12 Compelling Reasons to Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 in 2023

Reasons to Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2

Any reputable software will continue to evolve in fulfilling the changing needs of business owners and consumers. Magento 1 helped eCommerce businesses flourish back in the day, but its features and tech support became obsolete with time. Magento 2 is the brand new version released by Magento to tackle the requirements of contemporary eCommerce stores. Magento 2 overcomes the major drawbacks of Magento 1 and gives its users an unforgettable experience. Read below to discover 12 compelling reasons why you should migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

1. Enhanced Safety

Magento 1 remains exposed to cyber-attacks and is significantly vulnerable to hackers, bots, bugs, etc. This is because the platform has stopped the production of security patches since June 2020. It means that your eCommerce store data is no longer safe. Sensitive information about your clients like their credit card details, personal home address, email password, and other data can be leaked and sold by hackers for profits. 

Customers will refrain from purchasing anything from your store because it is risky to do business with you. Thus, along with a dip in sales, your brand reputation will also take a hit. Magento 2 has strong data encryption, and by upgrading, your site becomes secure from cybercrime, making your business reliable and trustworthy to consumers. 

2. Seamless Updates

One of the primary drawbacks of Magento 1 is that it is highly complicated to install updates of Magento extensions. Many businesses expend a lot of time and energy during this process. Moreover, your eCommerce store must be frequently updated to ensure the smooth functioning of the site. Magento 2 comes equipped with LESS, HTML5, and CSS3, making upgrading significantly easier. It has helped several merchants oversee their business and reap the benefits of the latest features.

3. Database Segmentation

Magento 1 had a single database for admins, customers, and developers. It was an inefficient design as it failed to cater to their unique individual needs and led to database overload. However, Magento 2 has divided the database into three broad categories: product data, orders, and checkout. It eliminates the codependency needs between the three categories. For example, the admin panel overload will not hinder the consumer's experience. Each segment works independently to avoid negatively impacting each other.

4. Mobile-friendly

In 2021, eCommerce had a significant share in the market, and the statistics predicted eCommerce to advance in the future due to technological improvements and varying consumer buying behavior. The busy lifestyle of today's customers prevents them from frequently going out and purchasing from offline stores. The convenience that online stores provide them is impeccable. For these reasons, store owners should ensure their website has a mobile-friendly UI design to attract more buyers and simplify store administration. Magento 2 has a responsive mobile design that fits any phone screen and tailors an engaging shopping experience for the patrons.

5. Modernized Tech Stack

Magento 2 offers you updated versions of technology stacks. It enables more effortless deployment flexibility and customization. Magento 1 has outdated technology, and with the rapid conversion rate, there is little or no help available for this version. Naturally, no one would want to invest in an obsolete technology that would be  financially draining and time-consuming. Magento 2 has also updated the minimum versions of the tech stack; for instance, PHP 5.5 is the least supported. This is one of the primary reasons for migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

6. Payment Gateway

Payment Gateways are a crucial part of any eCommerce website development. Without the integration of safe payment gateways, shoppers won't be able to buy from your store, which will result in zero profits. Moreover, the downside of the technology boom  is the increase of cybercrime. Businesses should protect their customers from online fraud and unsafe transactions. Magento 2 offers integration of secure payment gateways like Braintree and PayPal. The release of Magento 2.3.3 also provides enhancements to these central payment gateways. 

7. Admin Interface

It is strenuous handling routine  business operations irrespective of the company size. It is vital to keep track of the daily sales, consumer website engagement, inventory data, profits, and more. It would be easier for the store owners if all of the above tasks were accessible from a single panel. Magento 2 has a remarkable admin interface design that lets you customize features according to your preferences.

This personalized admin panel makes it convenient for you to run your company by giving access to essential business information at your fingertips.  Furthermore, creating new products with the latest Magento 2 admin interface is hassle-free owing to four times faster product import features.  

8. Improved Scalability and Performance

Google considers several characteristics as ranking factors for mobile searches.  Advanced scalability and performance are examples of two such factors. The new and improved Magento 2 offers its users better performance through its state-of-the-art features.

For example, PHP 7 support, built-in tools for picture compression, utilization of web application accelerators  like varnish caching, minimized and bundled Javascript that reduces irrelevant background browser operations on the client's computer, etc. Additionally, Magento 2 can also process a comparatively massive number of orders than Magento 1. It means more customers can enjoy the benefits of your products!

