Magento announced on Tuesday that it has extended its partnership program benefits to web hosting providers
Ecommerce platform provider Magento announced on Tuesday that it has extended its partnership program benefits to web hosting providers.
According to Magento, these updates will ensure a higher level of service for partners and higher performance for merchants. The program helps merchants get their sites up and running quickly.
The Magento Hosting Partner Program has three tiers with varying levels of commitment, including Platinum, Gold (Simple Helix) and Silver (Neoverve), and has many existing hosting partners in its Platinum tier including PEER 1 and Nexcess. In April, Magento named PEER 1 hosting partner of the year.
Prior to this multilevel program, Magento offered affiliate and revenue share programs for web hosts. The new program also offers training, expanded visibility and promotion opportunities across the eBay family of products including PayPal, MarketPlaces and X.commerce.
“This program underscores the important role that our hosting partners play in Magento’s ability to deliver on the exceptional capabilities and performance that customers have come to expect from Magento,” Annette Merriman, business development manager at X.commerce said in a statement. “By jointly addressing the needs of merchants and other partners and contributors to our ecosystem, we can work to drive better experiences for all our merchants.”
Web hosts that join the Magento program have a high familiarity with Magento products since most have numerous sites on the platform, according to the press release. Some hosting providers offer Magento hosting exclusively, while others, like PEER 1, offer it among other products.
Magento says it will provide the best support, performance and experience for its merchants by guiding them to long-time partners focused on successful Magento implementations.
“Essentially, we have gone from Magento being a partner to PEER 1 Hosting to PEER 1 Hosting being a partner to Magento. This is significant because anyone can say that they will host and support Magento without the blessing of Magento. In this case, Magento decided it was better to establish a program of trusted partners that they could manage and rely on for consistent service. Magento (a division of eBay) asked PEER 1 Hosting to join them as a Platinum partner based on the hundreds of installations to date and the close ties in testing and tuning the product offering,” Kevin Strawbridge, ecommerce specialist for PEER 1 Hosting said in an email to the WHIR.
“PEER 1 Hosting was proud to have worked with Magento when PEER 1 Hosting selected Magento as a platform to support. The Partner of the Year award became possible because it was a solid relationship that generated growth and revenue for both sides. Now that Magento has grown to the point it can select best-in-class partners directly, PEER 1 Hosting is proud to be one of the first Platinum partners in their program,” Strawbridge added.
Talk back: Do you specialize in Magento web hosting? Would you join its partner program to further that specialization? Let us know in a comment.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
