At the end of 2015, Magento released their new platform Magento 2, leaving many merchants facing the decision whether to move from Magento 1 to the new platform. Some merchants immediately replatformed to Magento 2 or another option like BigCommerce or Shopify Plus. However, fast forward a few years and many merchants are still trying to decide what to do.
With an End of Life deadline of June 2020 now quickly approaching, this article will help merchants understand the benefits of migrating to Magento 2 and why you should consider the move off of Magento 1 sooner than later!
The Risks of Staying on Magento Community and Enterprise
There are several reasons why you might be delaying your replatforming decision from Magento Community or Enterprise. Overall, Magento can be a costly platform to operate on and you might want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth out of it. However, merchants should stop and consider new End of Life dates that are quickly approaching and will affect your site’s performance. The risks of staying on Magento 1 include the following:
Security Breaches
In June 2020, Magento will stop publishing Community and Enterprise 1.x security patches, leaving your site vulnerable to cyber attacks and hacks. Even before that, PHP 5.6 goes End of Life in December 31st, 2018 meaning there won’t be any security updates for your server software that could be hosting your Magento website. Either way, your putting your site and customers at serious security and performance risk by staying on Magento 1.
Module Updates
Since Magento 1.x won’t be supported anymore, many of its modules will also become outdated with limited support as developers focus their time and effort on Magento 2 extensions. These moduesl are often critical to your site’s functionality and could stop working properly, without a plan for fixes or updates in the future.
Number of Magento 1 and 2 Developers
There are 107 certified solution partners in the USA listed on Magento’s site and roughly 92,000 live Magento sites in the USA. The longer you wait to upgrade beyond Magento 1, the less of a chance you may have to find a partner to support your migration within your timeline – or at all.
Also, there will be less Magento 1 certified developers willing to participate in Magento 1 projects going forward. Many agencies will focus their resources, efforts, and training toward Magento 2.
Timeline
With the End of Life deadlines approaching, it’s important to consider migrating now. It can take anywhere from 3 – 7 months for a full, successful migration. When do you want to replatform by?
Take into consideration the complexity of your website and size of your product catalog. If you have a substantial amount of custom-built functionality or thousands of SKUS, your migration will take longer.
Why Replatform to Magento 2
What’s holding you back from migrating to Magento 2? In almost all cases, Magento 2 performs better than Magento 1. When your site performs better, your customers have a better experience which can lead to increase in conversion rates and ultimately, sales.
Here are some key new features of Magento 2 that can directly impact your customer experience:
- Pages load 50% faster
- Handle larger volumes of SKUs and daily orders
- Create better mobile designs
- Easier to create and manage site content
- Improved search and SEO features
- Reduce steps to checkout to combat card abandonment
On the backend, Magento 2 can also be easier for your team to operate because of key features like:
- More intuitive admin
- Marketplace is vetted by Magento’s extension quality team
- Each customer is deployed in their own isolated server environment
- PCI certified as a Level 1 Solution Provider
- Out-of-the-box tools to easily develop and deploy your store to Magento’s cloud infrastructure
It’s also important to note Magento 2’s capabilities to handle B2B eCommerce needs. With more than 93% of business buyers preferring to purchase online, it’s more important than ever to have your online presence meet expectations.
- Assign custom catalogs and price lists to customers
- Target content and promotions to specific customer segments
- Use automated business rules to optimize your fulfillment costs and delivery times
- Mobile-optimized experiences
- Purchasing options such as by entering SKUs, uploading CSV files or choosing items from pre-set requisition lists
Planning to Migrate to Magento 2: Magento Migration Guide
Now that you understand the risks of staying on Magento 1, what does it take to migrate to Magento 2? First, it’s important to understand that Magento 2 is a completely new platform from Magento 1. Moving between the two platforms will take a full migration of your product catalog, customers, orders, and theme/design.
For successful migrations, it’s critical to plan what your ideal time to launch is. As mentioned above, a typical migration can take anywhere from 3 to 7 months depending on your store’s complexity and volume of data. As you plan for your launch date, think about seasonality and when your peak selling times are so you don’t disrupt your business too much.
Other important questions to ask are:
- What site updates should I make during the migration?
- What’s being migrated?
- What should I ask my developer before migrating?
- How will my third-party integration function on Magento 2?
To answer these questions, we recommend checking out this comprehensive Magento 2 migration guide by 121eCommerce. This guide is a great tool in understanding the process for migrating to Magento 2 and how to ensure your project’s success.
If you need help planning your move to Magento 2, nChannel has a network have expert agencies that we can help align you with. Contact us to learn more!
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