Why You Should Migrate From Magento 1 to Magento 2 & How To Do It?

On November 17, 2015, Magento 2.0 was released and with that, the debate in the eCommerce turf also started whether to Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 or not and it is still going on.

The release of Magento 2 also brought numerous significant features with it that had the potential to change the user experience and take it to a new level also with the release of Magento 2.0, all the innovative juices have started flowing its direction relevantly more than Magento 1.

The Improvised Features That M2 Come Along With Are:

• Spontaneous Page Caching
• Inbuilt Rich snippet for structured data
• Highly Structured Code Base With Improved Performance
• Advanced & Easily Customizable File Structure
• Other Advanced features
• Let’s go through them one at a time.

Spontaneous page caching:
To make the whole frame, work faster and prevent it from becoming laggy.

Inbuilt Rich snippets for structured data:
You all must have an idea that structured data is the kind of data that exists in a fixed field in a file or record. Rich snippets are the hike in structured data that can be used for any present HTML so that the search engines understand the data contained on each page.

Highly Structured Code Base With Improved Performance
It means the body of the source code of the software used will be better structured for easy understanding and enhanced performance.

Advanced & Easily Customizable File Structure:
The file structures have been improvised and are easily customizable as well.

Other Advanced Features:

Plus many other remarkable features to top it all off.

• 20% faster than Magento 1.x versions
• Improved UI and UX
• Functionality to easily disable the core modules available as components
• Better security since Magento 2 supports steps to deal with server validation
• Allows developers to set up an automated test easily.

The bonus part is that many innovators have already developed ready to use frames several add-ons and extensions based on Magento 2.

Before we jump to the segment of what you should know before you migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 and how you can do it the correct way let’s count the reasons why you should make the migration.

Why You Should Migrate From Magento 1 to Magento 2?

• The latest and the most prominent reason is that Magento most probably will stop supporting from Magento 1 by June 2020.
  This most definitely does not mean that your Magento store will stop working, Of course not! Your Magento store will continue to work the same way without the upgrade to Magento 2. However, once the support services are lifted it simply means that Magento will stop releasing security and feature updates for this particular version. Which implies two things:

• Website becoming prone to security threats, and

• No new upgrades for the features and performance of your website.
  Running an Ecommerce site in itself is a mammoth task and on top of that if you have to constantly deal with the hassles of updating your security patches, working on its speed and performance it would eventually end up requiring too much of your efforts.
  It means that if you haven’t made your shift from M1 to M2 yet any problem surfaces up regarding your frame Magento might not help you out with that.

• Secondly, Magento 2 comes with a plethora of latest upgrades as mentioned above.

• As discussed earlier most of the companies are developing better themes, addons, extensions, etc. compatible with Magento 2 which means you can’t reap the benefits of all these latest upgrades if you are still stuck in Magento 1.

• Finding solutions, addons and extensions for your M1 frame can prove to be quite difficult further.

• The upgrade is also necessary because with all these technological level jumps happening around every now and then if you want to stay ahead in the business you will have to incorporate something new constantly in your business frame. which can be quite a time taking process with the older version of Magento

What You Should Know Before You Migrate To Magento 2?

• How difficult is the process to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2?
• What are the difficulties that I will face in the Magento 2 upgrade?

We will be answering all your queries, stating the benefits of Magento 2 over Magento 1.x, and would suggest actionable solutions in context with Magento migration through this blog one at a time. Prior to that, it’s important to understand how the shutting down of services of Magento 1.x may impact your store.

How can Magento Migration Services assist you?

Having listed the benefits of Magento 2 over Magento 1.x versions it becomes clear why the sudden shift towards Magento 2 is being observed. A large number of people are opting for an upgrade to Magento 2 for their eCommerce store.

The latest offering by Magento has very soon become the most favored platform for online stores. Sooner or later the decision to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 might become a necessity if not for the support seizure then for its performance-related concerns.

