What is Magento 1 to 2 migration?

Magento 1 reached its end of life on July 31, 2020, paving the way for Magento 2 as its superior successor. Adobe confidently promotes this version as the premier eCommerce solution for the future. When considering business development strategies, it is advisable to explore migrating to Magento 2 to leverage the advanced technological capabilities it offers. Our expertise in seamless migrations ensures that businesses capitalize on this progress effectively, positioning themselves for sustained success in the eCommerce landscape.

M1 to M2 migration structure

Magento 2 migration consists of three components:

• data migration,
• extension migration,
• theme migration and customizations.

Data migration

The Magento Community developed  Magento 2 Data Migration Tool to help the users effectively move all the data (products, customers, orders, store configurations, promotions) to the higher version of a system which is Magento 2. Below you will find more information on the tool and a link to download it.

Magento Extensions and custom code

The Magento Community developed as well all extensions existing in Magento 1 to adjust them to Magento 2. You can easily find them to download or purchase the latest version in Magento Marketplace.

More information on developing extensions for Magento 2 is available in the PHP Developer Guide at Magento devDocs.

Themes and customizations

To fully take advantage of Magento 2 technology focused on creating a unique customer experience you will need to introduce some amendments and customizations in themes and layouts. All documentation is delivered online. They are to help your store achieve the best possible performance and security.

E-commerce owners dilemmas about Magento migration

(Magento 1 to Magento 2)

Shop owners who still have their e-commerce on Magento 1 software think in that way:

• “Should I migrate the Magento 1 store to Magento 2?”
• “Can I stay on Magento 1 store?
• “What about security patches on Magento 1 and Magento 2?”
• “Is migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 fast?”
• “Should I migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 with PWA?”

On every above question, we can answer – it depends… We can agree that every one of them is important and interesting. E-commerce owners’ positions are different and the way of actions depends on the individual situation. As an experienced Magento Agency, we know how to adjust to the individual needs of our Magento customers. After a year till Magento 1 is not supported anymore by Adobe, we know much more about the Magento migration process. Many issues are tested and practiced so we can advise our clients on the best solutions for Magento 2 data migration or Magento data migration tool etc.

Preparing Magento migration process

Four years ago we decided to observe Magento 2 development and we didn’t migrate our clients from Magento 1 in the first two years. It was a good decision from a business perspective because Clients and we were focusing on developing the existing Magento 1 platform. And in the meantime, we could observe the Magento 2 startup and follow the best practice of data migration from Magento.

During that time we were able to test functionalities, extensions, scalability. We found bottlenecks, things that were not used. Black Friday and Cyber Monday became not so scary as we thought at the beginning. Our clients could benefit from the peak traffic supported by a reliable Magento engine and SEO settings. After these years we can say that we’ve tested the migration process in detail, focusing on the Magento data migration tool which is still developed to make the migration easier and easier.

The complexity of Magento 2 migration depends on the way your site is built and the customization levels of the Magento 1 store.

What is Magento1 to Magento 2 migration in the real world?

From our experience and experience of other e-commerce companies, migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is a new IT project which starts from the beginning. A huge advantage during this migration is – client and we know what kind of functionalities were created on Magento 1, which are not used, and which of them will be new.

It’s possible to smoothly migrate the database from Magento 1 to Magento 2 with some adjustments and extends. Magento created a tool for database migration – it’s available here (https://github.com/magento/data-migration-tool).

It’s not possible to migrate code, extensions that have been created from scratch. This part has to be rewritten. In most cases, third-party extensions exist on Magento 1 and also on Magento 2.

What about the frontend part? Yes, in most cases it should be rewritten. So in a nutshell Magento 1 has a different frontend structure than Magento 2.

Let’s try to answer the most popular questions about the migration of Magento 1 to Magento 2. 

“Should I migrate the Magento 1 store to Magento 2?”

1. Yes, if you need to be PCI compliant and you do not want to use separate checkout on Magento 1.
2. Yes, if you want to redesign your current shop – do it on Magento 2 with separated frontend parts like ScandiPWA solution or PWA Studio.
3. No, if you do not have a budget for this process – you can upgrade your Magento 1 to OpenMage LTS – https://github.com/OpenMage/magento-lts

“Can I stay at Magento 1 store?”

1. Yes but make sure that your e-commerce will be PCI compliant.
2. Yes, you can use OpenMage LTS – https://github.com/OpenMage/magento-lts which is developed by the community.
3. No, if you have long term plan for your e-commerce.

“What about security patches on Magento 1 and Magento 2?”

1. Magento 1 patches will be created by MageOne company: https://mage-one.com/ – the price depends on your annual revenue.
2. Magento 2 will create security patches but you have to bear in mind that you should upgrade Magento 2 version. Old Magento 2 versions are not supported.

“Is migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 fast?”

1. Yes, if you do not have a lot of customization on Magento 1.
2. No, if you want to migrate functionalities that have been developed in years.
3. Do not believe that – “we will do it for you in one week” 🙂

“Should I migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 with PWA?”

1. Yes. On the market, we have a few solutions for PWA. One of them which is open source and good is ScandiPWA. We use this solution for our clients who migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2.
2. No, if you want to use standard Magento 2 frontend- Use ScandiPWA from PWA Studio solutions.

Conclusion

If you need help in decision making – “migrate or not to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2” please contact us. We will help you! You can trust we are Magento experts and know how to support your business with Magento 2. 

• Migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2 in 4 steps please find here.
• Successful migration from Magento 1 used since 2008 to Magento 2 with PWA solution. Read more!