected. This often occurs due to issues like blocking search engines in the robots.txt file or not having an updated sitemap.
Our suggested solutions:
- Ensure your robots.txt file is not blocking search engines from accessing important pages.
- Submit an updated sitemap of your site to Google so they can better index your store
- Connect Google Search Console with your Magento store to identify and fix any of your indexing errors promptly.
5.2. Meta tag issues
One of the Magento problem types that can really mess with your store’s SEO is meta tag issues, which usually stem from missing, duplicate, or poorly optimized meta tags.
Our suggested solutions:
- Review and update meta tags for all key pages to ensure they are unique and descriptive.
- Incorporate relevant keywords into your meta tags to enhance search engine visibility.
- Regularly audit your pages to ensure meta tags are aligned with current SEO best practices.
Impact Of Magento Issues On Business Operations
You might turn a blind eye to some minor, insignificant Magento issues and nothing will happen. However, most of the time, unresolved Magento issues can pose very negative impacts on your business operations.
Below are some damages Magento issues can bring to your business:
- Lower your sales: Technical issues, frequent downtime or security issues can lead to poor user experience, scaring your potential customers away.
- Disrupt operational efficiency: Problems with Magento can even interfere with your backend operations, such as inventory management or order processing.
- Reduce search engine visibility: Magento issues, especially SEO-related ones can negatively impact your search engine rankings
- Increase maintenance costs: Persistent Magento issues may require tons of technical resources and expenses to resolve.
Expert Recommendations For Preventing Issues
As the saying goes prevention is better than cure, so you should try to avoid Magento issues in the first place.
Hence, while running and managing your Magento store, make sure that you:
- Regularly update Magento: Keep your Magento installation updated so you can benefit from security patches, bug fixes, performance improvements, etc.
- Implement two-factor authentication (2FA): Enhance security by requiring a second form of verification for admin and SSH access.
- Limit access by IP address: Restrict access to your admin to particular IP addresses so you can minimize the risk of unauthorized logins
- Use a reliable hosting provider: Choose a Magento hosting service with robust security features and performance.
- Regularly back up your important data: Remember to frequently back up your store's data periodically to prevent data loss in case of issues
- Conduct weekly security scans: We highly advise you to run a weekly scan with Magento's Security Scan to identify and fix any potential vulnerabilities.
- Optimize performance: Enable caching, optimize images, and use a content delivery network (if possible) to maintain your speed performance at an optimal level
- Protect extensions and custom code: Regularly review and update extensions to ensure they are secure and compatible with your Magento version
FAQs
What is the weakness of Magento?
We think one of the biggest weaknesses of Magento is its complexity. Hence, many store owners would encounter several Magento issues while setting up and managing their store with the platform.
Why not use Magento?
Magento is a very solid choice for large enterprises that need a scalable eCommerce solution. On this note, Magento can be very pricey, especially for small businesses or those on a budget.
Why is Magento so complicated?
Magento is considered complex due to its extensive features and flexibility, which require a steep learning curve. It has a large codebase, intricate configurations, and relies heavily on XML files for settings.
Is Magento still good?
Yes, we believe so. Despite some setbacks and Magento issues, Magento is still a go-to choice for businesses looking for a customizable eCommerce platform.
Conclusion
Though it’s feature-rich and highly scalable, you’ll inevitably run into quite a few Magento issues while setting up, running, and managing your online store. For that, we hope this article can help you troubleshoot whatever issue you encounter with Magento and fix it ASAP.
If you find this article helpful, check out LitExtension’s articles on Magento platform, which range from tutorials, tips, tricks and more.
