The power of Magento can also be a curse, particularly if you're like many of us: eager to jump in and begin building an online store. However – and this comes from the experience of investing lots of hours – taking a moment to understand the scope of your undertaking will make navigating the intricacies of Magento a much more rewarding experience.

In this chapter, we outlined the key areas to consider when planning our Magento installation. We also learned about the powerful Global-Website-Store methodology for managing multiple web stores in a single installation. In addition, we looked at the possibilities of introducing multiple languages, businesses, and domains for effective market segmentation.

As we go forward in this book, we'll learn how each decision we make in installing, configuring, and managing Magento traces back to what we covered in this chapter. In the next chapter, we will be taking your plans from this chapter and applying them to a new Magento installation.