2 years ago, Magento officially announced that all versions of Magento 1 will reach their end of life on 30th June 2020.
So if you are one of the 80,000 UK businesses (as of 18/06/2020) that still operate an ecommerce store built on magento 1, then you may be wondering what it’s end of life means for your website, and what the process of migrating is.
Impact of end of life
Basically, your website will no longer be supported, and this means it becomes vulnerable. This can be due to a host of reasons from security to outdated extensions which are essential to the performance of your website and therefore your business. Suddenly, updating your company website has gone from an ‘i’ll get round to it’ job in the never ending list to an ‘URGENT, do it now’ job. Still unsure about what this means for you and your business? Read on to where we discuss the big factors for migration, the benefits of moving to Magento 2 and what that process looks like.
Security Implications
No support does what it says on the tin, no jokes or gimmicks. The security on your website now will be it. There will be no new versions, no add ons to protect you against new hacks and malware, no updates to increase security. For a business like you, this comes will a world of problems that are the stuff of nightmares. Customer data becomes more subject to hacking including payment details and personal data. Something as simple as not continuing support can be the difference in your business thriving and not surviving. Knowing this, would you want to run the risk?
Server and Hosting support
It is highly likely that your Magento 1 website will be running on PHP 5.6 which has now also reached the end of life and therefore unsupported. This can cause those nasty security issues and eventually PHP 5.6 will not be available on your server and hosting. This means parts of your website wont then work at all. Upgrading to PHP 7 + is a must and when this happens it will ultimately result in your website no longer running the risk of having an abundance of errors and being unusable.
Third-party integrations
These are the things that make or break your website. The fundamentals so to speak. Now imagine your website payment page not working because the payment gateway is no longer a supported feature. Or your search function being on your page for your customers to see, but it doesn’t actually work anymore simply because the extension is no longer supported. These implications very quickly take your website from being a major income source to a major headache. This is completely unavoidable though, keep on reading to find out about the benefits of upgrading to Magento 2 and how easy the amalgamation actually is.
Extensions being removed from Magento Marketplace
Your Magento website will heavily rely on extensions for many different features such as allowing users to pay via card and PayPal. Magento will be removing all Magento 1 extensions from the marketplace as of the 7th July. This will mean that any of the extensions that your website currently uses will be unsupported and you will not be able to find any new extensions for new features.
This is the beating heart of your Magento 1 website and will be taken away in the coming weeks. Your website can't function without it!
Benefits of M2
Improved performance and scalability
You’re thinking your current Magento 1 website is spot on for your business needs? Does exactly what you need it to and it brings you that all important business? Now imagine a simple migration to Magento 2 and the possibilities this will bring. The Magento 2 platform brings speed to your website that you have never had. And greater speed means greater conversion. Simply migrating to Magento 2 will increase your page speed considerably and this has a positive correlation with conversion rate. Combine this with the increased scalability of Magento 2 could take your website to a complete new level which is currently unobtainable due to the restrictions of Magento 1. Magento 2 comes with a plethora of new extensions and plugins meaning your website can be adapted to do more than ever before.
Enhanced security
We live in a world where selling people’s personal data is rife. New technologies to protect against this are continually developed but hackers are just as fast to bypass these. Magento 2 offers additional security including features such as 2 step authentication and enhanced password security. Using additional security levels built into the background of your website coupled with a dynamic backup plan offers the increased protection to your website making it harder for hackers to access that all important customer data. With no adverse front end changes, your website will be slick but secure. A winning combination for your business and piece of mind for you.
Improved checkout
In an age where the focus is on speed and ease, your website’s checkout process can be the difference between a one time purchase and a repeat customer. Magento 2 has got this covered by reducing their 6 step checkout process to just 2 steps. With a shift in focus to users being guests, it removes the need to log in/create an account before allowing a purchase. Add to this, the integration of convenient payment methods that store shipping information such as PayPal, the check out process has now considerably reduced the number of clicks required to complete the purchase. This transformation to simplicity is the perfect combination with your increased page load speed to reduce the number of checkout abandonments and improve conversion rate propelling your business to the next level.
