This article is for store owners, and merchants running Magento version 1.x who want to know when it’s a good time to migrate their store to Magento 2. This document is also for Magento developers and consultants who wish to learn more about the right time, proper strategy, and planning to upgrade and migrate Magento 1 store to Magento 2.
According to some sources, more than 400 thousand United States-based store owners are running their stores on Magento 1.x platform. Imagine what the total figure will be if we include all the countries.
The new acquirer Adobe which has recently purchased Magento company is still planning to give support to Magento 1.x platform for the next 1.5 years. However, considering this period in terms of upgrading and migrating the store to 2.x, this seems less time-consuming as some big stores may take more than 6 months to upgrade properly based on the complex business setup they have in their existing stores.
If I get a chance to speak, I will speak the truth. Magento 2 is buggy, but it is promising. It is the future of Magento eCommerce, and it has ample scope to fulfill future requirements.
In the previous paragraph, I said that the Magento 2 is the future however, it involves lots of complexities and problems too while upgrading and migrating your Magento store.
After 18 months, when the support and security patches from Adobe Magento are stopped, all the websites still using this platform will be an easy target for hackers for server attacks, website hacking, spamming, and other theft of your data and customer details.
If there are any existing bugs, issues, etc., that come after 1.5 years, you will have to manage them on your own or hire someone to fix that.
All that means is you should go for migration when it is possible. I would suggest an off-season time to upgrade your Magento store when your sales are not at their peak.
Also, if you already have many issues, your design is outdated, and features are missing that you wanted in your store – go for the migration, upgrading, and redesigning of your Magento 1 as soon as possible.
There are a couple of important points that I will mention here that can help you do the planning and execution better.
Features and Functionalities– Make a document of all the existing features on your website, how they work on the frontend and how they work on the backend. Also, consult with a Magento 2 expert. He will help you to eliminate some of the features which are already part of Magento 2.
Choose the right time – Think about the offseason of your business and decide to start this project by that time and launch the new site in the same offseason. Neither starting the project nor launching the project in the peak season is good.
Create a migration plan– sit with your developer, and give as many details as possible. Have dozens of conversations about your business and ask them to prepare the proper upgrade and migration plan with a proper timeline for launching.
Also, go to our Magento migration service page and see how we can help you achieve this goal. Here is the link to our service: https://www.bizspicedev.wpenginepowered.com/magento-2-services/magento-2-migration-services.html