A complete guide to Magento 2 migration: Take the plunge

Are you wondering why every Magento store owner is running behind migration? Why everyone is in such a hurry? What is migration timeline and how will it affect your eCommerce store?

In this migration guide, we will discuss every aspect related to Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration. Learn what is the migration timeline, Steps of migration, features of Magento 2 and benefits of Magento 2 over Magento 1?

Migration is vital. It is not a choice, but a compulsion. If you want to enjoy the advanced features of the latest version and benefits provided by the community, you should not waste another second. 

It is important to realise that this is an upgrade and not re-platforming. You may find it as a compulsion, but taking a look at the risks involved with staying on the first platform and the benefits of upgrading to the latest version will clear the air.

Why Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2?

We will start with the risks of not migrating and staying on the first platform. What will be its impact on your web store?

The risks of staying on Magento 1 platform

You might be delaying the process of migration due to several reasons, but the end of Magento 1 is near. The quickly approaching dates of the end of Magento 1 can affect your website’s performance.

If you are not planning to migrate anytime soon, your website is under risk. Staying on the previous version makes your website prone to:

• Security breaches: The community will stop issuing security patches for the Magento 1 editions after June 2020. It will make your website more vulnerable to cyber-attacks and hacks. It involves a huge risk of putting your customers and website security and performance risk. 
• Module updates: The modules of Magento 1 will become outdated when the support of the community will end. The focus and attention of the developers will shift to Magento 2 extensions. These modules play a critical role in the functionality of your website. If the modules are not fixed properly, your website can stop working.   
• The number of Magento 1 and Magento 2 developers: There’s no point in waiting for longer for migration as the longer you will wait, the chances of finding a good developer will decrease. There are a limited number of Magento developers in the industry who will get busy with their other projects. Your chances of finding the right developer will automatically decrease. 

No maintenance: The community will stop providing maintenance services to the Magento 1 stores after the end. You will need to hire developers from your side and it will cost you a good fortune. 

Why speed-up the process of migration?

The End-of-the-life deadline of the Magento 1 is approaching soon. The community will stop supporting the Magento 1.x version by the end of June 2020. 

There are several reasons behind speeding up the process of migration:

• As the end of the first version is approaching, your Magento 1 website will stop receiving support from the community. Your website will lose its authority and the growth will be affected. 
• Magento 2 Migration is a lengthy process and it takes a minimum of 3-7 months to complete it. There is hardly any time left as the end is near. Hurry up to complete the process before the arrival of the end.
• The ticking time-bomb will make all the efficient developers busy. You won’t be able to find a good developer for your project.

Now, when you are aware of the migration timeline, it is the time to understand the steps and process of migration. Hire a professional Magento agency in London to initiate the process of migration.

5-Step Migration process

Migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is a daunting task. However, the community has launched a data migration tool to assist the developers in the process.   

You need to go through four different stages in order to achieve the migration:

1. Data Migration
2. Extension Migration
3. Customisation Migration
4. Theme Migration
5. Testing

Read on to learn about each step: 

1. Data Migration

It may sound like, but data migration is not an easy process. Follow these steps to perform the procedure accurately:

• Download the Magento 2 theme excluding sample data. We have listed the steps for the setup and installation of the platform below.
• The developers will need a data migration tool for the process. It can be easily downloaded from the official website of Magento. Make sure the versions of the Magento 2 codebase and data migration tool should be the same.   
• Take public and private keys from the Magento website and feed them for authorisation.
•  Configure the data migration tool according to your Magento 2 edition. It is not possible to migrate from the Enterprise edition to the Community edition of Magento. 
• The mapping between Magento 1 and Magento 2 is the next step.
• The actual migration process will take place in the maintenance mode. It will halt all the administrative activities. 
• The final step includes the migration of the Magento website along with other configurations like shipping and payments. 

2. Theme  Migration

Unlike Data migration, there is no such tool for the migration of themes. This is because of the huge difference between the front-end code of Magento 1x and Magento 2x. 

Getting a new theme for Magento 2 is the best way out. Buy a theme that suits for style and requirements. You can either customise this theme or develop a new one. 

3. Customisation Migration

The term itself reiterates how two different online stores cannot be the same. And that is why; migration of customization from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is not possible at all. 

You will need to design new customizations for the advanced version. 

However, the latest version is so versatile and efficient that you won’t need any customizations. Study about the advanced features of Magento 2 before you start with its re-designing as it will help. A reliable Magento 2 migration service provider can help you with the process. 

4. Extension Migration

Extensions and plug-ins work exactly like customisations. The plug-ins that were working perfectly fine with Magento 1 will not work with Magento 2. You will need to start from scratch for the new store.

Instead of assuming this rebuilding process as a compulsion, take this as an opportunity to correct your previous errors and improve the overall experience. Reliable Magento development services will prove to be a great help in that case.   

