After occupying almost 3% of the market share in the eCommerce market, Magento launched Magento 2 in 2015. Magento 2 fixes the issues regarding speed and responsiveness faced by people in Magento 1. However, in June 2020, the Magento team decided to stop the security updates of Magento 1. As a result, hundreds of people are forced to migrate to either Magento 2 or other platforms.
If you are reading this, chances are you have already migrated to Magento 2, or are thinking about migrating to Magento 2. Regardless of the reason for migration, If you are looking for a powerful and feature-rich platform for your business, Magento is the right platform for you. You can also hire Magento 2 developer to help you in the store’s migration process and setting up an eCommerce store. However, before diving into Magento 2, it is essential to measure the pros and cons of migration.
Here are some of the essential things to consider before migrating to Magento 2.
1-You Can’t Move Magento 1 Themes and Extensions to Magento 2
Magento 2 is entirely different from Magento 1. Therefore, the themes that are working on your previous platform might not work on Magento 2. So, you will have to rebuild the themes from scratch on Magento 2.
Similarly, the extensions that are used in Magento 1 will not be functional in Magento 2. If you are using Magento 1 or any other eCommerce platform, you might already be using third-party extensions to increase the functionality of your website. Unfortunately, you cannot transfer those extensions from your website to Magento 2. As a result, you will have to integrate these extensions again to Magento 2. All this might make the process of migration expensive.
2- Media and Images Need to be Moved Manually
Magento has made it simple to migrate your data from one platform to another easily. But, unfortunately, you can’t transfer videos and images. As a result, you will have to move them manually. This may take a lot of time, depending upon the size of your media files. Moreover, It is required to handle the images files differently than the product data. Therefore, you should keep this factor in mind while migrating to Magento 2.
3- Analyze Functionality
Since you have already decided to upgrade your platform to Magento 2, it is advisable to analyze the website’s functionalities. Magento 2 has a lot of built-in features, which makes it less dependable on third-party extensions. Thus, you may consider removing some redundant functionalities that no longer serve any purpose for Magento 2. Moreover, it involves cost and time for the development and testing of codes for functionalities. Therefore, you may consider removing the functionalities whose features are already available in Magento 2.
4- Easy Import of Products and Customer Data
One of the benefits of migration to Magento 2 is that you don’t need to worry about transferring products and customer data. Magento 2 incorporates a data migration tool that verifies the consistency between the database structure that enables the users to import the products and customer data conveniently from other platforms to Magento 2. In addition, the tool will make the migration process easy and simpler for you by moving data, running confirmation tests, and creating logs to help find any issues that arise. Thus, you don’t need to worry about moving your products and user data manually.
5- SEO and Technical Optimization
Magento 2 can fix the issues faced by people in Magento 1. While Magento 2 is a major improvement over Magento 1, the user still faces issues regarding page loading speed. Moreover, it is important to consider key elements of SEO to avoid any problems in the future. While you can fix most of the technical SEO aspects with help from the Magento community. Other important aspects such as Search engine-friendly URLs, optimized media and images, active links, etc., should consider. If you are confused about tackling these issues, you can hire a professional Magento SEO Company that will take care of your website’s SEO.
Final Thoughts
Migrating from one platform to another is a long and complex process. Therefore, it is essential to consider every factor that may be responsible for the growth of your business. Magento 2 is a powerful platform to address the issues faced by people in Magento 1. However, it is still not free from all the issues. Similar to any other platform, Magento 2 has its advantages and disadvantages. You can always hire Magento 2 developer to help you get the most out of Magento 2. However, the question remains, Is investing so much time and money in developing and migrating to Magento 2 worth it? In the end, it is up to your business needs and preference to choose the platform.
