Three removes are as bad as a fire.
If you’ve ever moved to a new place, you know that this quote is close to being true. Every move brings chaos, losses, and damages. So there is no wonder that Magento 1 store owners shudder at the thought of migrating to Magento 2.
How to deal with all the customization made for the current website?
How to save all the features?
How not to lose any important data?
These and other questions are bothering merchants’ minds and convinced that migration to Magento 2 is not urgent.
So, today, we will face basic fears and find solutions to the most common problems that the migration process brings.
Click to learn how to solve all the problems at once →
Problem #1. Magento 1 theme doesn’t work on Magento 2
When you migrate to Magento 2 you cannot take your current theme with you. You will need to find a new one. And running ahead of your question, yes, you will need to redo all the customizations you made to the storefront.
To reduce all this workload, you can buy a ready-made theme. Thus, you will just need to install, test it and make customizations. Some themes even come with built-in extensions and Style Guides that speed up migration and ease customizations.
Also, themes for Magento 2 work faster and have better code structure, so it’s easier to reach better performance with them
Problem #2. You need to find extensions with all the features you used to have
Same as with the theme, M1 and M2 extensions differ. Some of the features were included in vanilla Magento functionality others realized in third-party plugins.
And if choosing new seams like a painful process for you, let’s see the bright side.
Migration is a good moment to review everything you have installed to your Magento and leave only the essentials. Moreover, you will probably need to get fewer extensions because M2 functionality is reacher than M1. And the fewer modules you install, the better the performance has your site.
Finally, do you remember how difficult it is to install a new plugin on Magento 1? With Magento 2, you will get fewer conflicts and compatibility issues due to the support of HTML5, LESS, and CSS3.
Read our risk-free step-by-step migration plan →
Problem #3. Testing, testing, testing
Opponents of migration to Magento 2 often like to remind store owners: you’ll have to test absolutely everything, and it will take forever.
Well, we won’t hide this from you. It definitely will take time. But actually, Magento 2 has automation opportunities, and one of them is MFTF. All the basic functionality you can test automatically out of the box. Also, we at Amasty cover our extensions with MFTF tests, so they can be auto-tested too.
Learn more about how to automate Magento 2 testing with MFTF →
Problem #4. SEO issues
Magento 1 and Magento 2 have different database structures. How does it correspond with SEO? When you move to Magento 2, you see changes in the URL structure that may affect the re-indexing of your website and lead to traffic loss.
But there are 2 solutions to this problem.
First off, Magento 2 has vanilla settings for URL Rewrites. You can see how they work and how to enable this feature here.
But if you want even more advanced functionality, you can check third-party solutions. For example, we are now working on the URL Rewrites Regenerator extension, and it will be released soon. Using this extension, you will be able to set up configurable category/product URL suffixes, paths, separators, canonical links, and other SEO settings that make your URLs look better.
How to transfer all the data without losing anything→
Problem #5. New integrations
If you have made any integrations of your Magento with CRM, ERP, or payment getaways, you will need to make them all over again. But Magento 2 has more built-in integrations out-of-box and supports advanced APIs. Moreover, vendors provide ready-made solutions for different integrations where you need just set up API Key and API Secret for a secure connection. And if you need some custom integration, you can hire a team of developers for the integration service.
Problem #6. Downtime
What a scary word is downtime. You can even hear the rustle of banknotes you lose for every second your store is not working. Luckily, it’s easy to minimize this risk. You can choose the day and time for migration when you have the lowest traffic. For example, it may be the night time during the low season right after holidays or weekends. Moreover, when we are talking about the migration process, the downtime here is pretty short and most often takes only a few minutes.
Problem #7. Skyrocketing costs
Migration to Magento 2 is pricey. It’s true. You need to buy a new theme, extensions, pay developers, and so on. But these are not just expenses, they are investments.
According to Stax research, Migration to Magento 2 has 165% ROI, including a 29% increase in mobile revenue and a 5% growth of average cheque.
Problem #8. New interface
Magento 2 has a different interface. And it can look difficult to re-learn how to use the platform. But armed with Magento user guides and the supportive community, you will adapt to it and realize how user-friendly it is.
How to solve all the problems at once
All the problems we talked about above have solutions, but they still can be a real headache. The good news is that you can solve all of them in one place - at Amasty.
Need a new customizable theme? We have the Jet theme that has style guides and 4 built-in extensions.
Looking for the extensions? We know our onions when it comes to Magento modules.
Need a hand with integrations? Our experts are ready to provide you with the integration service.
And it’s not it. Our custom development team is ready to help you with every step of the migration process as part of the Magento migration service.
Why are we so confident in our success? Because we already faced all these challenges and nailed them! Right now, we are on the last steps of migrating our own website to Magento 2. And in the next articles, we’ll tell you our migration story with all the ups and downs.
Stay tuned not to miss new posts!