Magento 1 support end-of-life

In just 4 months, by June 2020, Magento 1 support will stop for businesses. This will include software updates and security patches for its popular and widely-used Commerce 1 and Open Source CMS platforms. Statistics sources show the number of impacted online stores is currently estimated to be between 200,000 and 240,000.

With the announcement comes major concern for all Magento store owners and the biggest question on everyone’s mind is – “What now?”

What now?

Owners of Magento stores need to upgrade their website to Magento 2 or consider migrating to another CMS. Businesses that don’t upgrade or migrate before June 2020 face the risk of having their sites hacked. Businesses may be infected with code that steals customers’ payment details if they don’t upgrade. There has been a general increase in the number of web skimming scandals. For example, considering recent incidents like the British Airways Data Breach. This is a very plausible and real scenario that businesses need to consider before the 4 months is up.

Do I upgrade from Magento 1 Support to Magento 2?

Migrate to a different CMS

Many businesses might be considering the “simpler” option to just Migrate their existing stores to Magento 2. This option isn’t actually as simple as they might think. M2 is built on a different architecture. Therefore to upgrade a store will essentially require the same amount of work as migrating to a different CMS.

Alongside this issue, there’s also the fact that Magento 1 support themes cannot be ported. This means that any existing themes businesses have in their stores will have to be built from scratch. Additionally, Magento 2 is so new there hasn’t been enough time yet for the community to rally and provide many available themes.

If that isn’t enough, any extensions you currently have integrated with your Magento 1 platform cannot be transferred. This means that the extension can’t be transferred into the new Magento 2 store. This, unfortunately, means that there will be an extra cost regardless of what you decide to do. You also may have to repurchase your extension(s) as well as put resources into integrating them anew on your Magento 2 platform.

If you’re considering migrating to a different CMS, there are plenty of reliable and go-to platforms. They might even be better for your business, for example, Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce, to name a few.

Should I upgrade my Magento 1 support? 

Making the final decision to either upgrade your eCommerce site to Magento 2 or move to a different CMS is one that requires careful consideration. Businesses need to evaluate their current eCommerce needs and they should fully understand which platform is going to support them most effectively and successfully.

We would strongly suggest that businesses consult with a good eCommerce development agency that understands the pros and cons of each decision from the perspective of what is best for your business.

If you’re in a position where your business is ready to explore different solutions to optimise and protect its eCommerce platform, we’re ready to help.

If you’d like to speak to one of our consultants free of charge for support and advice about website solutions, give us a call or drop us an email today.