Option not to migrate to Magento 2?
There are over quarter million Magento 1 merchants in the world. Magento 1 is in the end of life with technical support from Magento by June 2020. Basically this means that these merchants need to migrate to Magento 2 or other platform before next summer. Time is getting short do to the migration project.
Progressive Web Apps technology developed by Google since 2015 offers an option for Magento 1 merchants. It's a technical leap compared to migration project. In migration nothing changes much except that the platform is a fresh version. The leap in PWA is that the frontend technology changes. The old Magento 1 can be kept behind the new PWA frontend and continue the business as usual. Of course there are challenges in this option. Especially with the Magento 1 extensions that are without support but that can be solved usually as well.
The change in PWA frontend technology is as big as responsive websites where at the time. Or much bigger. Before responsive website technology there needed to be a separate website for desktop and mobile browsers. And before PWA technology there needed to be separate responsive website and mobile app. And separate mobile app for iOS and Android users. Not any more. PWA is one code for responsive websites and mobile apps on iOS and Android platforms.
The best thing for online merchants is the performance of the PWA. Typically the page load time in mobile is 2-4 seconds. According to studies if page load time decreases 1 second the conversion increases 7 %. With PWA technology the page load time can be as low as 0.1 second. Image what that can do to your conversion rates and how your store compares against your competitors.
As good as Magento 1 is, it does not live forever. Magento 2 is already good, robust and mature platform to migrate. PWA option gives you time and peace to do the migration with your own schedule. And when you do, please remind to include the PWA as frontend technology. Then you can migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 without any change in frontend. Take the leap to lead the competition.
Ecommerce Manager at The Royal British Legion
5 年This is an interesting viewpoint, however you state 'then you can migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2', implying that this is an inevitability, which is in no way a straightforward lift and shift process
eCommerce UX and Product Discovery Consultant - let's talk eCommerce!
5 年This is an interesting take, Teru, thanks for sharing.? How would you justify to the merchants that they would have to invest in PWA for Magento 1 stores and then make another significant investment in the migration to Magento 2 (or something else) in the near future? Wouldn't it make more sense for these merchants to try and optimize their M1 frontends (and backends) for better performance as much as possible and get the most of their existing solution before they make a decision on a larger investment (if that decision would be to migrate to M2 or replatform altogether)? What PWA solutions would you recommend for Magento 1 merchants if they would be willing to take this approach? There are a lot of different approaches Magento 1 merchants can take, and this one is not among the most common ones I've seen out there, so I'm curious to see whether this is something merchants would actively consider.