5. Testing, Testing and Testing

Once you are done with the migration of all the data of the store, themes, customisations and extension, start with the process of testing to check the proper functioning of the website. Check everything efficiently as any mistake can lead to data loss and additional downtime.  

You may find the process of migration a bit overwhelming and challenging, but the advanced features of the store will cover it all. Beginning early will give you ample time to carry out the process efficiently. 

Here, we have listed the features of the next version.

Features of Magento 2

Anyone who has worked with the Magento 1 iterations must be well aware of the wonderful features it offered. With the launch of the second version, Magento has taken it to the next level. The building or rebuilding a website was never that easier, quicker and safer.

The exclusive features of Magento 2 offers improved scalability and functionality. Enhance the customer shopping experience of your store with the most advanced features of Magento.

Basic Features of Magento 2

With the newly added HTML5 and CSS3 processor technologies, Magento has become a game-changer! Following are the basic features of Magento 2: 

Advanced and flexible architecture: Bring vision to your eCommerce store with the power of next-generation flexible architecture.

Improved business agility and productivity: The community has empowered the merchants with the agility and productivity.

Engaging shopping experience: Magento 2 offers a seamless customer experience to impress your customers. 

Scalability and performance: It offers 50% faster page loading and checkout process. It improves your website’s performance; enhance your customer experience and better rate of conversion.

Easy to upgrade and easy to maintain: The modular architecture of Magento 2 empowers the functionality of your website.

Secure payment methods: It built-in integrations with authorised payment gateways like PayPal and Braintree.

Backup/Rollback systems: The handy commands of this powerful and elegant system help you restore your file and media. You can simply add these commands to your system for backups.

Migration tools: It comes with migration tools that make the process of migration easier. The tool makes it easier to log customers, catalogues and categories. 

PSR compliance: The acronym stands for PHP standard recommendation.

Scalability and Performance: The modular architecture of Magento 2 enhances optimisation, scalability, security and performance of your store. Its indexers have been improved, there is Magento 2 performance kit, varnish caching integration and provide better performance and scalability.

Top Features of Magento 2

Now let us take a look at the top features of Magento 2

New File structure in Magento 2

The file structure of Magento 2 has undergone a major change. The app structure has taken over everything. Every module is equipped with a directory and enables you to access templates, layouts, js, and CSS/fewer files for every specific module. It assists module developers in customisation without changing the core-site. 

The four types of Magento 2 directories are:

• Primary directories: It includes base directory, code directory, and lib directory. It cannot be changed. 
• System directories: This directory includes DI directory, generation directory etc. You need to run the Entry Point class to change its location. 
• Application directories: It includes app directory, design directory, temporary directory, cache directory, log directory, session directory etc.
• Public directories: It includes pub directory, media directory, upload directory, static directory, and pub view cache directory. 

The location of public and application directories can be easily changed.  

Latest layout elements

The core/text used to serve as a structured book in Magento 1.x. The concept of container wrappers was introduced with Magento 2.x. With this concept, the organizing blocks have become more intuitive and define the sections.

CSS Preprocessing

The use BootStrap is done with Magento 1. Instead, it uses CSS as the core theme. The publisher publishes CSS and overviews static files together. It also supports the preprocessing of the files.

CSS consists of two independent preprocessors:

• LESS preprocessor: The use of LESS in Magento is enabled by LESS PHP adapter.
• CSS URL resolver: Resolve every wrong link found in the CSS source and correct them.

  The key advantages of preprocessors include:

• Themes can be customised quickly and easily with LESS.
• LESS preprocessor and CSS URL increases the speed of the page, enhances its performance and make your system search-engine friendly. 

Magento UI library

Magento library is a flexible module that eases the process of theme development and customisation. The key features of Magento UI library include:

• Customisable
• Easy to maintain
• Focus on web standards
• Built on LESS preprocessor
• Responsive
• Accessible

Every below-written element can be customised with the help of Magento library:

• Actions Toolbar
• Buttons
• Breadcrumbs
• Dropdowns
• Forms
• Icons
• Layout
• Loaders
• Messages
• Navigation
• Popups
• Ratings
• Tables
• Tabs
• Accordions
• Typography
• List of Themes variables

Under the hood

The substitutes of Magento are:

• HTML 5
• CSS 3
• Require JS
• PSR Compliance
• Full-page caching
• Varnish support in its core

No more prototypes

jQuery used in Magento 1 was not stable enough. As the demand for Magento has increased, it is replaced by the prototype. However, Magento 2 supports one Javascript framework. It implies that there will be hardly any Javascript conflict in the latest version.   

Reduced upgrade and effort costs

Magento extensions are known for its seamless experience. These extensions are quite lightweight as well.

