As 2023 unfolded, it was a remarkable year for Sylius, marked by transformative leadership, inspiring community engagement, and innovative strides in the eCommerce world. Under the new stewardship of Mikołaj Król and Damian Murawski, Sylius continued its journey as a pioneering force in open-source eCommerce solutions. They embarked on new ventures and collaborations that further solidified their position in the industry. This year was a testament to Sylius’ resilience and adaptability, showcasing its commitment to delivering cutting-edge technology and fostering a vibrant community of users, developers, and partners. From hosting successful events like SyliusCon and SyliusDays that brought together enthusiasts from across the globe to participate in key industry conferences, Sylius demonstrated its dedication to sharing knowledge and nurturing a collaborative ecosystem. 16 new releases of our core in 2023 were the best testimony to our commitment to long-term product evolvement and maintenance. The introduction of professional services and the ongoing development of Sylius Plus highlighted the team’s focus on meeting the evolving needs of businesses in the dynamic world of eCommerce. Expanding the partner network and establishing a new headquarters in Opole, Poland, were crucial steps in strengthening Sylius’ global presence and operational efficiency.
In mid-2023, Mikołaj Król and Damian Murawski, leaders of BitBag, a long-time partner, took charge of Sylius. Years ago, they started focusing on Sylius, creating one of the first agencies to offer eCommerce solutions using Sylius, even before version 1.0.0 was out. They’ve been a big part of growing the Sylius community. Their work includes over 100 global projects on Sylius and 35 plugins downloaded over a million times. BitBag has been deeply involved in the open-source community, making key extensions, integrations, and products for the Sylius ecosystem.
To find out more about the Sylius acquisition, check the blog post!
In 2023 Sylius organized two major events – the second edition of SyliusCon in Poznań, Poland, and SyliusDays in Paris, France. Besides, we were also present at numerous events, which we listed below.
The 2nd SyliusCon was indeed a milestone. Not only did we manage to live up the the previous year tradition, but we also managed to unite our ecosystem. The event alone was aimed to host eCommerce enthusiasts from around the world, attracting over 150 people with three tracks – two focused on technology and one on business led by 22 speakers. The event’s success was driven by a long preparation and participation of sponsors and expert speakers. Every party involved was eager to contribute to the initiative, which turned out to be a big success. With confidence – we did a pretty great job there, but it would not all be possible without our great network of partners, sponsors, and community members. For that, we wanted to express one more time – thank you 🙏.
All presentations are, or will soon be, available on our YouTube channel if you missed the event or couldn’t be there. To read more about the event, visit this post!
SyliusDays in Paris was a unique event for open-source software enthusiasts from all over Europe we organized together with our amazing partners! People from different places in the world and backgrounds came together for a two-day workshop and hackathon to learn about Symfony, API Platform, and Sylius. The event turned out to offer a valuable proposition for everyone – whether starting from scratch or just filling in the gaps in the current knowledge. It was an opportunity for experience exchange and networking with sponsors, partners, and our core team members.
To see how it went, check out this article!
Members of the Core Team, along with Mikołaj Król, attended SymfonyCon in Brussels, a conference that brought together around 1,500 Symfony enthusiasts. This makes the conference the biggest one dedicated to the Symfony framework, which we rely on heavily. It has been yet another chance to unite with related communities and spend some time with our partners, and people, who genuinely are or are about to be into Sylius. After all, most web projects built on top of Symfony are utilizing some parts of eCommerce, and Sylius being a modular eCommerce framework fits this niche perfectly.
A member of our Core Team represented Sylius at AFUP ForumPHP 2023 in Paris, the largest PHP conference in France. Mateusz Zalewski shared insights on behavior-driven development (BDD) in Sylius, highlighting its benefits and challenges. His presentation received a lot of interest from the audience, so Mateusz decided to share a slide of his presentation here. Many partners of ours were present at the conference too, which was just another chance to say hi, and network a little!
Przemyslaw Połeć represented Sylius at Ecomexpo in Vilnius, a gathering of eCommerce enthusiasts from both the local scene and abroad. Our booth was a hot spot for talks about how Sylius can change the game in eCommerce. The day after, Przemysław went to RIGA COMM in Riga, Latvia, and joined a panel discussion, where they explored Sylius as a great alternative to Magento. It was also a great chance to meet with our Lithuanian partners. Thank you!
We represented Sylius at the fashion industry fair in Lodz. For two days, we chatted with B2B company reps, advising on how Sylius can help grow their businesses. The fair also let us catch up with many friends from the tech world. It was a unique chance to benchmark the market’s requirements with our recently released Sylius B2B module of Sylius Plus. At this event, we were backed by one of our partners too! 😎
Adam Heinsius, our DACH business representative, attended the E-commerce Poland Trade Fair, a key e-commerce conference in Poland. It was a perfect chance to meet industry experts, swap experiences and knowledge, and showcase Sylius in our local Polish market. This was also a great chance for Adam to say hi as a newcomer to our team, and gather a huge amount of knowledge during the day.