Advanced reporting
The most successful businesses are this because they know their numbers. They’re close to that minute detail which can be the difference between good and great in terms of performance. Magento 2 offers 20 reports in the admin panel to make this data tracking as effortless as possible. With the click of a button, you will know what your best selling products are, the average basket value and your power hours. Gone are the days when you pull these reports and the data is accurate as of the beginning of the week, these reports are all real time meaning you have the most up to date figures at your fingertips in order to make those crucial business decisions in the most informative way possible. This is an absolute must for any business not just those with ambitious expansion plans or tight KPI’s.
Up to date and growing number of integrations with third-party software
William Cowper once said 'Variety is the spice of life' and this is no different for your website. More and more extensions are being developed for Magento 2, allowing your online store to grow with many different features. Integrations with third party software allows Magento 2 to be the hub of all of your inventory and run alongside your Ebay and Amazon stores. Many more payment methods can also be integrated with Magento 2 including Apple pay, Google pay, Alipay and much more.
These integrations give you the tools to maximise your Ecommerce store and drive sales.
The migration process
Visionsharp has put together a proven migration flow to ensure that the process is painless and effective. Our process ensures that there is no loss of data which is vital to your business. The process, in a non technical way, is as follows:
Step 1: Analyse your current Magento 1 website and produce a detailed development process.
Our team initially analyses your current Magento 1 website to fully understand the features, extensions, payment gateways and much more. This ensures a clear and concise development plan is produced, resulting in an efficient migration.
Step 2: Re-develop the website on Magento 2 front-end theme.
As there is no way to convert the Magento 1 theme to Magento 2 with a click of a button, your Magento front-end theme will need to be redeveloped for Magento 2.
Therefore, we offer our clients different solutions. We can either redevelop the Magento 2 theme to have the exact same styling and design as the current Magento 1 website. Or as the website needs to be completely redeveloped, we do offer a complete redesign. This is a great time to consider redesigning your website due to the redevelopment that is required. The end result is Magento 2 front-end with a fresh, conversion rate focused design to push you in the right direction to drive more sales.
Step 3: Implement all extensions and integrations
As our team has completed the analysis of your Magento 1 website in step 1, we are fully aware of the extensions and integrations that need to be installed on your Magento 2 website. This includes:
- Shipping rules and extensions
- Any features that rely on extensions, such as shipping exporting to DPD
- Payment gateway integrations such as Sagepay and PayPal
Upon installing these integrations and extensions, the Magento 2 website begins to take shape and is ready to move into the testing phase.
Step 4: Testing
With the use of a purpose built testing process, all aspects of your new Magento 2 website are tested internally. This ensures all features, integrations and the front-end of the website works exactly as expected.
Testing rigorously is the make or break of the project, as issues with any Ecommerce website can severely affect conversion rates and customer confidence.
Step 5: Migrate all of your data.
The migration of your data comes after the Magento 2 website has been fully tested. At this point, all data is migrated from your current database into the new Magento 2 database. This includes:
- Customers
- Orders
- Products
- Categories
- Offer / coupon codes (cart rules)
The tried and tested data migration process ensures all critical data is migrated quickly and efficiently, taking away any worries that data will be lost.
Step 6: Launch with Minimal downtime
With all of the above steps complete, the new Magento 2 website is ready to go live. With the thoroughly planned out steps above, the downtime is minimal, ensuring sales aren’t affected and your business can continue to flourish.
Contact us
Get in touch with Visionsharp, your premier Manchester Web Design Agency, to bring your online vision to life. Our team of skilled designers and developers possesses extensive knowledge and expertise in crafting visually stunning and user-friendly websites. Whether you need a new website, a redesign, or custom development solutions, we've got you covered. We take pride in delivering exceptional results that align with your business goals. Located in Manchester City Centre, we are perfectly positioned to serve local businesses and beyond. Contact us today and let us transform your online presence into a captivating digital experience that sets you apart from the competition.
