Wondering how easy it is to upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2? Well, not easy at all!What can go sideways during the process? Because is complicated and takes considerable time, there are numerous challenges and post-migration issues that you can face.
Let’s see what can slow you down and find out whether there are solutions to avoid critical roadblocks.
Table of Content
3 Major Magento 1 to Magento 2 Migration Challenges To Overcome
Magento 1 and Magento 2 may seem similar because of their naming, yet in reality, these versions differ from each other drastically. From a technical perspective, they’re practically two different platforms.
This implies that shifting from the first version to the second requires having a skilled team with robust migration experience and in-depth knowledge of both platforms. Otherwise, the project will become a mess that’ll go on forever. Plus, in any scenario, the process takes a lot of time.
Therefore, many merchants who have running Magento 1 stores often hesitate to start the migration process. They might be aware of the reasons is worth it but they’re intimidated by the probable hardships ahead. Not to mention that the may be rather high.
Yet migration is an inevitable step for those Magento 1 store owners who care about security and the future of their online retail business. So how do you overcome serious bottlenecks and speed up the final release time?
Well, although all steps of the migration can be challenging, most of the time we have to deal with 3 Magento 2 migration issues.
1. Architectural Challenges
The release of Magento 1 was in March 2008. That’s over 10 years ago. In software terms, that’s ages.
Since then, PHP alone went through several major releases. New libraries and technologies have appeared and replaced what Magento 1 uses.
Magento 2 is a completely different platform. The team who released it in 2015 reworked a lot of the Magento 1 codebase. They created a weird mix of old and new pieces that are extremely distinct from what Magento 1 is. This can become the biggest Magento 1 to 2 migration issue.
2. Compatibility Challenges
Magento 2 extensions are not compatible with Magento 1 and vice versa. There are so many differences, that you basically need to build a brand new extension from the ground up.
As you might imagine, building a new piece of software is both time-consuming and expensive. And unless you can find the same extension at the Magento Marketplace for Magento 2, you are out of options. You have to create a new extension.
And it gets even more complicated since the more extensions you have, the more compatibility conflicts you get. Sorting them out is a long and expensive process. It involves testing, debugging, and more testing.
3. Migration Team Challenges
Let’s face it, Magento 1 and Magento 2 are so different they might as well be two separate products. An experienced Magento 1 developer will have to learn how to code for Magento 2 almost from scratch.
This also means that it’s hard to find a competent Magento migration team. These developers need to know both Magento 1 and Magento 2 extremely well. They must understand how both platforms work and where their differences are.
So, you must take your time as you choose a team to whom you’ll entrust this demanding task and find decent that are worth the money. Ideally, look for those developers who already have experience with similar projects and can prove it.
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5 Common Magento 2 Migration Issues and How to Address Them
As you see, moving from Magento 1 to Magento 2 can be a tough project. However, after you’ve migrated your M1 store data, modules, and custom functionality, you still have a lot of work.
It’s easy to underestimate the post-migration challenges you are up against after you’ve moved from Magento 1 to Magento 2. Let’s go over the main ones.
1. Magento Performance Issues
Performance issues are common if an inexperienced team moves the store from M1 to M2. The latest version of the platform has its own share of quirks and unclear mechanics. They can turn into a stumbling block if you have no idea what you are doing.
Some of the most popular Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration challenges that deal with performance that our clients faced include:
- insufficient areas;
- unacceptable search speed;
- unoptimized cache configuration;
- inefficient database setups;
- poor cron schedules;
- low store reliability;
- among others.
Solution
Just looking at this list can be intimidating. But it absolutely doesn’t have to be. The Onilab team created a comprehensive guide devoted to tricks. It’ll walk you through all the rough patches of Magento 2 optimization. It’s a helpful read that’s complete with code examples and actionable instructions that you can use right away.
