Object Source are very excited about the latest release of Magento Community Edition v1.7. We have been waiting for a good reason to tell people to upgrade and here it is! Thank you Magento. So, why are we so excited.

There are a number of great new features all centred around brand loyalty, increasing conversion rates and getting real customer engagement. The highlights are mobile optimised storefront, EU Cookie Restriction and customer group pricing. Read on for more details…

Mobile HTML5

Quickly and easily create a storefront optimized for mobile devices so customers can shop even when they’re on the go. This mobile interface uses HTML5 technology and supports iPhone, Android and Mobile Opera browsers. It includes out-the-box features such as:

• Device-specific media capabilities for audio and video
• User-friendly search and results display
• Clean display of product detail pages
• Pinch, multi-touch and scaling images
• Easy swipe between product images
• Zoom capabilities
• Cross-sell and up-sell capabilities
• Drag-and-drop of products to the shopping cart

Auto-generation of Coupon Codes

Generate a set of unique coupon codes for each promotion you run and export the list of codes for offline distribution, email, newsletters and more. Easily manage and monitor coupon usage and generate detailed reports.

Layered Navigation Pricing Enhancement

We’ve introduced a new set of algorithms for price-layered navigation that provides much greater flexibility. Now you can display a range of prices that is based on having a similar number of products within each range, giving you better control of your customers’ search results, and helping your customers find what they’re looking for faster.

Customer Group Pricing

One price doesn’t always fit all. This tool allows you to create different price points for different customer groups, such as a wholesalers and retailers. You can determine both base price and tiered price levels.

REST APIs Support

The new Magento REST API uses three-legged OAuth 1.0a protocol to allow applications to safely access Magento services. What this means for you? You can manage customers, customer addresses, sales orders, inventories and products using HTTP verbs (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE). Data requests and responses can be in XML or JSON format.
This initial version of the REST API supports the following functions:

• Create/Retrieve/Update/Delete a simple product
• Retrieve a list of orders and specific order information
• Update/Retrieve catalog inventory
• Create/Retrieve/Update/Delete complete customer information

European Union VAT-ID Validation

This feature facilitates the tax collection process for online businesses in the EU and greatly simplifies international B2B transactions by automatically applying the correct tax rules. Taxes can be calculated and charged according to VAT customer groups, based on customer shipping or billing addresses and VAT IDs.

EU Cookie Restriction
Our response to the recent EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive? A new cookie notification feature that simplifies the compliance process. Once enabled, a message at the top of the storefront informs site visitors about the cookie policy and prompts them to accept or decline.

Backup and Rollback

Manage and schedule a variety of backup operations with the option to rollback the changes to reverse any modifications. This feature is particularly useful when testing new modules or customizations, or when upgrading to a new version of Magento. You can review specific customizations and their impact on the new code. (We do not recommend using this feature in your production environment.)

Three types of backup are supported:

• System Backup
• Database Backup
• Database and Media Backup

CAPTCHA

Now you can enable CAPTCHA functionality on your site to help prevent automated software from attempting fake logins. This auto-generated test ensures that the login is being attempted by a person and can be enabled in both the admin and customer login areas.