Shopware Community: Strength is not in numbers

In today’s world, more and more companies are using e-commerce platforms to create and conduct business online. It’s an easy and fast way to take your product to the next level and attract as many people as possible. One of these platforms is Shopware. It is one of the top platforms in Europe, which will help you quickly realize your ideas. Shopware has one big advantage – the community. Shopware Community is a single system that is always ready to welcome new players. With the help of the community, you can always make your work with the platform easier, make new friends, and keep up with the news. The Shopware Community is not numerous but it is powerful and always ready to help. You can find about 40,000 developers in it. In this article, we’ll help you to understand, learn useful resources, the main people, and become a member of the community.  

About Shopware

Shopware is an e-commerce future-oriented platform with open source that has all the required instruments for creating an online shop. The platform was created 17 years ago and is still popular among German online store owners. Shopware’s countless features help people make their ideas come to life. An integrated storefront and an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor are included with the core cloud solution. More advanced features, like product customization, developer support, an extensive B2B suite, sales channels, and CMS functions are kept off the table for the professional and enterprise editions. You can learn about features and how to use them on this website. In addition, it is worth noting that most Magento users are switching to Shopware. 

Shopware is the new Magento 

Magento has been a leader in e-commerce for years, but that may change soon. Shopware is not a new company, it supports some world-renowned companies like Phillips, Haribo, and M&M’s. It’s the leading company in German-speaking countries, but over the past few years, Shopware has become recognizable throughout Europe. According to statistics, 1,384 webshop owners preferred Shopware as a good alternative to more expensive and complex Magento. Why is this the case and for whom Shopware is more suitablе? 

Speaking of the community of these two companies, this is an important aspect for anyone who needs to find useful information or ask users for help. 

It all depends on what you need. Both of these companies are modern and powerful e-commerce platforms. 

Shopware is a cheaper alternative that is especially suitable for small and medium-sized companies that do not need the huge amount of features of Magento. Shopware is easier to set up, and has a more intuitive interface and some unique features. But if you own a large company, Magento is a better choice for you. This platform is more difficult to set up, but it has more customization abilities. With a lot of features comes a need for more time to develop and customize your product.  

Shopware community

The Shopware community is small but very strong and ready to offer a lot of interesting ideas. There are 40,000 developers in the community. This is not bad because they are mostly from Germany. It consists of hardworking people who are always ready to help. Shopware offers an English localization of the website. There you can find documentation and webinars and other useful stuff. And they do offer user-friendly platforms like their own forum and Wiki. Every year the community of Shopware is getting bigger and stronger. We will highlight the main resources of the community in the following post. 

Twitter resources

Nowadays, social media is a very powerful tool in every community. Different sources can serve as news feeds, promotional aids, and simply a place where the community communicates and discusses plans. Among other social networks, Twitter stands out because you can see everything, almost in real-time. Twitter has an official Shopware and key members and developers accounts. With this social network, it’s easy to stay up to date with all the news and innovations of Shopware. We have collected the main Twitter accounts and tags to make it easier for you to follow the news on this platform.  

Shopware – The main Shopware platform account on which you can follow the news, official announcements, and holidays at the company.

Shopware Developers – An account of platform developers on which you can see what they are working on and technical news of the company.

Shopware United – Inclusive group for Developers, Merchants, and Shopware enthusiasts with the aim of helping us all to get the most out of Shopware.

Stefan Hamann – Founder & CEO of shopware. This man knows a lot about digital-commerce platforms. He has 1.8k tweets and 2.2k followers. On his page, you can see some news and insides about the Shopware platform. 

Ben Marks – Director of Global Market Development at Shopware and also a former eBay/Adobe/Magento worker. Ben has a huge amount of tweets and followers – 51.2k and 11.1k appropriately.

Marco Steinhäuser – Community Manager at Shopware. Despite the small number of tweets and followers – 4.3k and 2.7k, you can get interesting information about the platform from his page.

Rico Neitzel – Software Development, working not only in Shopware but also in Magento. Has 21.5k tweets and a lot of useful information on his page about the Shopware working process.

Dan Carlyon – Magento & Shopware Developer & Support Manager. Also, a twitch content creator, posting a good amount of Shopware development stuff. Has 10.2k tweets and 627 followers. 

Justin Biddle – Full-time Shopware evangelist. Systems integration & consultancy services to UK e-retailers. He has a small number of tweets and followers – 510 and 570 appropriately but you can find a lot of information about e-commerce business. 

Official Resources 

In addition to Twitter, there are official Shopware resources through which you can enter the community of the platform. There are two options – Slack and Forum.   

Slack is a corporate messenger that brings ease and freedom of communication to the work of companies. It makes it much easier to communicate in English and hold meetings and events online. With a very user-friendly interface, it provides a convenient and comfortable online experience and helps to expand the community of the platform.

Shopware Forum is a classic means of communication within a particular community. A large number of companies and diverse communities use the forum as the main platform for discussion and help. Shopware Forum is no exception. This is a great space where you can find everything you need to work with Shopware. Ask a question or give an answer. 

Official resources are a place where you can always count on professionals to help you with Shopware.

Shopware United 

Shopware United is a unique part of the community that was formed to help Shopware move from being a leading German platform to being a leading global platform. 

It consists of community members such as developers, agency executives, consultants, and enthusiasts. They help organize the Shopware ecosystem and attract new people to the community. 

Their main goals are: 

• To give the Shopware community an “English First” focus point for communication, especially across borders
• Creating and improving communication channels that will be useful to the community
• To encourage maximum involvement of the community in the product and the wider ecosystem.

To sum it up, Shopware united is a platform of proactive community members who aim to help and support the community.

Shopware Community Day

SCD is a great live gathering of the platform community. It is held every year, and each year it becomes larger and more ambitious. It is usually carried out in Germany. The event features speakers, collaborative community conversations, interviews, and general entertainment. In 2022, the event will be completely hybrid for the first time. It will be possible to buy an online ticket and attend all the important events of the day. The next SCD will be held on May 25, 2022, in Ahaus, Germany. 

It’s a great event that gives you the opportunity to develop a community.