You have a Magento 1 Site, Sunset is Approaching... What Next?

Here is a scenario I think we will be discussing in detail with a large number of our clients this year, especially now the new year has started and our aspirations and plans start to extend into the future: Magento 1 is approaching end of life, so what should you as a Magento 1 store owner do about it?

Magento 1 is officially end of life in June 2020. What that means is that after this date, your code will continue to work exactly as it has before, however there will no longer be any security updates or patches provided by Magento to keep the platform secure.

I think everyone these days has a good understanding of how important IT security is, and keeping software up to date and patched is a fundamental piece of this requirement. If your software package is no longer supported then you are now responsible for any security issues arising from that package being hacked. When dealing with sensitive information like customer data, and especially with legislation like GDPR, then this is really not an acceptable position to be in.

This means that store owners have roughly 18 months from today to plan, resource and implement a new solution based on a supported platform.

So what are your options?

The path I suspect that the large majority of store owners will choose is to upgrade to version 2 of Magento.

If you are currently using the free open source version of Magento 1, then you will likely choose to upgrade to the free open source version of Magento 2 - now called Magento 2 Open Source. Likewise if you are on Magento 1 Enterprise then you are probably going to upgrade to the Magento 2 equivalent, now simply called Magento Commerce.

What is the difference between the open source and commercial versions?

Let's be honest, the biggest difference most businesses will notice is the price tag. After that, there are some significant features in the commercial version which make it a much better option for certain kinds of businesses - for example rich B2B functionality. The final thing that you get as a paying customer is commercial support - though how much that is really worth is up for debate - and all the usual benefits and protections of a paying customer.

How big a job is the upgrade?

It's a pretty big job. Whilst it is an upgrade in the sense that they both have the same name, the code bases are fundamentally different.

Imagine a car manufacturer releases the latest model of their car and have quite substantially changed teh engine, frame, suspension - in fact pretty much all the major components. It has the same badge on the back, but you couldn't just lift the customised engine from your old car and expect to drop it into the new model - it just doesn't fit.

What this means is that whilst we might call it an upgrade, in reality it is a rebuild. However - there are things that make it easier than a full rebuild:

Data Migration

Magento have created a data migration tool which goes quite a long way to providing a seamless migration of data from Magento 1 to Magento 2. The areas where work is required are around any customisation to the Magento 1 data - usually from extensions. Depending on the number of extensions in play, this can range from not much work at all to a really significant job.

Once a working migration codebase is established, then it is possible to run what are called "delta" migrations, which will allow you to run your Magento 1 store, and simultaneously keep your Magento 2 release candidate database up to date.

It's really quite a slick solution and in the right hands, can be used to great effect.

Code Migration

There are some tools that assist with migration of code from Magento 1 to Magento 2. If you are using third party modules, then you should only need to contact your module vendor and request the Magento 2 version. Or perhaps an even better solution is you simply decide to leave those third party modules behind. They always were, and will continue to be, both a blessing but also a curse. If you can get by without a third party module, it is generally better.

For custom code, then the same choice applies - migrate or abandon. If you choose to migrate though then the code will likely need to be rewritten. There are some tools that might speed up this process, though in my opinion these are not a good solution. One of the major and important changes with Magento 2 is that the code is much more modern and therefore can be implemented with modern practices - the most important of which is using automated tests. Any automatically migrated code will by definition not have any automated tests and so therefore no easy way to ensure that the code works correctly.

What will we Lose and/or Gain with the Upgrade?

The first thing you will lose is any custom or third party extensions. You will need to either migrate or abandon those. I am not aware of any significant standard functionality in Magento 1 that is missing in Magento 2.

What you will gain is a much more modern codebase, and also one that is going to be actively developed in the medium term so you are future proofing yourself. There are a variety of other significant improvements with Magento 2, though as it is a younger platform, there are also some niggles.

Beyond these abstract things, Magento 2 brings a long list of improvements that are too many to list in this article.

Another very interesting development that you have the option of pursuing is to go down the route of a headless PWA.

What is a headless PWA???

A progressive web app (PWA) is a website that is doing it's very best to behave and feel exactly like a native app. Without going into huge detail, it is widely accepted to be the future of web (and app) development for most requirements.

Headless means that your website front end is not directly attached to your Magento backend. Instead, your Magento becomes headless (has no front end) and simply powers an API that provides the data and functionality that the PWA requires.

Magento are working on their own PWA Studio, though if you want to have a look at a real world ready to go option, I suggest checking out Vue Storefront - have a look at this demo.

This approach is exciting because it fully decouples your front end website from your back end infrastructure and admin. That means that in theory, you could keep your front end whilst updating or even changing your backend.

If you want to talk about PWA, then get in touch!

What about other platforms?

I would encourage you to take the time to have a look at other platforms available. Open source E-Commerce packages are plentiful which means that a merchant can really take their pick. I will say though that I suspect Magento will continue to be the dominant and most widely supported E-Commerce platform going forwards.

It's beyond the scope of this article to go into details, but here are some (by no means all) to look at:

• https://sylius.com/ - great as a base for bespoke or simple requirements
• https://en.shopware.com/community/ - growing in popularity as a Magento alternative
• https://oroinc.com/b2b-ecommerce/ - great for B2B - large catalogues need Enterprise

How about just staying put?

For some businesses, it may not be possible or practical to move away from Magento 1 by the June 2020 deadline. If you find yourself in this position then you have to ensure that you are taking security that bit more seriously. Things like using a web application firewall, two factor authentication, admin access restriction, secure hosting and a range of other strategies become even more important to ensure your site remains secure.

We'd be more than happy to help you with this, we understand that businesses can't always turn things around immediately and need support.

Professional and Reliable E-Commerce Development and Support

No matter what you decide to do, it is important you use the right kind of resources to get the outcome that you need.

My small and focused UK based agency would be more than happy to help you with this. We only work in open source E-Commerce and have been doing so since 2007. We're a team of on site developers all working in the same office in the UK with a lot of experience in E-Commerce and especially Magento.

I'd be more than happy to have a chat to discuss your situation and help you make the right moves in 2019 to secure the best for your business.

www.edmondscommerce.co.uk

0044 113 880 56554

[email protected]

Cheers, and Happy New Year!

Joseph