Are you one of the many eCommerce companies considering a Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration? If such is the case, then you have landed in the right spot. Magento 2 is the latest version of the popular eCommerce platform and migrating to it is the need of the hour for businesses of all sizes.
However, the Magento 2 migration process is not like a ‘walk in the park’. It is a combination of careful planning, the right team, and tools. You must have a deep understanding of the best practices for a seamless Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration.
This comprehensive guide aims at familiarizing business owners with the technicality of the migration process from Magento 1 to Magento 2. What are the key considerations before initiating the process? How to choose the right service provider? How to formulate the migration plan? You can choose The NineHertz, a leading Magento development services provider for Magento migration. All this will and more will be answered, so without any further ado, let’s get started.
What is Magento 2 Migration?
Magento 2 migration is the process B2B companies and eCommerce merchants follow where their existing Magento 1 store is transferred to the Magento 2 store. This process of migration is often complex and tedious, but it is of utmost importance that as a business owner, you extract the benefits Magento 2 offers with its advanced features.
Why is it Essential to Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2?
Magento 2 offers far better performance as compared to Magento 1. While Magento 1 is still functional, migrating to Magento 2 will be beneficial to you in plenty of ways. We have listed all of the major reasons why you must consider migrating your existing Magento 1 eCommerce store to Magento 2.
1. Enhanced User Experience
The modern-looking design offered by Magento 2 is fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices. The platform gives a more engaging shopping experience along with features like product video carousels, enhanced search, and social sharing widgets. The navigation becomes extremely easy for customers and they can check out quickly and securely. All these things add up to ultimately increase conversion rates and average order values.
2. Better Security
Magento 2 offers more robust encryption and authentication methods. Further, Magento 2 has built-in security patches and updates. The platform is also loaded with integrated malware and virus protection which can help in protecting your website from malicious attacks.
3. Extended Functionality
Magento 2 provides extended functionality for complex B2B business operations. It assists B2B companies in managing complex pricing, payment options, quotes, and customer accounts. Further, it offers better order management, improved checkouts, and enhanced customer segmentation.
4. Enhanced Support
Magento 2 comes with developer support unlike Magento 1. Therefore, you can get help and assistance from Magento developers in case you get stuck during the process. In simple words, the technical support for instant solutions offered by Magento 2 will help you save time and money.
5. Database Segmentation
For each store view, Magento 2 uses a separate database. This helps in improving the overall performance as it reduces the number of queries that need to be made to the database. This functionality makes it easier when it comes to managing multiple store views from a single Magento installation.
Key Considerations Before Starting the Migration Process
There are ‘n’ number of changes that take place while migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 in terms of database structures, themes, and APIs. As a business owner, all you want is to have migration properly managed for avoiding any loss or downtime. Hence, a few things that you need to consider are listed down there:
1. Design a Migration Plan
As the process to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is pretty complex and requires deep understanding, all actions must be planned in advance. Mapping down all the steps from start to end will act both as a checklist and a flowchart. This will in turn lead you through the different milestones of the migration process.
2. Analyses of Functionalities
Digging into the functionalities of your website is an outcome of any sort of migration. This is an ideal time for you to analyze your website’s functionalities and remove redundancies since Magento 2 offers more native features that require very few third-party extensions.
Remember that code updating is a time-consuming process that requires significant money and effort. Therefore, while you analyze your code if you come across any unnecessary code or function then consider removing it to make it short and clean.
Interesting Fact: Do you know? The biggest online custom kitchen cabinets retailer in the USA – Cabinets.com reduced their average checkout time to 8 seconds ever since they migrated to Magento 2.
3. Check Compatibility with Respect to Extensions
If your online ecommerce store is loaded with extensions that are mandatory but not native to Magento 2 then you must plan a replacement for them. The architecture of both versions is completely different and that’s the reason for the lack of compatibility.
The Magento data migration tool however helps to migrate some custom code and a few extensions, but not all.
Moreover, if you want an extension of a particular functionality, then you must recreate it for Magento 2. There are plenty of reliable Magento Development Services and Magento Development Companies that you can avail of to get your desired business solution.
4. Avoid Data Leakage
Magento 2 comes with an impressive Magento data migration tool for executing the data migration process and as a result to store data a lot of your data does not have to be moved manually.
This Magento 2 data migration tool uses mapping for verifying consistency between your database structures for importing customer and product data to your new site. Also, the tool helps in keeping track of the entire data transfer process, running multiple verification tests, and creating logs to help locate if any problem occurs.
