Magento 1 platform is coming to an end in just the next 18 days and then after no support will be provided for the same. All the website owners who have their website built and currently operating in Magento 1 must get their attention on this as they quickly need to upgrade their website from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

If you already know this and have started your preparation for upgrading from Magento 1 to 2 then we must say you have taken a great decision at the appropriate time. If not then you must start planning immediately to upgrade it.

What is going to end?

The support for all the versions of Magento 1 Commerce and Magento 1 Open Source will come to an end in June 2020.

This announcement was made in the month of September 2018. A long time was given to all the merchants to upgrade their platform so that they can plan the upgradation perfectly, gather the investments required for the transition and smoothly transit their platform without disturbing the online sales.

Magento 1 Commerce versions ranging from v1.9 to v1.14 were supported until now but their support will end in June. From the date when they announced the End of life date in 2018 until now v1.13 and v1.14 were fully supported.

Security updates and quality fixes were regularly released for the v1.13 and v1.14 to date but it will end very soon. The support for Magento 1 v1.9 to v1.12 was Minor and only the security updates were released for them, quality fixes were no longer supported for them.

Similarly, for the Magento 1 Community Edition, support will end in June. Already, quality fixes are not released for the v1.5 to v1.9 and only the security updates are released but that will also end in this month.

How can you check your current Magento version?

If you are not sure of your current Magento version and want to check it then you can do so by opening your Admin panel and checking the version in the footer.

What risks will you be having when you don’t upgrade?

If you don’t upgrade your store, it will still keep running on Magento 1 but as there will be no more security updates, your store will be at high risk. Your store will no longer be PCI compliant and that means your customer’s data and card details won’t be secured anymore.

Your payment provider or your payment gateway will no longer find it safe to work with a risky store. Also, the third-party extensions that you have installed for your store will get no updates as everyone will be focusing on Magento 2 only. So, if you need to update the extension or fix some bug in it then you need to pay hefty amounts to developers.

More than that, if your customers come to know that they are shopping on a risky store then they will exit straight away and this will heavily affect your sales and your reputation will go down.

These are all the risks that one can face if they don’t upgrade the platform. You don’t have to worry about this if you upgrade the platform. After upgrading your website, it will be safe for your customers to shop around and your reputation and sales will keep growing.

Now, let’s have a look at some benefits that Magento 2 provides and see how better it is from the previous version.

How Magento 2 is better than Magento 1?

Magento 2 is a lot better and provides many advantages when compared to Magento 1. It solves the problems and complaints that people faced with Magento 1. There are three platforms of Magento 2.

1. Magento 2 Open Source: Free to Download and Use
2. Magento 2 EE: The Enterprise edition with on-premise, self-hosting option
3. Magento 2 ECE: Features are similar to EE but its hosting is done on the cloud through AWS (Amazon Web Services)

One can choose any platform from the above three as per the business requirements.

Following are the benefits that Magento 2 has over Magento 1:

1. It has better page load speed so your users will find it very convenient to shop on your website as the pages will load up very quickly. Bounce rates on your website will drastically reduce and checkout will be faster increasing your sales to new heights.
2. It is more mobile-friendly. The usage of surfing websites on a mobile device has increased a lot in the last 2 years so it will really help you boost your sales if your website is mobile-optimized.
3. A 2-page checkout process makes the task easy for customers and reduces the website’s cart abandonment rate.
4. Magento 2 is much more secure compared to Magento 1.
5. The problem of conflicts with third-party extensions won’t be there in Magento 2.
6. The Admin panel is easy to navigate as compared to the complex navigation in M1.

What next steps do you need to take now?

You need to quickly act upon and get your Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration done. It is not simple data migration and is a lengthy process as the website will be rebuilt in Magento 2. Time to rebuild the website will depend on the size and complexity of your website.

What are Experts thoughts on this?

1. Stephen Curry | CEO of CocoSign

You should migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 because it is faster, SEO-friendly, and mobile-friendly to ensure a better experience for mobile users. Magento 2 also allows pages to load 50% faster and handles more significant volumes of daily orders and SKUs.

E-commerce platforms require Magento 2 migration because it provides a more intuitive admin, reduces checkout steps to combat cart abandonment, and deploys each customer in their isolated server environment.

2. Jonathan Tian | Co-Founder of Mobitrix.com

Having been released in 2015, Magento 2 is still better than Magento 1 as it has user-friendly improved versions. These are the reason to migrate to the former:

• The latter version is more prone to privacy issues, and it will continue to possess the same rather as the former. Privacy and security are some primary criteria to consider before choosing any platform.
• New features are available only in Magento 2 and not the previous version. So, upgrading your Magento store is more flexible and do-able while using Magento 2 rather than Magento 1.
• Provide a comparison between Magento 1 and Magento 2.

To look further, let’s discuss the differences between the two:

• Magento 2 is more user-friendly, SEO friendly, and faster than the former version. It enables the latest PHP and quicker results.
• Magento 2 contains meta tags functions for the betterment of SEO that were missing in the former edition.
• Minimized JavaScript prevents unwanted browser operation from the client’s side.
• Processing has been made much faster, and it finishes 39% of orders more.

Do e-commerce platform require Magento 2 migration?

It doesn’t essentially require you to migrate to Magento 2 on compulsions. But, if you wish for better performance and scalability, then migrating to the latest is advised. These are the main reasons for the e-commerce business owners to migrate to Magento 2.

3. Therese Schachner | Cybersecurity Consultant at VPN Brains

Magento 1 offers flexible options for building an e-commerce store; however, e-commerce store owners have found Magento 1 to be lacking in performance and features. As a result, Magento 2 was created to optimize the site management experience, offer a better user experience, and provide heightened security.

Compared to Magento 1, Magento 2 makes managing an e-commerce store easier by allowing admins to conduct site management operations, such as creating products, more quickly and efficiently, from a computer or a mobile device. Magento 2 also allows for the easy creation of automated email marketing campaigns through various channels.

Magento 2 is more user-friendly and offers an improved online shopping experience compared to Magento 1. Magento 2 streamlines the checkout process, which includes allowing customers to place orders without registering. It also has an improved backend due to its ability to load web pages more quickly, particularly when customer loads are higher. Due to Magento 2’s more mobile-friendly customer interface, e-commerce sites using Magento 2 offer customers the ability to more easily shop while on the go.

Magento 2’s enhanced security features provide enhanced protection against cyberattacks. With Magento 2, confidential user data such as passwords are strongly encrypted, and the user authentication process is more reliable due to the incorporation of techniques such as cookie validation. Magento 2 also protects against the execution of cybercriminals’ malicious scripts through methods such as XSS and CSRF attacks.

With Magento 2, site admins can more easily manage their e-commerce stores, customers can more easily purchase the products they need, and both e-commerce site managers and customers can rest reassured that they are better protected against cyberattacks.

So, start quickly so you can get your website rebuilt as soon as possible and you can serve your customers once again on your new platform.

We are here to help you out and will get your Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration done smoothly and efficiently. Contact us today and we will be more than happy to discuss your needs!

Dipak Patil

June 16, 2020