Magento 2 Migration

Migrating to Magento 2.

There are many reasons why migrating to Magento 2 is beneficial but for instance, it’s much faster, better all-round and fully responsive so also looks great on all devices.

Every retailer running a Magento 1 website will need to migrate eventually. As the end of life date gets closer, many businesses may find themselves in a crunch to get it done and will be waiting in line behind other last-minute retailers. If you decide to wait, set a target date, plan your strategy and budget for it. Moving to Magento 2 will be busy enough as it is. Why complicate the process by waiting too long and dealing with the additional stresses of tight deadlines?

Magento 1 Support Deadline.

The original end of support deadline was due to be November 2018 but Magento has now postponed the ‘M1 end of life’ date and announced that support won’t end in the foreseeable future. Magento has also promised to give retailers at least 18 months notice before the next deadline. You can read this announcement and sign-up to future alerts by clicking here.

End of life essentially means that Magento will no longer release security patches and updates for Magento 1 versions and no new Magento 1 features, extensions or software versions will be published.

Upgrading or migrating to Magento 2 is not as simple as running an upgrade script or issuing a few basic commands. Migrating is a complex process. Magento 2 comes with a completely different architecture and database design and whilst lots of people talk about ‘upgrading’ or ‘migrating’ to Magento, migration is essentially a full rebuild.

Is Upgrading Required.

One thing to bear in mind is that moving to Magento 2 is not an upgrade, but a full-scale replatforming exercise. Magento 2 bears many similarities to Magento 1.x versions, both in the front end and the admin area but it is fundamentally a different platform with wholly new coding structures and a brand new database architecture.

As such, any transition to Magento 2 requires careful planning and execution so the first step in the transition process is to conduct an assessment of your current installation. This should incorporate a functional definition of your operations, highlighting any areas that are specific to your organisation (custom extensions, integrations and workflows), areas where the Magento platform could be improved to meet your needs (and generally be more efficient) and areas where you would like to add additional functionality.

Another part of your initial assessment should be to identify any new business requirements that could be impacted by a move to Magento 2. If you’ve not implemented a fully responsive design in your existing Magento 1 store for example, the transition to Magento 2 would provide the perfect opportunity to rectify that. Since Magento 1.x themes aren’t transferrable to Magento 2 you should consider any desired front-end improvements at this stage to save both time and money, long-term.

Migration Timescale.

The amount of time it takes to move to Magento 2 depends on the number of customisations, store complexity, extensions required and data migration requirements. Migration for a typical store with minimal 3rd party integrations would take approximately 3 to 6 months. The reason it can take some time is because migration is actually a full rebuild so it’s also a great opportunity to update your layout, theme and modules whilst also preparing for longevity with the new platform.

Migration Costs.

The varying nature of Magento projects makes it difficult to predict an exact cost to migrate. Your choice of edition, modules, theme and content also plays a huge part in any cost consideration. To give you an idea, if you preserve your site design then your migration costs will generally be lower, however you should still expect to spend a minimum of around £25,000 to migrate your existing site to Magento 2. Sites with advanced features, integrations and custom programming could end up costing considerably more and although you may get a cheaper price from a freelancer or offshore developer, be extremely cautious – you should consider time zones, communication barriers, availability and ongoing support issues before considering offshore outsourcing.

Your web developers experience and talent is also a factor when it comes to cost. SimpleServe Web Design has a complete team of experienced designers, project managers, SEO experts and programmers. We will suggest ways to lower costs if you need it.

More Information.

As a reputable Magento development agency, we’re happy to evaluate your current Magento implementation and provide an accurate estimate. Likewise, if you’re looking for help with your web development requirements, or if you want to have a chat about the possibility of us taking over from your existing web developer, Get in Touch for an informal chat and a free no obligation quote.