Still Developing Your Magento 1 Site? Stop! Switch to Magento 2 Right Away
If you’ve been following the news on e-commerce lately, you simply couldn’t miss the news about the release of a much improved and optimised version of the Magento 1 platform i.e. Magento 2. Such a great news for the Magento eco-system! The anticipated release of this latest version is making waves through the Magento community. But the release of Magento 2 has left users in a dilemma that if they should also migrate to feature rich version, Magento 2, or should they maintain their current platform.
Magento 2 has swift new architecture and comes with brand new database design. According to some statistics, Magento at present holds 14% of the market share in ecommerce platform and there is every possibility that this share would rise in future. Experts predict that the Magento 2 stores will grow rapidly within the next year. The idea of migrating to Magento 2 seems reasonable as the advanced version offers so many reasons to think in that direction. A few of them are highlighted here:
- Varnish and full-page cache
- More secure, easier maintenance and upgrades
- Improve B2B user experience
- Content staging & preview
- Table performance and multiple databases
- Optimised default theme
- Reduced Java script libraries
- And much more…
Magento’s success is quite evident with over 250,000 Magento powered sites generating billions in annual sales. Modern code stack and quicker development environment with optimised code enable developers to create better e-commerce sites. A talented team of developers undoubtedly succeeded in endowing the shopping cart with the finest e-commerce functionality, but that does not make present version inferior itself, does it?
Click here for more info: Top Magento 2 Features that Will Boost Your Business Sales
What about Magento 1?
One of the most popular features of Magento is that it is built as a flexible platform. By using pre-made extensions or utilising their coding chops, users can create stores according to their requirements but unfortunately, focusing on flexibility does not make it high performing or user-friendly platform. Some important tools such as mobile responsiveness, performance optimisation, and admin capabilities, are missing that every store needs. In addition, there have been many complaints regarding Magento 1 running slow. The Magento team has designed Magento 2 to address these issues related to speed and functionality of this platform.
Realise the real potential of a future proofed platform, Magento 2.
Instead of highlighting vague benefits that you may or may not get in future, here are few key benefits that store owners will receive right after their upgrade
Full Page Caching
It is one of the crucial improvements that allows to accelerate page load speed by up to 50% and lighten server loads. Eventually, this feature will lay a positive impact on shopping experience of your customers and put a positive impact on SEO of the website.
Streamlined checkout process
This feature brings vital changes to checkout page meant to reduce the rate of shopping cart abandonment, but increase conversion rate instead. The checkout process in Magento 2 is more user friendly, making it quicker for users to go from cart to completed order. Magento 1 stores had to alter the checkout process to make it more user friendly. Now, intuitive checkout options are built into Magento 2. This means every Magento 2 powered store will by default have better checkout options. Drag and drop layout editing is also included in the admin interface of Magento 2. This indicates extensive coding knowledge is not required to modify your online store’s appearance.
Redesigned Admin Panel
The new admin interface is designed to ease the learning curve, as well as reduce the time managing an online store. Important business information can be accessed quickly with customised admin panel. Each admin panel is personalised to increase productivity when managing orders, products and customer orders. With four times faster product capabilities, product creation in the admin panel is easier than before. You can create a beautiful online store in half the time.
More Mobile friendly
The Magento team recognised mobile responsiveness as a key to improving sales. Reason being, more and more customers prefer to do shopping on their smartphones and tablets. Magento 2 comes with responsively designed SEO friendly themes, integrated video and easy checkout. These additional features improve the function and look of Magento stores on mobile devices, thus encouraging mobile sales.
Bonus: The admin panel is touch screen friendly, in addition to the front-end of the site so users can manage their stores on the go.
Key Integrations
Magento 2 powered stores have better (Out of the box) functionality. This means Magento 2 integrates several popular extensions this includes payment gateways such as PayPal and Braintree. Majority of Magento users prefer to integrate with these popular payment platforms. To increase payment security, integration with Worldpay and cyber source is also available. That’s how Magento 2 makes it a lot easier.
When should I migrate to Magento 2?
Since Magento 2 platform has proved to be a fully reliable platform, and most of the popular extensions are showing compatibility with Magento 2 already, the answer to this frequently asked question is “Now, or a bit later”. If your store’s platform version is not lower than 1.8, and it is performing well, than you could keep your current Magento version for a while. On the other hand, if you are still using Magento 1.7 or lower version, it’s certainly time to go for Magento 2. It’s an exceptional chance to reconsider the necessity of plugins that you’ve been using, to get rid of technical issues, and an exceptional chance to get an edge over your competitors who tend to put the upgrade back.
Will the upgrade be painful? Is it going to break the bank?
Quick fact about Migration to Magento 2- it’s not just an upgrade rather it’s an excellent opportunity to remove redundancy and legacy code, to look at cleansing the data, revisit your website design or remove any other aspects of website that are not critical to your business. Magento 2 will enable you to take advantage of a fully responsive site that fetches potential shoppers at every stage of their day. Since there are so many variations in an internal structure of Magento 1 and Magento 2, switching to an entirely new second platform version calls for a database migration.
So, the answer is, “No, but this migration may cause some inconvenience in the beginning (Just as any change causes), and may require extra investments”.
Wrapping Up,
Start thinking about migration to Magento 2 soon, as at the end of 2018 Magento will cut off support for M1. Consequently, you will see many others following the suit and your webstore will become increasingly difficult to support. It is advisable to adopt new Magento 2 platform before Magento 1 support ends. To accomplish this, you must get in touch with Magento development agency and start discussions early. Don’t leave it to the last minute and get in touch today with a team of expert Magento developers soon. Magento 2 is designed to deliver a better experience for admin and customers. This latest version not only maintains the flexibility Magento is recognised for, but adds some useful features too.
It is anticipated that the acceptability of Magento 2 will grow as businesses grow. Experts anticipate that businesses will switch to Magento 2 for a streamlined checkout process. This will increase conversions and encourage more customers. Sooner or later, the competitive market will leave no choice for you but to upgrade to Magento 2. If you need a hand, you must look for the right partner who can work with you during your migration. Magento Development companies in Sydney, Australia have trained and experienced professionals who make sure that the process is both efficient and smooth.
If you are looking to switch from magento 1 to magento 2, get in touch with Web Circle today!
Still Developing Your Magento 1 Site? Stop! Switch to Magento 2 Right Away,