Switching from Magento 1 to Magento 2: this is where you need to pay attention to

At the end of June 2020, Magento stopped with the official support of Magento 1. Therefore, many webshop owners were faced with an important decision: switch to Magento 2, switch to another webshop software or keep running on Magento 1 for the time being?

Our experience is that many webshops have switched to Magento 2. Although it is a fairly drastic switch, it can be implemented without much effort when having technical knowledge and a good preparation.

Please note that just updating Magento 1 into Magento 2 is not possible, as Magento 2 is a new platform developed from scratch. A new webshop has to be built and the data has to be seamlessly transferred to the new webshop.

However, there are many things available, such as migration scripts and tools to transfer Magento 1 extensions to Magento 2 extensions.

Switching from Magento 1 to Magento 2

We assume you have decided to switch from Magento 1 to Magento 2, or, at least, your plan is to do so.

But what is involved with this decision?

What do you need to consider?

In this article, we explain what things you have to pay attention to, to make a migration from your Magento 1 to your Magento 2 platform as smooth as possible.

Of course, you will get some tips you have not read before!

Start with a Migration plan

Don’t just start, but start with a migration plan. In this plan you will map the current situation of your webshop and set the requirements for your new Magento 2 store.

You determine the duration of your migration, map how your current webshop is doing and what you want (and want you don’t want) to transfer to your new Magento 2 shop.

Map your current Magento 1 webshop

A part of the migration plan is getting insight into your current Magento 1 installation. Have a look at all the extensions that are used.

Map them all and have a critical look at which ones you still want to use for your Magento 2 shop and which extensions are unnecessary. This is very important because these features may already be available in Magento 2 by default and prevent you from putting too much time into extensions you may not even be using anymore.

A migration is not only a tedious and time-consuming job, but it also offers some opportunities. It forces you to take a critical look at all the links and extensions you may not need anymore.

It is also good to see whether customization has been provided for some special functionalities that are not standard. Does this customization have to be made again (or migrated) for the new shop? Is there a standard solution or extension for this in Magento 2? And do you still really need this customization?

It might also be a good moment to see which meta data you currently store and whether this can be extended. What is old? What can be renewed? And what can be added to your new online store?

All those insights can be mapped together (for example in a spreadsheet). Create columns in which current functionalities and plugins can be stored. Work with priorities if necessary.

Map your desired situation

Now your current situation is mapped, the time has come to look at the situation you want to achieve, the desired situation.

Of course, the desired situation is a new Magento 2 store that has at least the same requirements as your old, familiar Magento 1 installation.

Take a look at what should be your Most Valuable Product (MVP), which plugins and functionalities can’t be missed and what customer data is necessary.

Also, this can be mapped in the same spreadsheet as you used for mapping the ‘old’ situation. You can also add a column with ‘nice to haves’ and ‘must haves’.

Choose a reliable Magento developer

As mentioned above, it is not possible to just update your Magento 1 shop to Magento 2. A new website will have to be developed when you switch to Magento 2.

Our experience with Magento developers differs. However, thanks to our experience and expertise, we know which agencies deliver excellent results.

Would you like more information about this? Please get in touch with us.

The migration itself

We assume your web developer has done a great job and that it is time to transfer your data from your old to the new platform.

There are several methods for this, including using the tool Magento has developed for migrations from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

This Data Migration Tool of Magento ensures all the important data can be transferred relatively easily.

The migration has 3 phases:

• Configuration settings are transferred from Magento 1 to the Magento 2 webshop.
• All selected data is migrated to the new shop
• Generated data during the migration will be migrated to the new webshop.

It may also be possible that a web developer or the Magento agency has developed their own migration tool or other solution to make the migration happen.

It is important to collect information about this in advance and to discover their experiences.

Testing

When the data has been transferred successfully, it is time to test. Do not assume the data has been transferred correctly, make sure everything is correctly done by checking it yourself, so invest a lot of time here.

Has all customer data transferred well? Order history? User accounts? Check the database data as well as the hard customer data.

Also test some logins. If the hash that Magento uses to store the passwords does not match, or the users are not added to the correct store (in case of a multistore), none of the users can login on the new Magento 2 store anymore.

In short: something you want to have tested!

You also have to test if all functionalities are still working the way you want after the data migration.

Furthermore, it is recommended to perform a performance test before the online store goes live. Magento has Varnish by default, however the standard configuration of it is not the way it is supposed to be.

It is important that the ‘optimization level’ of your new application (Magento 2) is the same or better than the previous / current application (Magento 1).

By performing a performance test, you can be sure that your Magento 2 webshop can process an equal amount of load as your current Magento 1 webshop.

The Magento 2 migration: To production and evaluation

Now the time has come to transfer the developed Magento 2 webshop with all data and functionalities to the production environment.

An exciting moment, but with a good transition plan and a reliable Magento web developer, most of the work has already been done.

It is time to put your new shop live and test everything again.

Switching to Magento 2

Switching has two meanings in this case:

1. Developing a new Magento 2 webshop
2. Migration of all data from Magento 1 to your new Magento 2 shop

It is important to make a migration plan.In an ideal way, you do this with a triangle: the webshop owner, the web host and the web developer.

As a webshop owner, you discuss your wishes and the current and desired situation. Together you will come to a plan that ensures a successful migration to Magento 2.

Need some help or advice? Then contact one of our Magento 2 specialists.