Time runs fast and it's been almost a year since Magento ® 2 was released. What has changed during this time and what trends are evident - we will discuss in this article.
Magento ® 1 VS Magento ® 2 – Magento Upgrades
Competition between Magento ® 1 and Magento ® 2
This may sound strange but there is competition between the old and new versions of Magento ® .
Magento ® 1 online store owners are in no hurry to move to the new version, saying that they are completely satisfied with their stores and it makes no sense to fix something that is not broken.
Moreover, we are faced with the fact that new market players choose Magento ® 1 and prefer to develop the new online stores on the old version. The main argument is that Magento ® 1 has worked well and it has a good reputation in the sphere of open source solutions. There are a lot of different extensions for Magento ® 1, while the extensions for Magento ® 2 are just starting to appear.
Of course, there are early adopters, but we can’t say that this trend is widespread. From all the above it can be concluded that Magento ® 2 is slowly but steadily gaining the eCommerce market share.
But clearly, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong with upgrading Magento to the latest release. It is a typical situation for any updates when they are launched to the market, and making the decision to move to the new version is not an easy one.
3 Reasons to Upgrade From Magento ® 1 to 2
Magento ® no longer provides support for Magento ® 1 as of Jan 2018. Full support phase out including related extensions will take place in Nov 2018.
Magento ® 2 is simply a much more robust platform which includes a more streamlined checkout process for your site’s customers.
Enhanced abilities to manage and monitor eCommerce store solutions including integrating with products and scalability.
For further discussion, let’s compare the two Magento ® versions.
5 Smart Steps During Magento Upgrades
1. Backup your current project before implementing Magento Upgrades
2. Verify server compatibility
3. Upgrade to a non-live website first
4. Once tested and approved move site to production
5. Test every step while working out the kinks
Download Speed And Your Magento Upgrade
The main fault of Magento ® 1 that is discussed in the market is its long loading time compared to other eCommerce solutions. This problem can be solved by implementing some special modules such as Varnish and Nexcess Turpentine which can optimize the caching speed.
Magento ® 1 doesn’t include those features by default and sometimes their implementation requires additional efforts, time and expense.
Magento ® 2 is provided with integrated support for Varnish caching and the full-page cache component. Internal caching means that the pages loading time will reduce, which allows merchants to deliver the information about their products quickly.
Improved Checkout Process
It is also frequently discussed that Magento ® 1 has a difficult checkout flow and almost all online store owners prefer to implement one step checkout extensions to correct the situation. In Magento ® 2 this flow has been optimized to require fewer users’ data and include fewer steps.
When users decide what they want to buy and go to checkout they are automatically directed to the guest checkout, where they simply enter their email address. If there is an existing user’s email, the user can check the saved information which is provided automatically.
Guest users can create their accounts from the order “Thank You” page with one click and the billing address is only needed if this information is required by the selected payment method.
Testing Framework
Testing works are very difficult in Magento ® 1. Magento ® 2 is more comfortable in this way because it provides a built-in testing framework that needs less effort to perform regression testing and facilitate functional testing. It also guarantees that any features that have been added to the system do not harm the existing functionality.
Improved functionality
Magento Upgrades to version 2 solutions includes the fact that it is more comfortable for non-technical users. Its admin interface has been enhanced and allows store owners to do more without the help of developers.
Here is a short list of enhancements to the admin interface
- More comfortable work on mobile devices (including iPads, Android tablets);
- New data grids and easy column reordering;
- Availability of filter breadcrumbs that allow determining all the filtering criteria, even if you use many criteria at the same time;
- New element types with single- and multi-selectors in forms, advanced dynamic capabilities and live input data validation;
- New product creation workflow that allows diminishing numbers of product templates from 7 to 4, which is enough for all types of online sellers. Also, it gives merchants a possibility to create configurable products at once.
What You should pay attention to during Magento Upgrades
One thing you should have in mind is that Magento ® 1 will be supported until November 2018. After this, it won’t receive any updates. It is true that Magento ® 1 online stores will still be able to operate. Therefore, we can’t say that all merchants must move to Magento ® 2.
There are many factors that can influence the decision and they are associated not only with the technical improvements in Magento ® 2. For example, if a company is planning to close the e-commerce business in 5 years and to focus differently, then switching to Magento ® 2 is not overly necessary.
Most Serious Reason to Upgrade
PCI compliance. If your company accepts credit cards there are standards for processing client credit card details that you need to adhere to. Not doing so can lead to serious legal issues that would be better off avoided.
Without upgrading to Magento ® 2 your site will be non-compliant with industry standards. This is especially disconcerting if you process more than 20K transactions per the calendar year.
The most important point here is that it will cost far more to ensure that your site remains compliant than the associated cost of the upgrade. Avoiding legal issues and unnecessary expenses are both excellent reasons to upgrade from Magento ® 1.
Concluding Thoughts About Upgrading Your Magento ® Storefront
What we know is that the GoMage team will support their clients as long as necessary. Support and update of GoMage extensions will also be provided. Every business is unique and in case of Magento ® 2, there is no single answer and right solution.
We are ready to give recommendations concerning Magento Upgrades and will be happy to help your eCommerce business. You may contact us by e-mail at [email protected].
