If you’re reading this, you’re aware of the news that Magento will end the support for Magento 1 by June 2020. Some businesses promptly migrate to Magento 2. But the rest of the community is still trying to shape the way.
Are you one of them? So, why should you move to Magento 2 as soon as possible? Read on to find out key reasons for Magento 2 migration.
Reasons for Magento 2 Migration – Magento 1 End of Life – June 2020
And as the end of support gets closer, there will be a backlog of migration requests. Magento 1 end of life is now June 2020.
The main reason to migrate to Magento is that the end of support for Magento 1 platform gets closer. This means that the platform will no longer release updates for plug-ins and modules. Since the migration is a complex and long project, you should start planning the migration as soon as possible to have the migration project fully scoped and quoted in advance.
Here is a full guide of Magento 2 Migration, you should follow this step-by-step manual to get a proper Magento 2 website.
Reasons for Magento 2 Migration – The upsides of Magento 2 migration
Released in 2015, Magento 2 is considered as a significant step-up from Magento 1. It’s important to understand that Magento 2 is a completely new platform, it’s not an upgrade from Magento 1. So the migration project is going to essentially be a re-build.
Magento 2 offers lots of out-of-the-box features and functionalities. This gives retailers the flexibility and agility to deliver exceptional customer experiences. It’s for this reason, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of merchants who switched to Magento 2. Let’s take a look at some of the most benefits which make Magento especially awesome:
1. Faster Load Time
The original version Magento 1, which is a free version, does not support full-page caching and cannot handle a large number of transactions in a short duration. Even number of page views it can handle in an hour is only 200,000. On the other hand, the new version – Magento 2 can handle 10 million page views in an hour.
Moreover, Magento 2 requires Mysql 5.6 which is exclusively created to benefit from the advancements of the Mysql database system to enable faster processing of queries, caching, as well as, reindexing, a process with the help of which Magento ensures that the product data, URLs, and inventory is updated once the attributes, products or other parts of the catalogue are updated.
The re-indexing mechanism is more efficient in Magento 2 and will have a lower impact on the overall performance of the online store. Apart from Mysql 5.6, the new version of Magento also needs an updated version of PHP to enhance the caching process and improve the load times.
2. Improved Admin Interface
While Magento 1 offers a wide range of tools with the help of which website owners can customize their store, a large number of people find the admin interface of the original version confusing. Especially, if you are using it for the first time, you can find it intimidating. Moreover, it is not event built for mobile. With Magento 2, the admin user interface has been significantly improved.
It is user-friendly and highly responsive, making it easier for the user to reach where they want without getting overwhelmed with multiple options. More importantly, even the interface for product pages is much easier as you no longer need to click multiple tabs to create a product which was a major problem with Magento 1. Be it adding videos from YouTube or Vimeo, or images to the product, everything can now be done easily on Magento 2 as you now get default options for the same.
Also, while Magento 1 supports a single admin manipulating the product data at once, there are added safeguards with Magento 2 with the help of which multiple administrators can work on the website simultaneously. This makes it easier for the users to keep their products updated and make the team more efficient. This feature can be highly beneficial for larger stores with several products that receive heavy traffic.
3. Improvements to Customer Experience
Even the customer experience has been significantly improved with Magento 2 to reduce the “pain points” responsible for customers leaving their carts abandoned. With the help of these improvements, shopping is now easier and faster for the customers. Some of the most important improvements include-
- Simplified and smoother checkout process. It is very important for the checkout to be as simple as possible to keep the conversion rates high and get more sales from modern customers who have very low tolerance for any kind of complications when they are shopping.
- Simplified registration process which the customers can complete after they have ordered a product and not before.
- The checkout process now has details of the order at every step of the process to ensure that the customers are at ease.
- Even the PayPal integration has been improved with Magento 2. There is now no need to enter long details like billing address as these things are already handled by PayPal.
- The final order summary also includes photos of the order. This helps in minimizing ordering errors to help reduce returns and improve the confidence of the buyers which leads to better conversion rates.
- The fewer number of confusing forms and choices, like account registration, to make it easier for the shoppers to complete the checkout process faster.
4. Better Mobile Shopping
Almost 50% of the transactions that happen online are now done through mobile devices. Many of the enhancements mentioned above significantly improve the mobile user experience. As browsing is slower and more complicated on mobile devices.
Shoppers heavily rely on the search option. With Magento 2, the search has been considerably improved to make it easier for the shoppers to find the product they are looking for.
With Google already mentioning that they now measure the performance of a website on mobile before checking its performance on the desktop, you’ll also benefit from search results with the help of Magento 2 and its mobile improvements.
5. Improved Technical Architecture and New Features
The technical architecture of Magento 2 is far better than that of Magento 1. The file structure has been simplified for themes, extensions, and several other uses. With Magento 1, you were required to have the code of a theme or extension at many different places in the file structure. With the new release, there is now a single folder with all the codes required for extensions. This makes it very easy for a user to modify or remove any extensions.
Moreover, there are options for additional technologies like Jquery and composer. Also, with the help of an improved architecture, even the upgrade process has been made simpler. For instance, moving from Magento 2.0 to 2.1 is simpler than moving from Magento 1.7 to 1.8. In other words, it’d be easier to upgrade and maintain Magento 2 as compared to Magento 1.
Newer features like color swatches and API admin panel are regularly introduced in Magento 2. The API panels can be easily checked in the admin panel, making Magento 2 integration with API functionality easier than before. Sticking with Magento 1 would mean that you won’t be able to access these core features that can significantly benefit your online store.
6. Better Testing Capabilities
With Magento 1, regressive testing to find bugs on the website was a very difficult task. It is very important for every online store working with a customized and complex system full of modules and extensions to minimize risks as much as possible. This is especially true for stores that receive a lot of traffic.
This makes testing very important and with Magento 2, this has been made simpler too. You can now easily check if any new modules or features would conflict with your existing system. There is now a built-in framework for testing which can be used to run automated tests on any online store irrespective of its size.
Reasons for Magento 2 Migration – Set Up Enhanced Security Features
All eCommerce platforms are attractive targets to hackers due to the sensitive payment information that is required to make a purchase. Having performed Magento 2 migration, you are provided with additional features to secure your online store and prevent fake logins.
Magento 2 security functionalities include:
- Strengthened password management by using Google ReCAPTCHA and Two Factor Authentication.
- Improved prevention of cross-site scripting attacks.
- Made file system ownership and permissions more flexible.
- Improved prevention of clickjacking exploit.
- Allowed using a random Magento Admin URL.
Besides, Magento introduced a free security scan tool that regularly monitors customer websites and provides updates concerning known security risks and malware.
Reasons for Magento 2 Migration – Better Checkout Process
The current checkout in Magento 1 is a six-stage checkout process, while Magento 2 has only two steps, thus making the procedure simpler and faster for end-users. Moreover, the new checkout process is available for unregistered visitors, users that have accounts are automatically identified by their email address.
With Magento upgrade, merchants are able to use the Instant Purchase module that allows placing orders in seconds without passing through the full checkout process. Plus, during the registration of items purchased, they can accept stored previously-used payment credentials and shipping information to skip redundant checkout steps.
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Wonderful Blog.