Magento 1 Upgrade to 2. An Automated Approach [+2021 Guide]

Magento eCommerce giant has officially shut down the support for Magento 1 in 2020. Therefore, those merchants having their stores settled on Magento 1.x potentially leave the doors open for surprises in the form of security threats, lack of updates, minimal to no developers’ help, etc. If you want to upgrade Magento 1 to Magento 2 (which is highly recommended) but don’t know where to start, you’ve landed in the right post.

In case you’ve decided to leave your current Magento platform in favor of another eCommerce solution but find it hard to decide which shopping cart to stick with, the post 5 Powerful Magento Alternatives That Are Worth Checking Out might come in handy.

Why Upgrade to Magento 2?

For those willing to stay with Magento, a question of why they should upgrade to its 2nd version is quite an obvious one. Basically, Magento 2 comes packed with fundamental improvements:

• on a technological level,
• in modularity (both backend and frontend),
• in terms of performance.

Thus, if there are still important reasons to remain on Magento 1 even after its EoL, here are the main risks and repercussions that you should be aware of:

• The security of your store is now at risk
• You’re missing out on eCommerce innovations
• Maintaining your Magento 1.x store is now more expensive
• You’re losing the PCI compliance
• Extensions become unavailable or malfunction

How to Upgrade Magento 1 to Magento 2?

Basically, there are several ways you can do a Magento 1 to 2 upgrade. For instance, you can hire an experienced developer or even a group of experts (if your store has a huge product database) to perform the transfer. However, this way will cost you a pretty penny since professionals usually charge a solid amount of money for the job. The smarter way to import products, orders, customers, and other necessary information to Magento 2 is by utilizing an automated migration service. Among the companies currently available on the market, look for the one with vast experience and excellent customer feedback.

Taking advantage of tools like Cart2Cart is an optimal solution for techies and non-techies alike. The store import process is intuitive and requires minimal human involvement in the transferring process itself. You only need to provide your stores’ credentials, choose the Magento 1 data you want to export and the service will do the rest. Moreover, you get access to the round the clock support in case you have any migration-related questions.

How to Upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2?

Note: Since the software has brand-new architecture and the differences between the 1 and 2 versions are quite large and substantial, it is rather data migrating than upgrading.

Pre-Migration Steps

Prior to the migration, make sure to perform the store backup of your Magento 1. If you encounter any problems during the data import (e.g corrupt, incomplete, or missing files), you’ll be able to fix any possible issues by restoring the data to its original state. Besides, if you don’t have the new Magento 2 installed yet, you can benefit from the Migration Preview option to observe how the imported data (products, orders, attributes, etc.) will look on the new Magento 2 store.

Set-Up the Source & Target Carts

Specify Magento as your Source and Target carts and provide their URL addresses in the matching fields of the migration wizard.

Connect the Stores

Connect both of your stores by downloading and installing the Connection Bridge:

Just follow the instructions provided in the migration wizard.

Specify Migration Entities & Additional Options

Firstly, check the Magento Upgrade page to see what data can be transferred when upgrading Magento 1 to Magento 2:

When done, choose those entities you wish to be imported from your existing Magento 1 store to the new Magento 2. When it comes to additional migration options, they are completely up to you to decide which of them can be useful.

However, we recommend considering the following options as desired ones:

• Pick the “Create 301 redirects to your Target Store” option to make the old links working on the new store.
• The “Preserve the Source store order IDs on the Target store” option will help you save the Magento 1 store order IDs on the new Magento 2 store after migration.
• With the help of the “Migrate customers’ passwords” option, you’ll make it possible for your clients to log in to your new Magento store via their current store credentials.

Test Out Demo Migration

Once you’ve specified all the required fields of the migration wizard, you’re provided with an opportunity to check the service in action transferring a limited number of items. It doesn’t take much time at all and allows moving up to 10 product entities to the target store.

Launch Full Migration

Only if you’re satisfied with the Demo results, you may initiate the Full database migration. Take time to previously check the data you’ve specified, and press the Start Full Migration button. Now you can close the browser window and return to running your business. You’ll get the notification letter that the migration is completed.

Post-Migration Recommendations

Even when you have successfully gone through the migration procedure, there are still some tips to take into account before going live. Firstly, take time to check the new store for any possible errors. Besides, it is advised to inform your customers about the upgrade and ask them to let you know about any issues.

That’s it! Now you see how easy it is to perform the Magento 1 to 2 upgrade without going deeply into mountains of codes and scripts.

Most Commonly Asked Questions

Is it possible to migrate Magento themes and extensions to the new Magento 2 store?

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to import your current theme when upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2 or some other eCommerce platform. Alternatively, you can find a free one or buy a quality ready-made theme and apply it to your new store.

Similar to the theme migration, extension transfer isn’t possible as well. Instead, you need to find and install new modules for Magento 2 or another platform that provides the same functions as those for Magento 1.

What are Magento alternatives?

In brief, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Shopify, PrestaShop, OpenCart, and Magento 2 are the eCommerce platforms that store owners worldwide choose when leaving Magento 1.x. If you’re looking for more intuitiveness and affordability, you can give Shopify a try. Those merchants already familiar with WordPress will find it easy to use WooCommerce. If the security of your online business is of concern — BigCommerce might be the best option. But if you’re comfortable with Magento 1, just upgrade it to the latest 2.x version.

Can I try Cart2Cart for free?

Yes, the Cart2Cart migration service offers its clients a free Demo Migration feature (test transfer). It allows exporting data types from your current Magento 1 store (up to 10 products and customers/orders related to them) and then pasting it to the new Magento 2 in around 10–15 minutes. If you are satisfied with the Demo outcome, you can move on with the Full (paid) database transfer.