Benefits of Upgrading to Magento 2

Why Does eCommerce Website Speed Matter?
November 29, 2019

What is Magento 2?

Magento 2 is the latest version of an eCommerce platform that is used by 1 in 4 businesses. Released back in 2015, Magento 2 was welcomed with open arms thanks to its revamped user-friendly interface.

Should I Upgrade or Migrate to Magento 2?

Time is running out for Magento 1, Magento announced the end of life for Magento 1. Magento 1.x is rounding off its support on 30th June 2020, and those who fail to implement Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration won’t receive security updates anymore.

If you don’t migrate your Magento 1 store to Magento 2 after June ‘20, you’re on your own with anything your website may require. Official support is ending, so don’t expect any more official patches or security updates. The time for Magento 2 migration has finally come.

Therefore, for all the merchants on Magento 1, an upgrade to Magento 2 is an essential step to ensure the smooth operations and security of your online eCommerce store.

It is not just a compulsory upgrade, but a great opportunity to look into your customer experience presented by the current Magento 1 site and incorporate the new features from Magento 2.

Want to know the benefits coming from the Magento 2 upgrade, here is your quick guide.

What are the benefits of Magento 2 Upgrade?

Higher-level security from Magento 2

Security usually comes in as a top priority to online business along with the profitability. With the Magento 1 end of life, it means that no further security patches will be released. As a result, that leaves your site at high risk of hacks. As an eCommerce website, running on an outdated platform means that customers’ personal data including credit card details, passwords, names, addresses, and emails become vulnerable to these risks.

This is the reason why some of Australia’s leading eCommerce businesses such as Carpet Court, Accent Group and many other eCommerce businesses have already upgraded to Magento 2 because they understand that a simple upgrade could change their fate.

Migrating onto Magento 2 provides the comfort to merchants that you are in safe hands.

Improved platform performance from Magento 2

Nearly every aspect of the Magento 2 platform has been improved such as cache, checkout, hosting environment, B2B, website loading speed, inventory management, layered navigation. Operating on the Magento 2 platform becomes more smooth and reduces your administrative time on the backend.

Magento 2 adds attractive new features

The latest version Magento 2.3.4 released Page Builder to enhance the admin experience. Using the drag and drop modules to create the content pages makes it much easier.

Meanwhile, the new Live Chat powered by dotdigital enables merchants to proceed with real-time engagement with customers to increase conversation rates. The good news is that this service is in native Magento, no need to spend a dime on it.

Magento 2 helps with your online marketing

Google Shopping ads Channel is available for Magento 2 integrates Google Merchant Center (GMC) and Google Ads Account to advertise and sell Magento products. It adds one more sales channel and increases your product visibility on the search engine.

Magento 2 provides the top-notch mobile-friendly eCommerce stores

Magento has released its cutting-edge technology Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) Studio for early adopters to go ahead of the trend. Progressive Web Apps return customers in-app shopping experiences without costing merchants another sum of investment and time in building a mobile app. By writing the code only once, you’ve got to offer both amazing desktop and mobile experiences.

A full range of free and premium Magento extensions and themes is available in the Magento Marketplace to easily extend the functionality of your online store.

Future-proofing

Magento 2 is going to give you faster performance and greater stability and once you’ve migrated to Magento 2 you can rest assured that the platform is going to continue to improve as Magento invests in new features and functionality.

Better mobile shopping experience

Almost 50% of the transactions that happen online are now done through mobile devices. Many of the enhancements in Magento 2.0 significantly improve the mobile user experience. The conversion rate through mobile can be significantly improved with Magento 2 with improved website speed and mobile-friendly checkout.

The new admin interface by Magento 2

Magento 2 has revamped its admin interface and made it cleaner and easier to navigate.

Improved administrative experiences are the other focus of Magento 2.

How Do I Upgrade to Magento 2?

The process of migrating or upgrading existing from Magento 1.x sites is straightforward in some areas while other areas will take quite an extra effort. The best way to view it is as a re-platforming project rather than an upgrade.

Playtime’s Process for the Magento 1 to Magento 2 Migration and upgrading to Magento 2

It is quite a streamlined process as the following:

  • First, select a Magento 2 platform, either Open Source or Commerce.
  • Then create a backup of all artifacts from your Magento 1 platform.
  • Prepare all environments and build the site on Magento 2 based on your requirements.
  • Migrate to Magento 2 followed by acceptance tests.
  • Upgrade the integration to the external systems if any.
  • Switch off Magento 1 platform and DNS records to the new Magento 2 platform.
  • Further development on Magento 2 if new features are required.

There you go, a fresh Magento 2 site to reflect your new brand experience.

During the migration to Magento 2, your Magento 1 site will still run in parallel causing no interruption to your daily operations.

Why Playtime for the Magento 2 Migration?

There are many reasons to work with us for your Magento 2 migration.

As Magento experts, we focus on privacy and data security during the Magento 2 data migration process to ensure all your data is secured. We run tests on each sprint (process) to give maximum quality assurance.

Certified Scrum Product Owner to look after your projects using Agile methodology to provide the best value and project success.

As a Magento agency, we have over 7 years of experience in Magento development. You are in safe hands.

Check our Magento development portfolio and see if you like our work. Still not convinced, find out more here.

Free Magento 2 Migration Consultancy

While the Magento migration process can be difficult, hiring a professional Magento 2 development agency can make it easier and time-efficient.

A professional upgrade service is the best bet for store owners who want to ensure that the process is smooth and effective

While we understand that migrating to Magento 2 might be a big decision to make. No worries. Ring us on 1300 794 770 or complete the below form to get a 100% free consultation on Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration and upgrade. You will hear back from us within 24 hours.