5. Some Manual Imports
Sadly, not all can be migrated automatically or via the tool. Your entire lot of media-related files (images and videos) on your website cannot be handled like product data.
These files need to be moved manually during the migration process. The manual process of migration also takes into account the storefront design, user and admin accounts, and access control lists.
What we suggest is that instead of doing this task yourself, you should take the help of some professional.
6. Checking the SEO
Reviewing your online store in terms of SEO for technical optimization is extremely important. Since the architecture is completely different, you must run through an eCommerce SEO checklist to avoid any potential pitfalls that may hamper the organic visibility of your website.
Please check the following while reviewing the optimization
- Meta tags for every product and its various categories
- SEO-friendly URLs to maximize product reachability
- Canonical tags for various products and categories
- Prefixes and suffixes for title tags help in better optimization
- Check the correctness of the path category used in the URLs
- Check whether or not the micro-data or rich snippets are used properly
- Ensure all the media integrated is well optimized
- See if the internal links are active & working properly
7. Testing & Performance Issues
Several issues might occur during migrations to Magento 2 as you are shifting to a completely new architecture. So with all being said, even with perfect planning and execution, you may face issues and that’s why testing is so imperative.
The testing phase will fix and tackle all the leftovers of performance issues.
Choosing the Right Magento Migration Service Provider
The hiring decision usually tricks a newbie as the path is treacherous where there are plenty of players claiming to be the best. Sadly, 80% of them are inexperienced and most of them don’t even have an in-house team. You must choose a company that is experienced and has an in-house team of certified Magento developers like us.
We at The NineHertz are a team of qualified and experienced IT professionals who have years of experience in the technology domain and are well-versed in crafting quality-oriented and scalable business solutions. Our experts at The NineHertz are at your service to get the most out of this leading E-Commerce platform.
Therefore, in case you are seeking Magento 2 upgrade services, The NineHertz will be your one-stop destination to provide you with everything you need to complete the Magento 2 migration process in the best manner possible.
So why wait any further? Just give us a call and kick-start your Magento Migration process NOW!
Steps Involved in Magento Migration
4 different components are involved in Magento migration.
1. Data (product, customer, and order data)
2. Extensions
3. Themes and customizations
4. Custom code
When deciding to move your online store to Magento 2, it’s necessary to come up with a migration plan detailing how and when things will be executed to successfully complete the Magento 2 data migration.
To make the transition smooth, you’ll need to follow 9 Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration steps. Let’s review each of these in detail:
Step 1: Formulate a Migration Plan
- The primary step within the Magento 2 data migration is to have a concrete plan.
- Make a list of all the features and review the actions to be taken
- Being more specific in terms of what exactly you want will help you greatly in reducing risks and cost
- Consider sharing your project plan with the admin team to make sure that everyone is on the same page
- This is important for streamlining the process and preventing duplicate communications
Step 2: Prepare a Testing Environment
- This process involves setting up a separate test development environment, configuring the version control system, and installing your chosen Magento 2 platform.
- All this is to make sure that everything is ready for running the project
- This helps in minimizing downtime for your online store by giving you a space for a dry run
Step 3: Review Extensions on your Current Site
- Consider reviewing all your themes, extensions, and plugins to check whether or not the best Magento 2 extensions and themes exist.
- If they don’t, you can replace them by visiting the e-commerce marketplace in order to find the latest versions.
- Another option is to contact your third-party extension providers
Step 4: Build and Prepare a Magento Store for Migration
- One of the most critical steps in the entire migration
- Use a topology and design layout similar to or better than your existing setup
- Then install Magento 2.x and the Magento data migration tool on a system that meets the installation requirements
Step 5: Dry Run
- A dry run to set up Magento 2 will be performed in your testing eCommerce environment.
- Once the test is completed, conduct an in-depth investigation of all the features
Step 6: Start your Migration
- Make sure the Magento data migration tool is open to connect the old database to the new database and manage the settings configuration
- There is a compatibility issue attached to the themes. Some can be migrated while some can’t so you may want to just start fresh with the new ones.
- As you have your list of extensions, now it’s the time to install the ones that you need and find those that can’t be migrated from the commerce store
- Custom capabilities can be migrated via Magento 2 data migration tool. Although some residual files need to be manually handled from the relevant directory post migration
- The data migration tool can be installed into the Magento 2 store using Composer (a shell application that requires the store to become operational)
- Time to check if everything runs smoothly. Effective troubleshooting will help in finding and synchronizing the database with no loopholes.
