End of life of Magento 1.x was a topic of speculation for a long time, with some sources even pointing to as early as November 2018. However, last month, Magento announced that, while the end of life won’t be so abrupt, it is coming and coming fast, naming June 2020 as the pivotal date and encouraging to migrate now.

What does this mean for your Magento 1.x store?

Come June 2020, it is unlikely any further security patches will be released, putting your store and, perhaps more importantly, your customers, at risk. Safety is by far the most crucial concern, as vulnerabilities will no longer be patched up, meaning your site can be exploited by malicious actors, unless you take security upon yourself, which is likely to be both dangerous and extremely cost ineffective.

Moreover, the M1 3rd party extension, application and integration ecosystem, which already puts M2 first is likely to dry out completely, which can mean either your most used items disappearing, or, just like M1, they will stop receiving updates, jeopardising their safety and functionality.

People have been migrating to Magento 2 well before the end of life announcement

There are many reasons for this, and if lack of official support for M1 isn’t incentive enough for you to make the change, then perhaps other considerations will convince you. Magento 2 boasts technical, UX and general functionality advantages. From easier system integration (think CRM), to better platform compatibility, to better overall performance, there are many exciting improvements. Three benefits Scandiweb is particularly fond of are faster loading time, streamlined checkout and better UX — the ones that will have the most impact on your conversion rates!

Faster loading times

— a critical user drop-off point is the 3 second loading time mark, which, if reached, will put off 40% of users from continuing with your site. With loading times in the vicinity of 1.5 seconds, with further potential improvements depending on the functionalities and code base, M2 trumps M1’s average times of 2–3 seconds.

Note: Scandiweb is developing the world’s first Progressive Web App Magento solution, which takes the best of App UX and combines it with the best of website functionality. If fast loading times are a priority for you, check it out and learn how your store can work with the instantaneous speed of an App.

Checkout & Add-to-cart

— manage more orders per hour (117% more than M1!); streamlined checkout via simpler registration; more popular payment gateways included; seamless add-to-cart with Ajax — no page reloads! The final step of the online shopping process experiences the biggest customer drop-off, with Baynard Institute research suggestion that around 74% of shopping carts are abandoned, meaning over $260 billion is left on the table, so M2’s targeted improvements are something to get excited about!

Improved UX

— beyond the obvious benefits of speed & ease of checkout, UX is further improved through better responsiveness, as well as being more mobile friendly, which, in the age of mobile-first strategies is of paramount importance. The potential for incredible UX is further enhanced by the development of PWA(see note above)!

For over 2 years, every new Magento project developed in Scandiweb is M2 and during these last two years a substantial amount of our older M1 clients have migrated as well. Another benefit, which clients have highlighted, which doesn’t necessarily have to do with M2 itself, is the opportunity for a “fresh start”, in terms of getting rid of core rewrites and messy and often-abandoned extensions, responsible for slowing down the website and sometimes even compromising security. Plus, with our Magento eCommerce support services we make sure that fresh start is well maintained.

Migration considerations

Thankfully, Magento has given merchants plenty of time for migration, but any migration service provider will inform you that a large, last-minute surge of requests is bound to happen as June 2020 draws nearer. It is important to understand that migration is a complex process – it’s not just an update, which requires downloading and rebooting, where the data stays put; it’s a lengthy process requiring the parsing of data into the new instance. Concurrently, with the increasing demand, the prices will follow and as the deadline looms, migration services will become more costly.

Hence, it is highly recommended to be ahead of the pack and migrate as soon as possible, else you might find yourself taking an unexpected and unnecessary loss.

Moreover, launching any huge new updates or expansions, or resolving fundamental performance issues on M1 is fiscally unsound, as the reprieve or benefits they will provide, will be temporary, given the end of life. If any such expansions or issue solutions are planned, it is far more reasonable to not only do them on the newer platform, but do them while migrating, to get 2 birds with 1 stone!

Thinking about migrating? Want to hear more reasons for why it’s a good idea? Don’t lag behind! Get in touch with the largest certified Magento Developer team in the world at [email protected] saying “I WANT IT” and, within 48 hours, we will provide you with the complete estimation for migrating your store from M1 to M2!

Check out more of our Magento development services here! If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, don’t hesitate to comment below or write to us directly!

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