9. Advanced Testing Abilities

Running an eCommerce store is a full-time job. Developers have to go back and forth writing codes and correcting them for customization and updating features, designs, etc. As humans, we make mistakes, and the code may not come out perfect on the first try.  With Magento 2, developers can run trial programs to evaluate the efficiency of the code and accordingly make changes to it. It prevents any negative impacts on the core functionality of the website. Below mentioned are some tests included in the Magento 2 testing framework.

• Unit Tests
• Static Tests
• Performance Tests
• Integration Tests
• JavaScript Unit Tests
• Legacy and Migration Tests

Developers save a lot of time and effort thanks to Magento 2's advanced testing abilities.

10. Modernized Checkout

According to Optinmoster, 26% of buyers leave the website if the checkout process is complicated. Losing a significant number of shoppers solely due to the checkout process is an avoidable loss. By migrating to Magento 2, you can eliminate this disadvantage.

Unlike Magento 1, which has a 6 step checkout process, Magento 2 has a simple two-step checkout process.  Furthermore, Magento 2 offers 38% faster checkout to consumers than  Magento 1. Buyers can create an account or opt for guest checkout to complete the transaction.

11. Caching

Slow-loading websites are the leading cause of decreased consumer visits, bad SEO ranking, low sales, consumer likability, etc. One of the reasons people choose to buy online is because it is convenient and faster for them. They don't have time to shop at the mall or wait for the website to load. Not only does the sluggish loading time frustrate them, but it also sets a negative precedent for your brand.

Caching occurs when frequently used pages are stored to diminish the loading time. Magento 2 has in-built page caching to boost the loading time. The platform has also made changes to improve browser caching for static content.

12. Customization

Magento 2 codebase is wholly restructured to enable everything relevant to a module filed under a single module's directory.  The separation of presentation and business logic makes for easy customization and maintenance. So why are you waiting? Customize your store to fit your store's and customers' needs and increase your profits! 

Consequences of Not Migrating to Magento 2

Launched in 2007, Magento 1 has helped countless people establish their businesses.  However, Magento 1 was only the stepping stone to success. As technology improved with time, a better and improved version of Magento 1 was released - Magento 2. This version incorporates all the features that Magento 1 lacked and is a much more sophisticated platform for modern eCommerce businesses. 

So far, we have discussed the reasons to migrate from Magento1 to Magento 2, but what happens if you don't make this switch? Well, read on to know what ensues if you opt to continue with Magento 1 version.

1. Extinction of Support

Magento 1 support ended by June 2020, but you must know that by now. In his statement, Joe Ayyoub, the Director of Support Operations, said that Magento 2 offers superior cloud-hosted performance. They are committed to supporting merchants worldwide, so the time to migrate to Magento 2 is now. Magento has stopped releasing security patches for the earlier version from June 2020, and the third-party security patches are extremely unreliable.

2. Breach in Security

Since Magento 1 will not be updated by the company anymore, the old version will not be able to keep up with modern technology. The base code will get weaker as time passes and will make the software vulnerable to bots, hackers, and spam. It will be a daunting task to constantly protect your store from external attacks and maintain the smooth functioning of the store.

Please note that you are jeopardizing the security of your eCommerce store and the consumer's personal information. Any mishaps or leaks of customers' or store's data will ruin the brand reputation and integrity of the store. 

3. Limited Restrictions

The number of businesses migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 increases day by day. At  this rate, no developer would want to invest time, money, and effort into making extensions for an outdated version. Finding required extensions from reliable and trusted sellers will be an excruciatingly difficult task. Consequently, your stores will have restricted features and lag in performance if you choose to stay with Magento 1.

4. Staying Behind the Competition

The trick to staying ahead of the curve is to remain equipped  with the latest technology and have updated knowledge of the recent innovations. Your competitors won't hesitate to migrate to Magento 2 and take advantage of the countless features it has to offer. It helps them raise the standards of consumer experience and store performance.

Ultimately, it expands their customer base as more and more consumers will choose their business over your brand. You will lag in the competition and market share because no buyer wants to shop from a brand that does not meet their needs.

5. No Professional Help

Talented professionals and organizations will invest most of their resources and capital into providing support and services for Magento 2. It is where the eCommerce industry and money lie. Finding a skilled expert developer to aid you with your online store will become tough. Naturally, you will be on your own to solve any future technical issues, which is an unfeasible task for you. 