Step 7: Make Necessary Changes (if needed)
- Under this stage, any custom coding and extensions can be activated
- Users can set up different catalogue structures, CMS pages, etc.
- All the manual changes should be cross-checked to spot errors
- When a theme is deleted, an error might occur when running the data migration tool in Delta mode.
Step 8: Incremental Data Update
- Post-migration, one must incrementally capture the updates in terms of data that have been added to the Magento 1 store.
- Updates can be new orders, reviews, or any modifications or changes in the customer profile.
- Next is to transfer these updates to the Magento 2 store with the help of Delta mode.
Step 9: Launch Your Magento Store on a Live Server
- Everything is good to go as soon as the data is verified and everything is documented, executed, and tested.
- Now you can start selling and shipping products right away.
What Can Go Wrong While Migration?
Planning and auditing go hand in hand while handling a complex project or task. There is always a slight risk attached to any complex task of any sort of deviation or error in the plan.
Multiple unexpected delays could happen during the migration especially when there are a huge bunch of themes and extensions to migrate. Let’s address some of the most common challenges or issues during this process:
1. Magento 2 Migration is a Lot More than Just Simple Drag and Drop
It is a very critical point in terms of both time and business considerations. Cloning your existing website and running on a completely new architecture is a tedious process and takes time, money, and efforts
2. Messy Code and Complex Plugins Can Become a Cause Delay
All these issues add up to ultimately delay the migration process and slow down the data transfer. Always make sure to double-check the custom code and custom themes to avoid any delay. A proper audit can help extensively in such a case.
3. Poor SEO Post Migration
After the migration is done, there are chances that you may experience poor SEO performance. This is due to the difference in the page structure of Magneto 2. Here developers will have to tag all pages manually to redirect.
All the Magento migration issues can be fixed if you have systems in place. Plan and execute accordingly by involving all your stakeholders. But all this is worth seeing the enormous popularity of Magento 2 and the fact that Magento 1 is on the verge of dying.
Conclusion: Magento 2 Migration
In the end, let us conclude by saying that if you follow these tips and practices, then you should be able to seamlessly migrate your store to Magento 2 with minimum hassle. If you are a beginner with no technical knowledge then consider working with an experienced Magento development partner.
A trusted Magento Development Company or Agency can assist you with the migration process as they know the nitty-gritty of the whole process. So that’s it for now and please feel free to post your feedback in the comment section below.
FAQ’s: Magento 1 to Magento 2 Migration
Q.1 What is Magento 2 Migration?
The process where you upgrade your website from an older Magento version (such as Magento 1.9) to a newer Magento version (such as Magento 2.2) comes under Magento migration. This process of migration typically involves transferring data, settings, and customizations from the old web store to the new one.
Q.2 Why Should I Migrate My Magento Store?
Migrating your store to Magento 2 gives you a lot of benefits. Magento 2 has come with major improvements that help you in administering your online ecommerce store with more accuracy and ease. The new enhanced step-by-step product creation tactics allow the user to put products into his store much more quickly and precisely. This in turn helps in adding products up to 4 times quicker than in Magento 1.
Q.3 What are the Key Considerations Before Migrating My Magento Store?
Always keep in mind the following points before choosing your Magento development company:
1. Portfolio
The portfolio of your Magento agency should be extensive enough and must contain other projects and assignments similar to yours.
2. Team
You need to be aware of whether the company has an in-house team of developers or it hires external Magento developers.
In the case of in-house teams:
- Check whether the size of the company’s team is big enough to handle a project of your scope.
- Secondly, make sure that it possesses the right qualification to match your project needs.
In the case of external teams:
- If the agency hires external staff, you will most likely end up stretching your initial budget as each party involved will have an additional fee.
- If the external team is underqualified for the job, your final product might lose its quality and standard.
Note: Companies usually don’t disclose this information, so you need to explicitly reconfirm this in order to be sure.
3. Service Package
Make sure the following points are included in the service package offered by the company:
- Analytics
- SEO
- Design
- Front-end / Back-end development
- Post-go-live support, etc.
Q.4 What is involved in the Magento Migration Process?
During the process you need to follow the following points:
- Create a backup of your Magento 1 store with all folders, files, and databases. Create a Magento 1 store clone.
- Analyze your store.
- Check the store in terms of compatibility of current extensions, themes, and custom code with Magento 2.
- Now it’s time to perform data migration from the cloned database of the Magento 1 store.
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