June 2020 - Magento 1 End of Life
For most of the stores built with Magento 1, it is a very common decision to plan Magento 2 migration.
But what are the migration consequences? Why is it worth migrating to Magento 2?
What are the benefits of Magento 2? How does the Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration process looks like?
Below you'll find some of the most common questions concerning the M1 to M2 migration.
WHY SHOULD I MIGRATE TO MAGENTO 2?
SAFETY PATCHES AND UPDATES
In 2020 Magento 2 will remain the only eCommerce platform supported by Adobe. If you want to provide a high level of security to your clients, you must be aware that using Magento 1 will result in a lack of updates and patches. This might lead to uncontrolled data breaches and unauthorized access to confidential data.
SIMPLIFIED BUYING EXPERIENCE
A speed of checkout process has a big influence on the conversion rate and therefore on the sales volume of your store. Using Magento 1, the customer has to struggle with a buying process made of up to 6 steps. On the other hand, Magento 2 provides you with a simple 2 steps buying process.
FRIENDLY ADMIN PANEL
The first thing that every website admin notes when logging into a Magento 2 website is the refreshed admin panel. Thanks to the new design and user interface, the workflow is much more effective and, even more important, the new panel offers additional features and functionalities. Now the admin has access to a dashboard which displays the revenue, last order, average order value and much more important information.
WHAT RISK DO YOU TAKE BY STAYING WITH MAGENTO 1?
HIGHER VULNERABILITY TO POTENTIAL ATTACKS AND NO SUPPORT
Once Magento 1 is unsupported, each vulnerability will have to be fixed by yourself. This makes the maintenance even more expensive than it used to be, just to keep your eCommerce platform usable.
DEVELOPMENT COSTS
The number and availability of Magento 1 developers will be gradually decreasing. In that case, hour rates might increase. After all, there will be a very little number of specialists who will work with this legacy technology, and they will charge accordingly.
CODE DEBT
No support, attack vulnerability and further forced investment will lead to a so-called “code debt”, which will be more and more expensive to pay for. Magento 1 development, at overpriced hour rates, will be cost-ineffective at some point. That’s why it’s further consequences might be really crucial from a business point of view.
FROM INQUIRY TO VALUATION
A Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration is basically more than just simple transfer of data from one store to another. We listed some points below, which represent how the preparation process might look like.
- 1. Store audit - list of present functionalities and features
- 2. Shortlisting functionalities in cooperation with the customer.
- 3. Arranging implementation of additional functionalities responsible for UX improvements, conversion rate increase etc.
- 4. Database Analysis (products, customers, customers groups, orders, subscribers, categories). Choosing an appropriate database migration method. (Magento tools / custom scripts / manual migration - small databases)
- 5. Choosing necessary 3rd party integrations (ERP, WMS), as well as its connection method with Magento platform. (one-way integration /two-way integration, requests frequency id.)
- 6. Discussing the differences between custom made and template design. Pros and cons of these two approaches such as cost, delivery time etc.
- 7. Choosing the right version of Magento 2 Open Source or Magento 2 Commerce - based on the analysis, requirements and chosen functionalities
- 8. Discussing with a customer if the pre-implementation analysis is required. (Analysis is recommended for complex projects with a variety of custom modules and implementation)
- 9. Budget and timeline estimation.
- 10. Signing the agreement and kick-off