What Happens Now Magento 1 Support Has Ended?

Magento 1 end of life sunset
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Magento 2 has come a long way since its initial launch back in 2015 - it now includes many improvements and feature enhancements that can be used to build and grow your online business. Over the last 5 years, Magento have been perfecting the development and support of Magento 2 to make it their most flexible and scalable platform yet – as such, Magento 1 has essentially become redundant and reached its end of life date on June 30th 2020.

What will happen to ecommerce stores still using Magento 1 now support has ended? Many may have already migrated over to another platform, or indeed taken the plunge and moved to Magento 2, whereas others may simply not yet have decided. For those still measuring their options, there are a few key considerations to bear in mind when deciding whether to migrate to another platform or over to Magento 2.

DO I HAVE TO MIGRATE MY ECOMMERCE STORE FROM MAGENTO 1?

In short, yes – having reached end of life, Magento will no longer issue Magento 1 security updates or patches, and general support will cease to be available, causing ecommerce stores to degrade or become unstable, and more alarmingly, leaving them highly vulnerable to external exploits. Merchants using Magento 1 will likely no longer be PCI (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) Compliant.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY ECOMMERCE STORE IF IT REMAINS ON MAGENTO 1?

COMPROMISED SECURITY

Security is the first and foremost priority for any online business – ecommerce merchants store valuable data, inventories and confidential customer information. Allowing your website to become vulnerable to attack can have a devastating impact on your finances, site-accessibility and reputation. For organisations who have not yet already moved away from Magento 1, it is important to begin planning the transition as soon as possible.

PCI COMPLIANCE

The PCI DSS global standards are set by the two biggest financial services, Visa and Mastercard - the rules and regulations apply to any merchant that uses their services or process payments on their site. PCI compliance is paramount to integrity of any online business – without it, an online store may ‘flagged up’ by the payment provider as an unsecure, non-compliant platform, affecting business in a detrimental manner.

Visa have stated, amongst other things, that merchants using Magento 1 will no longer be compliant with ‘Requirement 6’ of PCI DSS standards – this stresses that all platforms must maintain and update secure systems and applications via vendor-supplied security patches. It is, however, important to note that this may be dependent on your payment provider and the method by which you are processing payments.

Remaining on Magneto 1 could end up being a costly decision, as if PCI compliance is breached, due to the lack of security patches, your organisation could potentially be required to hire an external PCI investigator to carry out a PFI review, involving hefty amounts of time and money.

For further advice on how your organisation will be affected by Magento 1 end of life, Siruss can help break-down the potential risks faced and assist you in moving forward.

HOW DO I START THE MIGRATION PROCESS?

Deciding where to move to and how to do it, can require a lot of time and energy. Luckily, Siruss can evaluate your business needs and take the stress out of the transition process - easing the burden of planning such a large task. Magento’s familiar open-source approach means that it is possible to commission a specialist development agency such as Siruss to create your own bespoke extensions, giving you the ability to build a completely individual store perfectly equipped to suit your business.

MAGENTO 2 – WHAT HAS CHANGED?

Magento 2 is an entirely new platform, the migration should not be considered as a mere upgrade, but rather a rebuild to another platform. Magento 2’s savvy new system will provide your ecommerce store with numerous benefits and enhancements, enabling you to trade using a newer, faster and more solid infrastructure.

HOW LONG DOES MIGRATION TAKE?

Depending on the size of your site and the data you store, the move from Magento 1 to 2 can take anywhere from two to six months, from planning to full delivery.

WHAT ARE MY OTHER MIGRATION OPTIONS?

Not all ecommerce stores require the complex functionality offered by Magento 2 – for those looking for a potentially quicker and lower cost move away from Magento 1, there are alternative platforms to consider.

SHOPIFY

Shopify is one of Magento’s main competitors – its popularity is well-deserved, boasting unparalleled customer-service, a fluid set-up coupled with an all-inclusive, fully hosted monthly price-plan. Shopify also comes with built-in SSL certificates and is PCI compliant. There are now over 500,000 live stores built on Shopify platforms – a tribute to its easy navigation and ability to perform a whole host of administrative tasks.

This is especially beneficial to smaller ecommerce stores, requiring a more ‘hands-on’ type of approach – administrators are able to easily understand the ins and outs of their online store and readily make changes themselves such as buying and adding fully-featured apps - this provides greater freedom and operation, without the need of enlisting assistance from a specialised developer.

Although the Shopify app store offers an extensive choice, its flexible structure means that customers are not limited to only using the apps and features available in their app store. There is still the option of building custom apps for any additional requirements – Siruss can develop custom apps to suit your needs.

With comprehensive plans starting from $79.00 USD per month and the ability to be online quickly, Shopify is a popular migration choice for many. Read a Shopify vs Magento comparison here.

MOVING FORWARDS

At Siruss, we understand that with a number of options to decide from and routes to go down, it may be difficult to know the best way to proceed – this is where we can help, our dedicated development team have years of experience working on numerous ecommerce platforms. We will work with you to identify your requirements and select the most appropriate solution, whether it be Magento 2, Shopify or WooCommerce.