Setup Redis and Varnish cache, optimize and tweak your JS code, work on your media delivery and boost . Other tips include the use of smart scripts to improve perceived performance, and more. We’ve also compiled the most efficient techniques to boost your store’s speed for smartphone users.
2. Magento 2 Security Issues
The Magento 2 default setup offers the best level of security. This is the main reason why stores with different customization levels should move to the second version.
In fact, you don’t need to configure your new Magento 2 store to secure it more. The default functionality of the platform already has all the features for advanced security. For example, enhanced password management or defense from XSS-attacks.
Nevertheless, we’ve included security issues in our list of Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration challenges. Why?
The main security threat for Magento 2 websites is third-party modules. Some custom modules can be real roadblocks for both website performance and security. This is due to the pivotal issues that have occurred because of unoptimized code.
Solution
To prevent the loopholes in Magento 2 modules, we recommend purchasing them from trustworthy third-party vendors.
Alternatively, you can address Magento experts to develop custom modules for your store. From this perspective, you will be able to eliminate the risks of installing unoptimized extensions.
Besides, you can fix the critical issues overlooked by developers. You can perform debugging throughout every extension using a debug tool of your choice.
For more information on your store security read our comprehensive . These 20 easy-to-follow security tips will make your Magento 2 store a real fortress of data. Optionally, you can get a complete .
3. Magento 2 UI/UX Issues
Out of the box, Magento 2 offers a feeble user experience. The default M2 theme, “Luma”, is far from being personable and attractive. Even though the skin was designed to be mobile-friendly, it was primarily made for demonstration purposes. Besides, default Magento 2 is still lacking some crucial shipping and other features.
If you want your store to look stunning, be user-friendly, and conversive, your site will need unique customization. This includes buying a new Magento 2 layout and some modules to make navigation perfect and improve user experience.
However, buying an expensive theme, or installing all third-party functional modules, won’t guarantee you great UX/UI. So don’t let this Magento 1 to 2 migration issue become a roadblock.
Solution
The only solution here is to think through your Magento 2 store’s UX/UI before the execution phase. Ideally, work on instead of optimizing ready-made themes. With a team that gets your customers and understands their expectations, you may improve your conversions by enhancing the , navigation, checkout, and many other vital parts of the funnel.
Do not ignore customer journey mapping and . This way, you’ll make sure that a function or theme that you’ll apply corresponds with your target audience’s requirements.
Take our case study, , as an example. During this project, we moved from performance optimization to eliminating UI/UX issues. First of all, we got rid of the default Magento theme and crafted a more intuitive, app-like design.
4. Magento 2 SEO Issues
Upgrading Magento to its second version is a challenge that requires a lot of hard work in the SEO department. The biggest questions here are:
- loss of PageRank due to the redesign and changing URLs;
- lack of redirects that point from old to new pages;
- duplicate content due to bad robots.txt screening (filters, sorting, categories, etc.);
- localization and multi-store SEO issues.
Solution
Don’t underestimate the importance of SEO in your store migration. Be prepared that you will lose positions in Google results. It’s inevitable with a large-scale store.
Your goal is to mitigate the damage and rebuild as fast as possible. Plus, there are ways that you can upgrade your store to get a better score and improve .
5. Other Issues That Can Occur After You Migrate to Magento 2
Topping that, you can come across a bunch of other issues post your M2 migration. Here are a couple of examples.
- For instance, you may come to find numerous category pages or landing pages empty. This sometimes occurs if your CMS syntax isn’t right.
- On top of that, there are cases when products are missing on category pages. Re-indexing can fix this Magento 1 to 2 migration issue.
- Similarly, your media files, including images, can vanish partially after the migration. You may make things right by caching your pictures.
Conclusion
As you can see, there may be many unexpected turns after you’ve moved from Magento 1. Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration challenges may be frightening. But as long as you have an experienced team to fix things up, you’re good to go.
Decent planning and hiring skilled developers will omit more than half of the possible problems. And Onilab will readily give you a hand if you need .
