Magento 1 vs Magento 2: Why Should You Upgrade?
Launched in 2008, Magento quickly became one of the biggest open-source e-commerce platforms in the world. In the decade-plus since its initial beta launch, more than 250,000 stores use the platform and the code has been downloaded over 2.5 million times.
In a quest to improve their platform, Magento launched their new and improved platform, Magento 2, in 2015. Adobe acquired the company in 2018 and, by 2020, the company was finally ready to make the full switch to the upgraded platform. June 30, 2020, became the final date that the company would provide service for Magento 1 and its full attention was shifted to Magento 2.
We are now approaching a whole year since the end-of-service (EOS) date for Magento 1 and, while many organizations have already shifted to Magento 2, others have not. If you are one of the companies still using the legacy version of Magento, now is the time to upgrade and here are a few reasons why.
Staying with Magento 1 vs Magento 2
The main reason companies want to stay with Magento 1 instead of upgrading to Magento 2 is that it seems cheaper and easier to do so. There is an up-front capital and time investment that comes with the upgrade that some are unwilling to invest. These are the organizations that abide by the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra.
This is an understandable approach but it is getting less defensible as time goes on. Upgrading to Magento 2 is a good idea for many reasons, which we’ll get into below. And because we’ve passed the EOS date, the cheap and easy argument carries less weight. While it may be cheaper and easier in the short term to stick with Magento 1, if there is ever a problem and you can’t get customer service, you can create downtime for your store and you may have to pay extra for an expedited upgrade. Your short-term savings can easily turn into a long-term headache.
Reasons to Upgrade
LIventus’ Magento 1 vs Magento 2 breakdown states that there isn’t really any significant reason to delay making the switch at this point. There are, however, several reasons that you will want to make the switch as soon as possible. Here are a few of these reasons.
Upgraded Security
One of the main takeaways from 2020 is that cybersecurity is more important than ever. It was a year that saw a big increase in online e-commerce but that brought about a large uptick in cyberattacks as well.
Because Magento is no longer providing service to its legacy product, Magento is also no longer providing updates, which means no more security patches. For Magento 1 users, your e-commerce platform is now vulnerable to any new threat or virus that has been developed since July 1, 2020. This scary reality should send you running to upgrade to Magento 2 faster than any other reason in this list.
More SEO-friendly
Getting your e-commerce store in front of potential customers is all about search engine optimization (SEO). These best practices are the best way to increase the quality and quantity of traffic to your site. Two big pieces of technical SEO, which will help get your pages shown higher on search engine results pages (SERP), are page load time and mobile optimization.
The page load times for Magento 1 are something that users have urged the company to upgrade for a long time now. With Magento 2, the company has addressed these complaints. Magento 2 delivers a new tech stack that improves load time by about 2 seconds or up to 50% faster. This huge improvement will help you keep users on your page.
Mobile e-commerce is huge in 2021. More than 80% of internet users in the U.S. have used their mobile devices to buy something. More than 1/3 of these users ONLY use their phone to make online purchases. Magento 2 delivers themes that are all optimized for mobile, so a site that is cumbersome and hard to deal with for mobile users will be a thing of the past.
Easier Checkout Process
Another big issue that Magento 1 users will be incredibly familiar with is the checkout process. This process, which involves 6 steps – checkout method, billing, shipping, shipping method, payment method, and order review – is clunky and can be frustrating for users. It can be so frustrating it can lead to abandoned carts. Magento 2 streamlines this process for the benefit of shop owners and consumers alike.
With Magento 2, this long, drawn-out six-step process is culled down to two easy steps. There is shipping then payment confirmation. That’s it. It makes the checkout process quicker and easier, giving consumers less time to change their mind and reducing frustration with the previously cumbersome process. This helps cut down on abandoned carts and the loss of revenue that comes with them.
Better Admin Panel
The last major issue that Magento 2 addresses head-on from Magento 1 is the back-end admin panel. Talk to anyone who managed the back-end of a Magento site and they will likely have some horror stories to tell. The upgraded admin panel is still not perfect and will take some practice to become expert at navigating but it is, overall, much easier and more intuitive for users.
Conclusion
Keeping Magento 1, for now, may save you a little time and money but it simply doesn’t make sense long term. The longer you wait, the more expensive it may become, and you are leaving your e-commerce site open to the latest cyber attacks. With Magento 2, you not only get up-to-date security, but you also get a host of features and benefits including better page load speed, optimization for mobile, a much easier checkout process, and a simpler and easier-to-use admin panel. For these reasons and more, you should upgrade in 2021.
