Rivers Agency invests in the training of our developers, so our clients always have access to the most cutting-edge tools and technical capabilities. We’re excited to announce that our agency has earned status in the Adobe Solutions Partner Program, credentialing our team as a trusted Magento Commerce consultant.
For the past seven years, Rivers has helped clients build impactful and profitable e-commerce sites on Magento 1. As of June 2020, the platform’s original version has been retired and will no longer receive updates—necessitating a move to Magento 2. When it comes to making the transition, it is business-critical to make the user experience seamless and it’s also an excellent opportunity to upgrade the functionality of your site. Below our team sheds light on the most pressing questions our clients are asking.
What’s the Difference Between Magento 1 and Magento 2?
Mobile-Friendly and Performance Optimized
When Magento initially launched in March 2008, it was the early days of smartphone adoption and the majority of users accessed websites from computers. Fast forward to today, and it’s imperative to have a mobile-first design. Magento 2 has a built-in responsive design theme, a mobile-optimized checkout and offers a modern Progressive Web Application (PWA) alternative with PWA Studio to deliver the convenience and utility of a mobile app combined with the searchability and buying experiences of desktop browsers. Magento 2 makes it easier than ever to deliver a superior mobile-friendly user experience, as well as optimized page performance with faster load speeds and more user capacity.
Improved Customer Experience
For site admins, Magento 2 has a much more intuitive dashboard that makes it easier to manage your e-commerce store. This advanced dashboard displays helpful information and business intelligence like last, new, and average orders; lifetime retail sales, top search keywords, income tax, bestsellers and shipping stats.
B2B & B2C Compatible
Whether your business is B2B or B2C, the default features of Magento 2 will help you optimize your store with product catalogue management, ElasticSearch site search, integrated checkout, order processing, payment and shipping functionality. These features decrease the reliance on developers and also help to reduce training time.
Enhanced Security
Security protections have also been increased in Magento 2. The platform now supports advanced built-in security options like Secure Hash Algorithm 256 for passwords and the fraud protection system Signifyd. As of June 2020, security patches are no longer being released for Magento 1, leaving sites operating off of the old platform more susceptible to security breaches and hacks.
PCI Compliance
Every year, merchants are required by the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) Requirement §A3.3.2 to review their hardware and software technologies to confirm whether they continue to meet the organization’s requirements. Continuing to operate the unsupported version of Magento 1 risks violating the PCI DSS, which may cause the merchant to incur monthly penalties, to be liable for infringement, susceptible to legal action or ultimately have their ability to accept credit cards revoked.
How Long Does It Take to Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2?
Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration takes planning and anywhere between three and six months based on the size and complexity of your store, so now is the time to begin the transition process. The process entails porting your customers, orders and products from your existing site into Magento 2. It’s worth noting that many capabilities that were enabled by extensions in Magento 1 are native to Magento 2, so customers find that they can cut the number of extensions they use by up to 50 percent. Since the process involves creating a new Magento 2 theme, this is the perfect opportunity to refresh the look and feel of your site, address mobile issues and create an even better customer experience.
What Does the Process Look Like to Transition from Magento 1 to Magento 2?
Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy button to shift everything over to the Magento 2 platform, but the benefits of operating off of Magento 2 far outweigh the time and effort to make the transition. Be sure to take advantage of Magento’s Data Migration Tool to speed up your migration, review their best-practice guidelines and check out the thorough process the Rivers team uses to streamline the transition and get you up and running quickly.
“Our development team has many years of experience helping organizations like e-conolight and Charles & Colvard successfully transition their website e-commerce platform from Magento 1 to Magento 2,” noted Ian Anderson, Director of Technology at Rivers Agency. “We love being on the cutting-edge of technology, so we’ve invested heavily in our team to provide ongoing Magento training so that they’re current on the latest updates and are always ready to hit the ground running when we begin a new client engagement.”
Are you ready to optimize your e-commerce? Give us a call.
Rivers Agency is the web development firm for Raleigh, NC, Chapel Hill, NC, Durham, NC and Carrboro, NC.
