Headache or opportunity? Migrating to M2

Hello everyone and welcome back to another amazing edition of the Hussey Coding blog!

Last time we started talking about migration form M1 to M2 and what the realistic options were for anyone still on the M1 store, if you haven't read that yet then check it out here - M1 end of life, what are my options?

Today's blog assumes that you have made the decision to migrate to M2 and we will investigate the question ...

It's important for you to know that migration from M1 to M2 is not easy! This won't be a quick copy and paste job, this is going to take months of work at least. Your store will still be up and running during this time so don't worry to much about that but you need to understand that this is not going to be a quick and easy thing to do.
This is because M2 is a whole different ball game, a whole new build, in terms of a physical store this is not just a fresh coat of paint and some new display cabinets for your existing store, this is more like moving your whole store to a new premises, you're going to have more space where before you didn't, bigger windows, higher ceilings, better tools at your disposal and your store is going to be set out differently than it was on your old premises. The same is true for your M2 store, M2 is better, there's no doubt about it but it will require a good deal of planning and work to get it ready for opening day.

As with all big moves and rebuilds there come some problems and issues, there is the possibility of data loss, slow speeds when in the process of migrating, SEO interruption and some glitching after it's complete but the majority of these issues can be avoided altogether by having a good migration plan that include things like backups of customer and product databases and optimization before migration begins. A great developer will go through all of these things and help to create a solid migration plan with you and all you need to do to find a great developer is head on over to www.developerconnection.co.uk.

Now I know this sounds like a lot and if you are thinking that it isn't worth the hassle of months of work to just move your store over then you'd be right!  
it's not, picking up your M1 store and moving it to an M2 store is completely and utterly pointless and will not help you one bit in reaching customers, improving revenue or growing your business. Which is why we recommend that you don't do it.
Why? because M2 is superior to M1 and you should take this time to improve on your M1 store! Don't just copy your store over, take this opportunity to renovate and maximise!

This is a time for you to really look at your store because you have a great opportunity here to make some serious changes to it, look at everything and ask the question does this "whatever" add value to my company?
But remember that value doesn't always mean revenue! Sending that automated thank you email or that printed thank you note with all of your products probably won't make you a ton of money but it does add value to your business.

Look at your sites analytics, see how your customers are using your site, do they use your sites wish list option? do reminder emails work in getting return custom? What are the things your competitors are using that you could be using? What could you add or even remove from your store to add value to it? Maybe there are things you have always wanted to try doing but never got around to it, now is a great time to do that!
Are there things on your site that you have that you never use? get rid of them, do you need some sort of new function, now is the time to build it in!

The same goes for your extensions, look over them carefully, do the extensions you use actually help your business make money or are they just sitting there because at the time they seemed useful but in the end didn't make a lot of difference, now is the perfect time to let them go.
It's also important to take a look at what M2 can do, there may be extensions that you have on your M1 store that are great for you but now M2 comes with something similar out of the box.
Take the checkout as an example, the checkout process with M1 is a 6 step process and so may stores implemented extensions to reduce this process thus improving the customers eCommerce experience and increasing sales. M2 now comes with a much better and faster 2 step process, including guest checkout and the ability to remember returning customer details so there is no great need for an M2 checkout extension any more.

There is the possibility that extensions you use now haven't been updated to be compatible with M2 so you need to factor in some time to investigate that. You'll also need to look up and find M2 themes that are the same or similar to your M1 store as your theme will not carry over, if you had a custom theme built for you then you may need to do the same again for your M2 store.
Remember that when it comes to any thing custom built, ultimately the less customisation you have the less the cost will be. If there are things that you can afford to hold off on and do later then consider doing that, especially if you are on a tight budget.

At the end of the day you will want to have your migration expertly handled to avoid data loss, downtime and any other issues and like we said it can be a lengthy process but when you see and experience all the benefits of an M2 store you will understand why this is an opportunity and not a headache!

Thank you for taking time out of your day to support us here by reading this blog, please leave your comments, tell us about your migration stories or concerns down below or join the conversation over on our various social media profiles. If you are looking for a developer or development team to migrate your store to M2 or for any other Magento related project then head on over to developerconnection.co.uk to find the right developer for your project today!
Until next time, stay safe and have a great day.

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