Adobe has officially stopped supporting Magento 1 Commerce & Magento Open Source from June 30, 2020. This update is going to affect more than 250,000 businesses across the world.
If you are one of the businesses whose digital presence is dependent on Magento 1, then you should start planning your migration to a better B2B eCommerce platform as soon as possible.
There are a lot of articles available on the internet recommending this migration. This post is our humble attempt to highlight the top reasons to help you with your migration journey before it is too late.
When Adobe says it has stopped supporting your Magento 1 platform, it means its development team has stopped working on updates and security patches for Magento 1. This means your platform, at this very moment, IS VULNERABLE to cyber attacks and hackers. Hackers may be able to find and exploit security breaches on your site at will.
As a business, you are responsible for keeping your customers' data, payment details, and company information secure. Without these necessary security updates and patches, you won't be able to safeguard your customers' data and potentially, violating the data protection laws.
Magento 1 is known to have a host of performance issues. Spend an hour on the Magento Community or browse through the internet, and you will realize the truth of this sentence. The most critical of these issues, one that acts as a 'silent sales killer,’ is its slow page load time.
According to Google, two seconds is the absolute threshold for eCommerce website acceptability. Studies have shown that every additional second result in a significant drop in your conversion rates. If you are using a site that takes more than 2 seconds to load, then you run a risk of losing your new as well as existing customers to a competitor who is providing a faster and better store experience.
Having an eCommerce site without marketing automation is like having a store without a salesperson. Who will attract the audience? Who will guide them with their purchase? Who will assist them in finding the right product?
Magento 1 does not come with email marketing or search personalization. You will have to rely on third-party extensions for this. (Source - Graybox)
Thanks to Amazon, your customers are already habituated with a personalized shopping experience. Businesses that have a personalized web experience have reported an increase of up to 19% in their sales.
Personalization is no longer a nice to have. Customer retention and growth depends on your ability to treat each customer based on their preferences and expectations. And that is where marketing automation comes to play.
Let's say you want to persist with Magento. So, what is the next step? Upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2. But it is easier said than done.
Let's start with the Magento 2 versions available to you.
- Magento 2 Open Source (Free)
- Magento 2 Commerce (Starts at $22,000 per year)
- Magento 2 Commerce Cloud Edition (Hosted version falls in the bracket of $40,000 to $190,000 per year)
You can check the detailed comparison here. Given the severely limited features, the free version won't work for most businesses. Realistically you have to go with either Magento 2 Commerce or Magento 2 Commerce Cloud Edition. So, be ready to spend at least $22,000 per year; every year.
Assuming you are ready to shell this money, let's find out how much time this upgrade will take. According to a thread on Magento Community, migration for a typical store with minimal 3rd party integrations is 3 — 6 months.
So, good luck with your migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2!
(Need help in looking for Magento Alternatives? You can start your research with ewiz commerce)
What's the secret behind Amazon's eCommerce success? Upselling and Personalized Product Recommendations, which results in 35% of its revenue. And what is the technology that drives this? Artificial Intelligence (AI).
AI is transforming the eCommerce experience as we speak, by providing intelligent product recommendations, personalized campaigns, powering chatbots for buying/ selling assistance as well as customer support.
While Magento has recently launched 'Product Recommendations' - an extension for AI-powered product recommendations, it is only compatible with Magento 2.3 and up. So, there's no way you can compete with other B2B stores harnessing the power of AI-based personalization using your current site.
Any business which processes, stores, or transmits information listed on credit or debit cards must be PCI compliant. The objective of this compliance is to ensure that their customers' payment-related data is secured and not exposed to unwanted parties.
To ensure that their platform is always secured and updated with the latest security measures, B2B eCommerce platforms come up with regular updates and security patches.
Since Adobe has decided not to support Magento 1, you won't get regular updates and security patches for your site. This means shopping on your website will become riskier day by day, and no customer will be comfortable with that.
If your site is non-compliant with PCI guidelines, your merchant account can get revoked. In case of a security breach or cyber attack, you will have to pay hefty fines or face legal action. Surely, you don't want that for your business.
According to this comparison between Magento 1 and 2, Magento 1 is missing major SEO-related features like Duplicate Content, Meta Title, Meta Description, Meta Keyword, and Mobile-Friendliness. No eCommerce SEO agency would like that.
Without these features, it will be difficult for your customers to find you. Not having a mobile-friendly site will reduce your conversion rate significantly.
So, what should you do?
You must act NOW!
The post-COVID eCommerce landscape is digital and hyper-competitive. Without the right technology that works for you today and keeps growing through the years ahead, your business will always be at risk. If you are on Magento 1 and need assistance in moving to a better eCommerce platform, then start your research with this Magento Alternative.
(This article is part of the series - Moving away from Magento 1 by ewiz commerce. ewiz commerce (a Powerweave product) is the world's first AI-powered B2B eCommerce platform, which allows you to digitize all your business functions at speed and scale. With over 18 years of experience across the B2B landscape and catering to more than 500 customers across the world, Powerweave helps businesses with merchandising, order management, and marketing automation.)
Disclaimer: Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the author and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity unless explicitly stated.
