Overview
Adobe Commerce (built on Magento's open-source core, which Adobe acquired in 2018) uses an EAV -- Entity-Attribute-Value -- data model for products, which is what makes wildly different product types (a t-shirt with size/color, a digital download, a configurable bundle) coexist in one flexible catalog without a rigid fixed-column schema. The real tradeoff is that EAV's flexibility comes at a performance cost from all the joins it requires, which is why catalog indexing and caching matter more here than on simpler platforms.
Key Benefits
Adobe Commerce (versus the free Magento Open Source edition) adds B2B features -- company accounts, shared catalogs, negotiated quotes, requisition lists -- plus Page Builder, a drag-and-drop tool for building merchandising content and landing pages directly in the admin without a developer.
Implementation Considerations
- Understand that Adobe Commerce (licensed, with B2B features and support) and Magento Open Source (free, community-supported) are genuinely different products, not just different names for the same thing.
- Plan your catalog attribute structure carefully upfront, since EAV makes changing core product attributes later a bigger operation than in a simpler fixed-schema system.
- Use Page Builder for merchandising content that marketing needs to update without developer involvement.