These disadvantages highlight how crucial it is to switch to Magento 2.  Whether you like it or not, there is no other alternative than making these transitions. Time is of paramount importance in this case. All businesses around you have completed this change. When will you?

How to Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2

Magento migration is not an easy, do-it-yourself activity. You will require some experts with ample experience and skill to help you finish the process. It requires hours of pre-planning before implementing any changes to protect your store data. Keeping these vital factors in mind, below are the steps to migrate from Magento 1 to 2:

Step 1: Data Backup

As mentioned before, Magento migration is a complex process, and if not carried out appropriately, it will lead to the loss of precious data. It will damage your business by causing heavy losses. Professionals will first back up your current website to ensure this doesn't happen.

Your product and customer data, meta tags, meta title, and description will stay intact during this process. Experts use cloud storage, external hard drives, or Zip Drive to back up this tremendous amount of information. 

Step 2: Extension Migration

The design of Magento code doesn't permit the conversion of Magento 1 modules to Magento 2 modules. Therefore, the transfer of Magento 1 extensions to Magento 2 with identical features will require expertise. Luckily for you, developers have found an efficient solution for this. Most search and integrate extensions with the same attributes have new versions. If your requirements are not satisfied with the current extensions available in the market, you can ask the developer to customize an extension from scratch. The customized extensions are guaranteed to fit the needs of your business ideally, thereby improving the efficacy of your store.

Step 3:  Theme Migration 

It is impossible to convert Magento 1 theme to Magento 2 themes. Nevertheless, developers can resolve this obstacle through two main options.

• Option 1: Developers can use the customization abilities of Magento 2 to create and replicate Magento 1 themes. It will ensure that your current store is a replica of the previous Magento store. Customers won't notice any changes to the store, and the familiarity factor will aid in retaining buyers.
• Option 2: You can customize a whole new theme with guidance from your developer. Maybe the old store's design wasn't gaining you any traction among the consumers, and this is the suitable time to change that. Rebrand the store design with several fresh features Magento 2 offers to attain your business goals.

Step 4: Custom Migration

Magento is an open-source platform which means your Magento 1 online store is running on a custom code. To migrate the same to your Magento 2 online store, skilled individuals commonly use a code migration toolkit to simplify the process. It reduces the time taken to finish the entire migration process.

Step 5: Data Transfer

The ultimate step is to transfer all data backed up in Step 1 to your Magento 2 store. Developers need to precisely transfer data and adjust it according to the structure of the new version. If your store was running on Magento 1.6 version, it's easier for developers to transfer the data using a Data Migration toolkit.

In other cases, developers create a custom plug-in to transfer the data. After completing this step, ask your developer to conduct thorough testing of your store to ensure he moved all the essential data to your current store and there are no bugs in the program.

What are the Results of a Flawless Migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2?

After serious research and feedback, all businesses have recorded some optimistic results.

1. Boost in Sales: 

Magento 2 is powered by Elasticsearch, which makes the process of buying from your online store ten times easier.Consumers enjoy the comfort and convenience your store offers them. It attracts more shoppers to visit and buy from your store. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool. So when consumers share their pleasant experiences with others, it builds up your brand reputation. It also positively impacts brand awareness, which helps you increase your sales by expanding your target audience. 

2 Higher Conversion Rate:

All thanks to the responsive UI design Magento 2 offers, your new store will be mobile-friendly. Gen Z today uses their phones to carry out the simplest to the most complicated tasks. More people can therefore access your store through their smartphones. Also, it will increase the number of orders and simultaneously the conversion rate. It will also ultimately amplify your profit rates and take your business to new realms of success.

3. Diminishing Number of Abandoned Shopping Carts:

Most consumers don't complete the purchasing process and, for various reasons, leave at the final step. This phenomenon is known as abandoned shopping carts. One of the reasons this happens is the long and complicated checkout process. It frustrates the customers, and they end up leaving your store without buying anything. Magento 2 delivers a faster and smoother two-step checkout process, increasing purchases made by the buyers.

Conclusion - Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2

All merchants embrace the benefits offered by Magento 2, and if you want to beat the competition, you should upgrade to Magento 2. However, if you are convinced and decide to migrate, you will need expert support and a concrete plan to implement this change.

Remember to be patient throughout the process because re-platforming is a complicated process, and it will take a few days to switch to the latest version completely. The time, capital, and other resources allocated to this migration are worthy investments in the long run. You can contact the professional team at Virtina, which specializes in Magento migration, to guide you through this process. 

Magento 2 Migration - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)