Sylius was represented at API Platform Con in France by two Core Team members, Łukasz Chruściel and Loïc Frémont. Łukasz shared his knowledge, especially in API Platform integration, and provided attendees with insights into typical API project challenges and how to overcome them. Loïc shared his insights on version 3 of the API Platform and what it means for the development community. If you’re curious about the content, the slides are public and available here.
This year our partners organized 3 meetups in various parts of Europe, that we took part in. These little events are the ones where true community magic happens, and for sure, we would love to have them more in 2024!
If you are curious to learn about the meetups our community organized in 23′, check out the following:
This year was packed with travel, learning, and sharing knowledge. Our amazing team and community members represented our mission in many places, which is the best testimony to the values we believe in and spread in the world. To everyone involved, one more time – thank you! ❤️
In 23′ we launched something truly special – professional services for Sylius projects. We understand that eCommerce projects are complex and often challenging to achieve success. That’s why together with our partner network we started to offer the following professional menu:
Each contact request gets analyzed by our professional advisors and matched with the right partner from our ecosystem of partners, or even supported by our team members if required. If you want to learn more about this specific offering, visit the official services website!
Sylius Plus is a product based on our community edition, that offers more solutions for more sophisticated requirements. Last year we made it modular, meaning there is a possibility to use individual features standalone, without the necessarily to purchase the whole license. This makes the product experience more scalable and easier to use. On top of that, we added two new modules to our Plus offering – B2B and OnePageCheckout. We announced them months ago, but just as a reminder, below we briefly described what these new modules are all about.
The B2B module is specially designed for businesses that sell to other businesses. It’s packed with features that make B2B transactions smoother and more efficient.
First up, the organization management options. These are great for handling complex structures in B2B operations. You’ll find it easier to manage wholesale orders, too, thanks to quick shopping features. And if you’re worried about finding products fast, the improved search engine has covered you.
Order management in the B2B module is a breeze. It’s equipped with specific tools to create and customize customer orders.
But that’s not all. The B2B module allows you to create customized pricing lists for different customer groups. You can add products and set unique prices for each group, making your pricing strategy more flexible and tailored to your customers’ needs.
The OnePageCheckout module is a straightforward way to boost your online store’s sales. This module lets users finish buying products or services via one page. Everything you need for checking out, like billing and shipping addresses, shipping options, and payment info, is all on one screen. Making the checkout process easier helps you get more sales and fewer abandoned carts. So, if you want a simple solution to make shopping at your store smoother and keep customers happy, the OnePageCheckout module is worth a look!
We’ve added a verification process to the Sylius Store. Now, we list all Sylius plugins that are automatically maintained and then put them through the ‘Verified by Sylius’ process. Getting the Sylius Verified status is a big deal – it’s the top badge we give out after a detailed review and feedback from our Core Team members. Our current store is automatically filled with data from packages or submitted forms from the store itself.
In July 2023, Mikołaj Krół, our new CEO, hosted a webinar on our YouTube channel. He talked about the future of Sylius, gave insights into changes in the ecosystem, and discussed changes in the management team. We are still aligned with this roadmap, so if you are eager to learn about what’s to come, if it has not happened yet, this one is a must-watch!
Last year, our partner ecosystem grew with seven new partners from various countries, and an existing partner upgraded their knowledge of Sylius and their partnership level. The partners who joined the Sylius ecosystem in 2023 are:
Thanks to all our new and existing partners for contributing to the Sylius ecosystem!
As the year drew to a close, we took a significant step to enhance our operations by opening a new HQ in Opole, Poland. This strategic move aimed to optimize our workflows, particularly in sales and marketing. We plan to organize workshops for the Sylius Team, turning our space into a place of continuous learning and development. Moreover, we’re excited to host our partners and organize small meetups nearby!
Last year, we’ve been actively updating our product, releasing 16 new versions. Each release focused on improving features, fixing bugs, and enhancing user experience. We’re committed to continuous improvement, ensuring our product stays up-to-date with the latest needs and trends. For those interested in the specific updates and changes, our full 2023 changelog is detailed on our Sylius GitHub releases, providing insights into our progress with each version.
Buildwith.com says over 7,000 online stores use Sylius, which is pretty impressive. This number is even more significant because it doesn’t completely include headless implementations and internal systems that use Sylius. Our success as a solid open-source solution shows how dedicated our community and partners are and how they see the benefits of Sylius. Being a self-funded company among big players, Sylius’s achievements show its strengths and worth in the competitive eCommerce solutions market.
Last year, several people joined our team. You probably know them well by now, but with these many things happening, we thought it would be a good idea to share one more time who joined us in 2023. Perhaps this would be also a good chance to learn a thing or two about these people you didn’t know by now.