In order to consider and move ahead with Magento 2 upgrade, it is best to have a detailed plan chalked out to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2. This plan can best be suggested and executed by professionals that provide Magento migration services.

What are the prerequisites for migration (upgrade to Magento 2)?

If you have come this far we hope you would have understood the utility of this Magento 2 upgrade but must be thinking if this would be too troublesome a task to perform. Worry not we have that sorted for you. To begin with, migrating your website you will need to start with some preparations for the same.

Once you are done with the below-mentioned steps CedCommerce will take it from there to assist you completely and perform all the Magento migration services for you. Therefore you need not to worry before taking the call to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2. Following steps need to be taken care of prior to an upgrade to Magento 2.

1. Extension Migration
2. Server Upgrade based on requirements
3. Theme migration
4. Selecting the functionality for the new store

Extension Migration :
Extension migration while your upgrade to Magento 2 could require some effort on your end. You must have deployed multiple extensions on your online store to arm it with numerous features. If you are using multiple 3rd party extensions it could be a possibility that you have come to realize that there are certain extensions that are used more frequently and need some enhancements whereas on the other hand there are extensions that are seldom used.

This extension migration could be your opportunity to pick the ones that you want to have in your new online store as well. This Magento 2 upgrade might be your time to give your store a new look and feel and enhance its features by shortlisting or adding on the already existing extensions.

It would be advisable to remove the extensions offering redundant features. Once you’re done with the shortlisting it would be important to check if the upgraded extensions are available for them. If yes, extension migration would be possible easily. If not, then these extensions would be required to be built from scratch rather than performing an extension migration activity.

Check Your Server:
Before proceeding with migration you would be required to check for your server compatibility with Magento 2. Check the server requirements for Magento 2 and then proceed to upgradation (if required).

Theme Migration
Theme migration is another crucial part of this upgrade to Magento 2. Magento 2 aims at delivering enhanced shopping experiences to customers on the online store. Which again gives an additional point to it and advocates in the favour of an upgrade to Magento 2. Since Magento 2 differs from Magento 1 largely in terms of structure the themes from your old store (Magento 1) cannot be directly lifted and utilized for the new store.

Instead, the theme for your new store after you migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 needs to be built from scratch like the extensions which are not upgradable. Hence in order to provide your customers with a responsive and interactive website, you will need to work on the suggested methods for theme migration.

Decide upon the functionality:
Prior to migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2, you would also be required to decide the functionality to want to migrate from your old site to the new one. There might be sections in your online store that you might want to remove or include just like extensions discussed in the section for Extension Migration above. This is a good time to review the site for any redundant features or extensions that it might be carrying.

How to Migrate From Magento 1 to Magento 2 In 4 Simple Steps?

You must be thinking that it would be a colossal task to make the “Big Shift” but we will break it down for you in 4 easy steps:

1. Data Migration
2. Extension Migration
3. Custom Work Migration
4. Theme Migration

Let’s discuss one at a time:
Data Migration:
Moving your Magento 1 configuration and data to Magento 2

Extension Migration:
Install the desired Magento 2 extensions

Custom Work Migration:
Magento offers a Code Migration Toolkit that helps you in this process

Theme Migration
You have to create a new theme for Magento 2 and make it responsive for the best user experience.

Final thoughts for an upgrade to Magento 2

Ever since the advent of Magento 2 Ecommerce, there has been a considerable shift in its favour from eCommerce merchants but now with the support for Magento 1.x coming to an end by this year, the switch would be seen at an even rapid rate.

In order to stay updated with the changing trends of the industry, it’s important to track the requirements and be ready to cater to your customers.

In short, it would be advisable to begin with planning the migration by preparing a list of extensions, features and deciding on the theme that you would want in your new site to be, even if you are not opting for migration right away. You would be ready to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 well in time and this would also give you the time to explore the possibilities for your store prior to and post the upgrade to Magento 2. This would at least help you plan ahead so that you are ready for the big shift in the near future.

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