Time to upgrade to Magento 2?

With the 2-year anniversary of the Magento 2 release approaching, you may still be put off by the prospect of upgrading despite being concerned about future of your current Magento 1 platform. Whether you’re already thinking about finally taking the leap or have no intentions of changing anytime soon, we look at the road ahead for and when it might be time to finally take on the upgrade.

The future of Magento 1

As the time has flown by you may have all but forgotten those long-ago intentions to look at upgrading when ‘the time is right’. Whether it was 6 months, a year or two years down the road, chances are you’ve already passed or are soon approaching your upgrade deadline. You may be keen to start planning for your next steps, or maybe you’re just not quite ready to let go of your current platform just yet. However you feel about the prospect of upgrading, rest assured that your foreseeable future with Magento 1 is still secure.

Magento have addressed any uncertainty by confirming their intentions to continue support for merchants still on this platform. For those still facing the long road ahead and many that have yet to even consider the upgrade, this news should offer some relief. They have also committed to a minimum 18-month notice for any changes to their current support. Merchants who are signed up to receive information and announcements from Magento should get plenty of warning when the time finally comes to say goodbye.

With that being said, merchants should be aware that as with all new technology, Magento 2 will eventually replace its predecessor. While there is no urgent need to start the upgrade process right now, it may just be delaying the inevitable. Even if you are planning to stick with your current platform, for the time being, it’s always good to make plans and be prepared for the eventual change.

Time to upgrade to Magento 2?

When to upgrade is entirely reliant on your business. Magento 2 includes a range of new features that are especially beneficial to medium and larger ecommerce businesses. If your businesses is growing at a steady rate and could benefit from more scalability and improved performance to better meet your demands, then upgrading is probably the right move to make.

Conversely, you may find that your current set up is more than meeting your current demands. In this case, the upgrade could prove too disruptive and financially draining at this point; you may wish to spend more time planning to ensure as little disruption as possible, or simply wait until it makes more sense for your growing needs.

The benefits

Whether you plan on upgrading soon or not, it’s important to know what to expect so you can decide if, and when Magento 2 is the right choice. You can also start to plan for the growth of your business based on the new functionality on offer.

Improved overall shopping experience

Enhance the experience of your online store with a range of new features including more responsive design themes to suit your business. You’ll also find a new checkout system that can be customised to suit the demands of your business and your customers, along with a one-click account creation function.

Scalability and performance

Get enterprise-grade scalability and up to 50% faster load times across both catalogue and checkout pages. Experience enhanced performance regardless of the size of your store, perfect for growing businesses and better conversion rates.

Secure payments

With secure online shopping even more important than ever both merchants and their customers will benefit from the new secure payment features. Get out of the box integrations with leading payment gateways including PayPal and Braintree, with improved security and simplified PCI compliance to protect your customers.

Easy to use and maintain

An improved experience for merchants as well as customers thanks to a new admin panel with a customer-like interface. Merchants and employees will love the responsive and easy to use layout, while new intuitive features make it easier than ever to view, customise and save data to streamline day to day tasks across the whole business. It’s also now easier and faster to make upgrades, making maintenance less disruptive to your business.

Making the switch

If you are ready to take the leap and upgrade, you should be aware that as with all new technology, Magento 2 is still experiencing bug problems. The good news is that these issues are being resolved every day and each release has seen improvements. Fewer resources are being spent on developing new features with more dedicated instead to fixing current problems. For many, these bugs shouldn’t hinder your experience if you want to migrate.

There is also plenty of training documentation that is both thorough and easy to understand. While you may not be looking forward to hitting the books, rest assured that finding your way around should be easier than ever.

Of course, you won’t have to go it alone. Merchants with an existing Community or Enterprise edition store are in a great position to upgrade to Magento 2, but it isn’t a simple upgrade. If you’re ready to make the next steps or simply want to know whether an upgrade is a good fit for you right now, call one of our team today. We’ll work to understand your business needs and help you decide on the next steps, whether it’s waiting a bit longer or working closely with you to ensure a smooth transition.

You can keep up to date with Magento 2 news and tutorials on our blog.