7 Challenges in Magento 2 Migration and How to Overcome Them

When it comes to choosing a perfect eCommerce platform, many developers and entrepreneurs prefer to go with Magento. Magento is one of the top PHP-based eCommerce platforms that is abundant in resources and features. Over 250,000 websites worldwide rely on Magento as their eCommerce platform.

However, only 11,000 of those websites run on Magento 2. The number is significantly low may be due to the several challenges in Magento migration. Magento 1 users are quite hesitant to migrate to Magento 2 because of the fear of chaos, loss, and damages caused during the migration process. So, how to overcome these challenges in Magento 2 migration? How to keep your features and data safe from damage or loss? In this article, you will discover 7 challenges in Magento 2 migration and how to overcome them.

Moreover, as support for Magento 1 software has ended on June 3, 2020, it’s high time that Magento 1 users should migrate to Magento 2 to keep their online store safe and secure.

Major Problems with Magento 2 Migration

1. Magento 2 Does Not Support Magento 1 Theme

When migrating from Magento 2, you cannot use Magento 1 theme for your online store. You will have to find a new theme. And so, you will need to do Magento theme customization all over again.

You can purchase a ready-made Magento theme if you want to save yourself from all this workload. You simply need to install the theme, test it, and customize it according to your requirements. Some themes also have built-in extensions and Style Guides that facilitate faster Magento migration and easy customization.

Magento 2 themes also have fast loading times and better code structure which enhances your store performance.

2. You Need to Look for Extensions with All the Features You Had Earlier 

Just like the theme issue, Magento 1 and Magento 2 extensions are quite different. While some features were incorporated in vanilla Magento functionality, others were in 3rd-party plugins. 

Finding new extensions may seem to be a hectic process, but look at its bright side. Magento 2 migration allows you to review everything installed on your Magento store and keep only what’s essential. As Magento 2 is richer than Magento 1, you may need fewer extensions for your store. So, the fewer extensions you use, the better will be the store performance. Besides, with Magento 2, you will face fewer conflicts and compatibility issues thanks to the HTM5, CSS, and LESS support.

3. You Need to Test Everything 

The process of Magento migration involves constant testing of all elements of your Magento store. Of course, this is a tedious and time-taking task, however, this would only ensure that your store is performing as expected. 

With Magento 2, testing becomes much easier. Magento 2 has automation opportunities that help you auto-test all the key functionalities of your store.

4. You May Face SEO Issues

Both your website and content should be optimized for higher rankings on the search engine result pages. However, the Magento 2 migration process may lead to less web traffic. Loss of traffic is due to many reasons including:

• Unproductive changes to the site’s URL structure are caused due to the failure of Google to crawl your website.
• Less SEO-friendly content and page URLs.
• Major challenges in the website’s structure, which will lead to a lack of functionality.

These can be resolved by defining the migration scope and implementing 301 redirects properly. These redirects notify Google of your website URL’s new location. All the data, link juice, and traffic will be redirected to the new website in place of the old one. Evaluate your store performance and establish the indexing process. 

Fix the broken links and make sure to correct 301 redirects. Also, do not forget to update your Google console after the migration process to maintain the flow of traffic.

5. You Require New Integrations

If you have integrated your Magento with payment gateways, CRM, ERP, or any other third-party services, you will need to redo it. However, Magento offers more built-in and out-of-the-box integrations and supports advanced APIs. Furthermore, vendors offer ready-to-use solutions for various integrations that involve setting up API Key and API Secret to establish a secure connection.

Also, if you need custom Magento integration, you can hire Magento developers who can do the job for you.

6. Database Migration is Not Easy

Moving an entire database during Magento 2 migration can be a complicated process. If executed properly, there’s no risk of loss or damage of the crucial product, customer, or order data. Magento has officially curated Magento 2 Data migration tool for a smooth and convenient migration process. The tool uses CLI commands to transfer your data from Magento 1 to Magento 2. According to the latest modifications, this tool can only migrate product, customer, and order data along with the store settings.

7. Magento 2 Migration is Costly

Magento 2 migration from Magento 1 or any other platform is an expensive affair. It’s because you need to purchase a new theme, extensions, and plugins, hire Magento developers, and so on. However, these are not only expenses, they are good investments for your Magento 2 store. As per the Stax research, Magento 2 migration earns 165% ROI, along with a 29% growth in mobile revenue.

Why Should You Migrate to Magento 2?

While merchants face several challenges in Magento migration along with the above-mentioned ones, they also generate better outcomes. By migrating to Magento 2, you can offer endless digital commerce experiences that will help you increase your customer base and revenue. 

Here are the major outcomes of migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

• Super-fast page loading speed 
• High-performance capabilities
• Better scalability
• Enhanced B2B infrastructure
• Simple, intuitive, and robust UI
• Easy navigational features

How to Overcome These Challenges?

All the challenges in Magento 2 migration discussed above come with solutions, however, they still can cause headaches and frustration. With the support of a professional Magento 2 development company, you can solve all of them easily.

If you need a brand new, customizable theme for your store, you can take the help of experts who can help you build a stunning Magento storefront with essential features and functionalities. Likewise, you can even add custom extensions to add unique functionalities to your store. Furthermore, Magento 2 experts can also provide Magento integration services to help you deliver a seamless customer experience.

For successful Magento 2 migration, it is always best to outsource the requirement to Magento 2 experts who have years of experience in migrating Magento stores for small-medium to large-scale enterprises. Having migrated hundreds of Magento stores, they are aware of the challenges in Magento 2 migration and know how to solve them. They will migrate your online store without affecting its user experience or search engine ranking. 

Today, most Magento development agencies offer the Magento migration service as a part of their custom Magento 2 development service suite. If you’re still running your online store on the Magento 1 version, consider this as an invitation to migrate to Magento 2 for better store performance, customer experience, and security.

So, what are you waiting for? Contact a reliable Magento solution partner and take a step towards the success of your eCommerce journey today!

Author – Ashley Brown is a Senior Magento 2 developer, apart from professional occupation, She also writes articles and blogs on topics related to Magento eCommerce development and market trends to educate eCommerce entrepreneurs and professionals. In her free time, Ashley loves cycling and exploring new places.