Let us see how it works:

• Upgrading to newer versions: Magento is all about updated information on policies and compatibility. 
• Installing Magento: The new Magento installer makes it easy and quick to install Magento 2. It will analyse the prerequisites at first and then upgrade the deployments.
• Upgrading and installing new extensions: Installing or updating effects the system. It has become way easier with Magento 2. Developers can provide detailed information on various components, versions and requirements of the system.  
• Upgrading to Magento 2: The import and export functionality can export customer records, data, inventory and other records. 

The ultra-fast, secure and reliable version of Magento, Magento is more scalable and secure. Moreover, it is easy to maintain. Read on to know about the benefits of upgrading. 

Benefits of Magento 2 over Magento 1

The main motive behind the upgrade was to improve the user experience of the store. The advanced features of Magento 2 deliver a high-quality shopping experience. It is faster to load, easier to use, highly customisable and offer better security features. 

These impressive features are just a start. Read on to know the benefits of Magento 2.x over Magento 1.x version:  

High performance and scalability

Magento 2 offers enhanced performance as compared to Magento 1. The advanced indexer speeds up the query performance. It updates the data regularly which enhances the speed of your store.

The core integration of Magento 2 includes a varnish cache. The leading HTTP accelerator technology allows full page caching for your web store which increases the loading speed of your website.

The bounce rate of your web store can double if your website takes more than 2 seconds to load. This is how the fast loading capacity of Magento 2 benefits you. The HTTPS request of Magento 2 is lower than any other eCommerce platform. 

The faster loading speed of Magento increases your annual turnover by making the shopping experience smooth.        

Customer persuasion

Magento 2 helps you in increasing the order value potential by making provision for up-sells and cross-sells. Apart from this, there are other features like stock availability, price countdowns, free gifts and coupons.

With this latest platform, you can easily add promotions to the checkout page. It boosts your sales and reduces the cart abandonment rate. 

Moreover, the additional feature of adding promotional videos and other rich media helps you attract more customers.

The checkout process of Magento 1 was not that easier. 

It is a powerful platform

Magento 2 is powerful enough to handle a massive store even if you have over 50,000 products. It can easily handle a large sum of orders effectively with a large inventory and major payment gateways which were not so easy with the previous version.  

It may come as a surprise to you, but the new platform can process more than 39% order per hour and loads 50% faster.

The highly scalable solution can handle huge amounts of traffic. The end-to-end checkout of the process of Magento 2 is 51% faster than Magento 1. 

Mobile-friendly store

With the advancement of technology, online shoppers have shifted to the mobile platform. Companies should make sure that their online stores should be accessible from mobiles because 62% of smartphone users make an online purchase from their mobiles only.  

The platform allows developers to develop a mobile-friendly store. The mobile-friendly checkout experience is highly responsive. The responsive design reference themes offer seamless screen resolutions.

The touch-screen friendly Magento 2 screen makes the eCommerce as wonderful as a breeze. The catalogue becomes easy to navigate regardless of the resolution of the screen.

Advanced SEO features

Organic search is the main source of the traffic to eCommerce stores. You need to have a properly optimised web store to drive traffic. Magento 2 offers all the SEO features a website needs. 

It offers two major features:

• Merchants can craft SEO friendly URL structures
• The Magento 2 website enables Meta-implementation. Introduction of rich snippets allows you to optimise XML sitemaps to raise the search engine rankings.

Magento 2 is a huge community

The open-source platform has more than 315,000 developers throughout the world and more than 280,000 running businesses. Everything is backed by a huge community which is available for support, development and customisation. 

Magento 2 is loaded with a huge library of third-party extensions to add to the functionality of your store. The integrations are compatible with popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Sage Pay, World Pay, Klarna and various other applications.     

Enhanced security features

Magento 2 helps you in customising different levels of security permissions. It protects your website against unwanted security breaches and site attacks. 

Two-factor authentication feature of Magento 2 is much like an extra layer of protection. It allows you to stop unwanted intruders from visiting your store and SSL protects your web pages. SSL feature is additional protection. 

The community monitors the security of the stores periodically and keeps releasing the security patches to remove the vulnerability of the web stores.

Marketplace integration

The omnichannel experience of the Magento stores allows your website to reach a much wider audience. Moreover, it allows your website to integrate with popular online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.

Intelligent search options

The intelligent search features of Magento 2 provide an enhanced shopping experience to your users. Filtering the products becomes easier with different parameters and search filters. It allows customised and auto search terms with unique search codes, product reviews, recently viewed products product tags and more.

Wrapping Up

The great advantages of Magento 2 over Magento 1 allow your customers to enjoy beautifully designed and user-friendly shopping experience.  The advanced features of Magento 2 have helped it establish as the top choice for business owners, developers and digital marketers.

Magento 2 has become the talk of the eCommerce world since that day it was launched. It has empowered thousands of retailers and inspired them to innovate and grow. 

RVS Media is one of the best Magento agency in London. Our passionate developers can create a technically sound store and customise it according to your business. We enable you to take maximum benefit from Magento 2 extensions.