If Magento version 1 is what powers your ecommerce site, you could be forgiven for being concerned. The company’s announcement at the release of version 2 that the older platform would shortly be decommissioned, along with any technical support, put fear through the hearts of many customers.
Since then, lots of rumours have been flying about on community forums, predicting all sorts of technical disasters. Although the real truth may not mean the advent of ecommerce doomsday, making sure that your company’s site is prepared for potential changes will help to save you a lot of stress in the long term.
What is the latest news from Magento?
Initially, Magento announced the end date for version 1 support as November 18th 2018. After this point, any customers using the original platform would either have to transition to version 2, or take their chances with no technical support or security updates. This led some version 1 customers to take drastic action, either by moving to a totally new CMS platform, or commissioning an upgrade of their entire site to version 2.
Magento quickly realised that this sudden transition would not only cause problems for their customers, but for the company itself (moving even a significant proportion of their customers on to the new platform was proving more of an in-house technical headache than just offering support for version 1). This led them to reconsider their decision and postpone the end date, for now.
What does it mean for Magento customers?
You don’t have to rush into making any upgrade decisions for now, as the end date has been put back indefinitely and Magento have promised that customers will be told 18 months in advance of this support being withdrawn. This means that even if you wait for the announcement, you’ll have plenty of time to make the changes that you need.
However, the decommissioning of version 1 means that sites which use this edition will no longer be able to access the latest performance capabilities and security protocols which make version 2 more powerful.
So, what should Magento customers do next?
Magento customers may see this incoming update as a headache that they could rather do without. However, if you start to see it as an opportunity, then it could be highly beneficial for your site. There are two main options for Magento customers facing this update; transition your whole site onto Magento version 2, or consider a whole new ecommerce platform altogether.
Although Magento is certainly one of the most popular (if not the most popular) ecommerce CMS platforms on the market, with between 25% and 30% of all ecommerce sites estimated to be Magento powered, there are a huge range of other options out there. Shopify, OpenCart and WooCommerce are just some and are worth checking out if you are no longer happy with the Magento platform. All three offer free trials or demos, so it won’t even cost you anything to give them ago.
Of course, if you’re happy with Magento, then upgrading to the new version is likely to be the best option. In their latest announcement, Magento also outlined the updates that version 2 will provide, which include better business performance capabilities. So you’ll not only have no upgrade worries, but you can benefit from software’s latest updates and capabilities, a win-win for you and your business.
Get advice and support from catalyst2
If you’re still not sure about the best way to deal with this upcoming upgrade, or need advice and technical support for your Magento 2 migration, please give our expert technical team a call so they can help you make the right decision for your business’ site. Read here about our magento hosting.
