Magento has recently released version 2.3, but there are still hundreds of business owners who are still operating their stores on various versions of Magento 1. Over the years, Magento has constantly been on the edge of innovation, adding plenty of features and improvements to their platform in every version released. Due to the multiple benefits of Magento 2.3, Magento 1 is scheduled to reach the end of its life in June of 2020. All Magento stores can either choose to update now or be automatically upgraded next year.
Why Update Now?
You might want to use Magento 1 until the mandatory upgrade occurs next year, or perhaps you’re concerned about the cost, time commitment, or the hassle of setting up a new platform. However, there are some downsides of waiting until the last minute to switch, such as:
- No new features. Magento 1 will not have any more features offered for the rest of its lifespan, whereas Magento 2 will continue to create new solutions and improvements.
- Risk of becoming outdated. If you want to continue selling through your online store for years to come, updating sooner is the most beneficial for maintaining a cutting-edge shopping experience for your customers. If you keep waiting to switch, your competitors may surpass you with their improved eCommerce sites.
Benefits of Magento 2.3
To combat the frustration that often comes with migrating your store, Wagento offers a no-hassle upgrade package to make the process as painless as possible. Along with the easiest setup experience ever, there are numerous benefits included in version 2.3:
- Fast loading speeds. Online shoppers expect sites to load quickly, and website speed is also a factor in SEO. This is why Magento 2 stores have pages that load in less than 1.5 seconds and can be up to 50% faster than earlier versions of Magento.
- Better admin experience. The new admin interface is more user-friendly than ever before, featuring a drag-and-drop method to view orders and find products, as well as a simpler navigation system. Magento 2.3 also features a Dashboard which displays an overview of important information about your business in seconds, including:
- Total sales.
- Financial data.
- Average order amount.
- Last orders.
- Most searched-for products.
- Most viewed products
- Scalability. If your eCommerce store experiences a lot of traffic or if your site is quickly gaining popularity, scaling your store is crucial in maintaining speed and functionality. Magento 2 allows users to split their data up using three separate databases to easily handle more traffic and checkouts than Magento 1 versions. In fact, Magento 2 can handle up to 90,000 checkouts per hour and manage 10 million page views per hour, whereas Magento 1 can only manage 50,000 checkouts and about 200,000 page views in the same time period.
- Smoother checkout process. Having a quick and easy checkout experience will mean fewer abandoned carts, an increased number of sales, and more profit for you! Online shoppers can enjoy a more accurate search engine due to the implementation of ElasticSearch, easily shop on their phones thanks to a responsive design, and check out in seconds with these additional features:
- Ajax carts: Lets customers add items to their cart without reloading the entire page.
- Seamless integration with PayPal.
- Order details and product photos displayed throughout checkout.
- Option to create an account after ordering instead of during the checkout process.
- Fewer forms to complete.
- Limitless customization. Sellers using Magento 2 can easily monitor shoppers’ behaviors thanks to the Dashboard and other admin tools, but they can also customize their site to meet the needs of their customers. Business owners can change the theme of their store, offer customers coupons or other deals, integrate videos, choose from a variety of payment methods, and much more to create a one-of-a-kind eCommerce website. Business owners don’t even need any coding skills to create a unique theme due to the Page Builder function!
- More extensions with greater compatibility. Magento 1 was commonly frustrating when it came to adding extensions. Store owners would report different extensions conflicting with one another or other issues with implementing the extension to work properly. Now, Magento 2 has a wide range of extensions available in the Magento Marketplace, and each extension has undergone a thorough review to ensure that they’re high-quality products that won’t conflict with each other.
- Constant improvements. If you switch to Magento 2.3, you’ll never have to worry about your online store becoming slow or outdated because the system will automatically be updated every 3 months.
Don’t wait until next year to experience all the benefits you could be getting right now. Please contact us if you have any questions on how to easily upgrade.
