Magento 2 was announced 3 years ago. It is a completely new platform and has many improvements over Magento 1. The new open source e-commerce platform is developed from the vision that the shopping experience should be central. From June 2020 Magento will no longer support Magento 1. But how do you switch? We are happy to help you.
Wat is Magento 2?
Like Magento 1, Magento 2 is a powerful open source e-commerce platform and very suitable for B2B. It is one of the largest B2B webshop platforms. Magento 1 will be replaced by it’s new version Magento 2 after 11 years of existence. The ageing not only means that certain technical functionalities cannot be built in efficiently but also that the code is very heavy. This in turn means that a shop in Magento 1 can be slower than a shop in Magento 2. Hence, visitors might quit their webshop visit more quickly. Several studies have shown that 47% of webshop visitors expect a web page to take less than 2 seconds to load. The same study has also shown that every extra second of loading time results in 11% loss of page visitors and 7% reduction in the number of conversions. Reasons enough to launch a new version, Magento 2. In 2015, Magento 2 was launched but still there are many webshops that choose not to go over yet. This is not a problem at the moment, but it will be necessary in due course. Websites and webshops are written off within companies in 3-5 years because online technology innovates quickly in combination with the online business needs of the company and the behaviour of B2B buyers.
Benefits of Magento 2
Magento 2 is a completely new platform and has many advantages over the first version. A number of advantages are listed below:
- Safety
By modifying the structure of files in Magento 2, it is more resistant to misuse. Through a hashing algorithm (SHA-256) passwords are also more difficult to hack. - Performance
Slow loading is one of the main reasons why people drop out during a webshop visit. Magento 2 is 50% faster than Magento 1 thanks to full-page caching, which means that the static content of the website is stored in the cache and this ensures that the website loads much faster. Another plus is that it works with MySQL 5.6 to process queries, reindexations and caching, which also contributes to the webshop loading much faster. In addition, forms have been added that can be easily edited by the user. This allows you to present information in your webshop in a clear way. - Responsive
Magento 2 is standard responsive which is a huge improvement. Your webshop can now be used in a user-friendly way on all devices. This significantly increases your conversion rate because customers can place an order on any device. A non-responsive webshop causes a lot of frustration for webshop visitors who for example, want to buy items via their phone. - Testing
It is also possible to perform a performance test in Magento 2. This way you can easily test whether all points of the webshop are working properly or whether improvements need to be made somewhere, even before visitors see the updates. - SEO
Because your webshop with Magento 2 is naturally responsive, the webshop is much easier to find by search engines. Furthermore, additional search engine settings have been added. Examples are product descriptions for images and rich snippets (extra information in Google) and meta tags. - Better admin menu navigation
The admin panel is much more user-friendly and intuitive, making it easier to work with the system. Information can be found more easily. The menu consists of icons instead of words. The menu consists of the following tabs: Dashboard, Sales, Products, Customers, Marketing, Content, Reports, Stores and System. Everything that is necessary to monitor your entire webshop.
From Magento 1 to Magento 2
Changing from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is not done just like that. It takes time and expertise to do this in the right way. The switch is not an update or upgrade, but a switch to a completely new platform. Because Magento 1 will be permanently replaced by Magento 2 within the foreseeable future, it is important to plan the switch to Magento 2. Support for Magento 1 will be offered until June 2020, after which it will stop. This does not mean that your webshop in Magento 1 will no longer work, but if problems occur or you want new functionalities it will no longer be supported.
Magento 2 is a completely new e-commerce platform and therefore a complete migration must take place. This is an ideal opportunity to take all the points of improvement in the webshop with you. Of course, you can also fully convert the old webshop and everything that came with it but this does not immediately generate more turnover. That is why it is good to fix all errors and bottlenecks when switching. But where do you start? The next three steps can help:
- Planning
It takes time to switch. Consider about half a year, from the first step to a fully functioning Magento 2 webshop. The length of the migration also has to do with how extensive your webshop is and which functionalities you all use. In the planning it is important to map all this out. In this planning you can also show what your goals are with the new webshop. For example, do you want more visitors or do you want to focus on another segment of your products? - Exporting data
It is important that you export all your data, so that it can be put back into the new Magento 2 platform. This data consists for example of customer data, product data, order history and invoices. There are 2 ways to export your data. This can be done via an export via CSV or via the Magento Migration tool (this tool exports and imports the data). - Include expertise
We advise against doing the transfer yourself. The transfer is not easy and therefore it is necessary that experts help to make the process run smoothly. Errors in the transfer not only result in extra costs but also in delays.
Magento 2 with Jelba
Jelba is a Magento expert and therefore we recommend all our customers to eventually switch to Magento 2. The smooth progress of this migration is not only important for Magento 2 but also ensures an organised basis when Magento 3 comes out. Do you have a Magento 1 B2B webshop and would you like to switch to Magento 2? Please contact us to look at the possibilities.