Mikołaj Król joined the Sylius board as the CEO. With his years of experience in the eCommerce tech industry and a deep understanding of Sylius on any level, Mikołaj started his mission as a key decision driver and a person responsible for the company’s strategy. He kickstarted most of the shifts you observed in the past six months and later carried on by our outstanding team. Mikołaj feels best in connecting dots and seeing things outside of the box, being a community-oriented person at the same time. He believes in collaboration over competition, open-source, and leveraging well-designed tech for the benefit of the business.
Damian Murawski joined Sylius as another key decision-maker and a COO. Just like Mikołaj, he has a strong relationship with Sylius since both have been working together for the better part of the past decade, utilizing the software for clients worldwide. Damian is working internally with the team to ensure the defined strategy is finalized. He is a true problem-solver, a people person, and someone with a huge tech background in web development, security, and DevOps. Damian is one of these rare people who knows the tech and understands people very well. He has a soft spot for psychology, problem-solving, and crafting perfect solutions in an imperfect world.
Patryk Baczewski joined the Sylius team to handle marketing. Patryk is working on a challenging day-to-day, making all our marketing strategies happen! He is responsible for managing all of our public communication channels in a way that appreciates the efforts of our partners and community members and highlights the benefits of Sylius. Many things happen day-to-day in our ecosystem; he’s the guy who knows it all! Moreover, Patryk is eager to interact with everyone who wants to impact how we communicate or contribute to that process. You can easily reach him over Slack or LinkedIn if you are that person.
Emil Janiszewski joined us as the new country manager for the French market and is super excited to be part of our team. His focus on growing the business, building solid relationships, and using new strategies will be key in taking Sylius to the next level in the lively French market. If you haven’t met Emil yet or would like to contact him, he’s open to messages on his LinkedIn profile.
Adam Heinsius became our adept Country Manager for the DACH region. With over five years of experience, he is passionate about solving complex challenges in the eCommerce landscape. Adam is dedicated to driving business growth and cultivating valuable client relationships. His strategic approach and commitment to excellence make him a key asset as we navigate the dynamic DACH market. Connect with Adam on LinkedIn for more insights or to get in touch.
Last year we also formed an official Core Team that consists of people, who are not directly working for Sylius but are willing to contribute to the solution, mainly from the tech context. We want to give a big shout-out to our volunteers, the Core Team members, who have been working hard throughout 2023. These team members work behind the scenes, constantly improving and growing the Sylius ecosystem. They’ve shown incredible dedication and passion and deserve a huge round of applause for all their efforts!
Łukasz Chruściel lchrusciel
Francis Hilaire Prometee
Grzegorz Sadowski GSadee
Mateusz Zalewski Zales0123
Olivier ALLAIN oallain
Victor Vasiloi vvasiloi
Loïc Frémont loic425
Stephane DECOCK Roshyo
Jan Góralski NoResponseMate
Jacob Tobiasz jakubtobiasz
Joachim Løvgaard loevgaard
Dmitri Perunov diimpp
Although there are still things we work on that were listed in the webinar linked above, we wanted to give you a quick sneak-peak of where our focus will be in 2023 👀
Meetups are where community building happens. We want our community to be stronger. This is why we are dedicated to doing our best effort to organize many more meetups in various parts of the world. If you happen to be a partner of ours, or a community member, who is willing to help us on that subject, reach out to your partner manager, or simply write us using the contact page.
This year we want to focus on new marketing strategies that will enlighten Sylius’ strengths and give it the popularity it deserves. This means we will be sharing new communication series, focused on our product, ecosystem, partners, and related solutions. Stay tuned, follow our social media if you haven’t already!
Even though it’s still heavily WIP, we couldn’t resist sharing the info. We are working on a solution that will make deploying, running, and managing Sylius in production/staging modes more accessible. We want to have a clear answer to the question “What’s the best way to host and manage Sylius?”. More is about to come soon!
We are working on improving our partner program in a way that will make it much easier to stand out as our commercial partner through achievements earned by involvement. This should elevate the partners who breathe Sylius and dedicate their work to the solution, helping us at the same time. We want to appreciate case-study sharers, blog writers, meetup organizers, plugin creators, Sylius Plus implementors, and simply everyone who makes a difference to our ecosystem.
As Sylius, we have an ambition to release a couple of official plugins, that will give our community an option to use some of the features that are not included in the core by design. Similar to the Invoicing, Refund, or PricingHistory – we want them to be a role model to follow by other plugin creators.
It’s no mystery that we plan to release new iterations of our product, that will make Sylius more accessible for developers, users, and highly performant. We want it to be everything it is now, but better. For that, we planned an evolution that will be released in the following weeks & months by minor and major releases.
What are the main things to be expected? New, better UI, new developer documentation, user guide, closer dependence on Symfony components, a drop of Payum, and an outstanding API coverage with API Platform 3.
2023 was indeed a tough one, but one we will remember for many others to come. Together with our partners and an amazing community, we built a solid foundation for the further growth of our whole ecosystem. We are happy to continue the mission in 24′, and make it revolutionary with everything we planned. We are determined to make everything we did in the past, but more and better, and welcome new initiatives to our strategy.
Fingers crossed for whatever’s next! 
