It was in November 2015 that Magento 2.0 came into existence. The platform was announced for both community and enterprise editions. The Magento community was thrilled by this upcoming release. Many felt that the Magento 2 would be a blast while others felt that Magento 1 was better for the e-commerce websites.
The statistics of Builtwith states that 14% of the e-commerce platform in the market is built on Magento and with the entry of Magento 2 the numbers will swell high. Experts believe that within a span of a year most of the stores will move to Magento 2 platform as Magento 1 is slowly making the exit. Now this will include stores moving from Magento 1 to 2 as well as new businesses using the Magento 2 platform.
Where Magento 1 Failed?
It is true that the Magento 1 platform is flexible. People can easily create e-commerce stores according to their preference by using the built-in extensions or by coding. This made it a popular platform for e-commerce stores.
The sad part is that this flexibility alone could not make it a high-performing user-friendly platform. It missed some tools like better admin control, mobile responsiveness, and website performance optimization, which were very much needed.
Moreover, many complained that the website on Magento 1 was very slow. Experts tried to find a solution for the issue, but could not improve the condition at the core level. So to solve the entire issue they developed Magento 2.
Why go for Magento 2?
Features of Magento 2 makes it a better platform for online shopping sites. It is now a better option compared to other competitive platforms like Woocommerce and Shopify.
Some of the important features of Magento 2 are:
Better Performance
When we compare the two versions, Magento 2 runs 20% faster compared to Magento 1. Improved speed helps to improve SEO of the website and get more sales.
The platform has built-in full-page caching, which helps in loading pages faster. Normal non-caching pages work 5-10 seconds, while Magento 2 works in 1-2 seconds. Catalog pages are also handled better. This makes it a better option for online businesses. Apart from that Magento 2 is designed in such a way that it can work faster and so people can easily make use of the new features once they reach the market.
Simple Checkout
Magento 2 comes with simpler and quicker checkout process, which helps customers to go smoothly through the process of adding products to the shopping bag and complete the order. The process requires less customer information and you can get it done in few steps. Less checkout time directly helps to increase conversions and reduce the rate of abandoned shopping bags.
When a customer lands at the checkout section, he or she is asked to enter the email address. If it matches with their existing customer data, they are allowed to quickly complete checkout using the saved information. In the case of a new customer, they can create an account with a single click. This eases the whole process and increases the number of returning customers.
When it comes to Magento 1, they had to do many alterations, to make the checkout process user-friendly. With Magento 2, checkout process has been simplified.
Important Integrations
Magento 2 comes with a number of in-built extensions making them function better. These extensions include payment gateways like Braintree and PayPal. Most of the Magento users would love to integrate these options, which Magento 2 has taken care of.
Improved Admin Interface
Better interface helps to manage the online store easily and quickly. Having a user-friendly interface will help even the newcomers to learn quickly. Admin also has the option to customize the panel, so that they can access important information very quickly. So admin users have personalized panel, which can increase productivity through managing customer data, products as well as orders. Again, 4 times faster import of products helps to create product pages through admin panel easily.
Magento 2 provides drag-and-drop editing option in the admin panel to change the layout. So you can easily create a beautiful online store without much knowledge of coding.
Mobile-friendly
With the number of people using Smartphones and tablets is increasing, you need to have a mobile responsive store to increase sales. Understanding this issue, Magento 2 has given priority to mobile responsiveness. It comes with better themes, easy checkout, and video integration. So the look of the Magento store on the mobile improves drastically, eventually increasing mobile sales.
Change is Slow!
It has been noticed that the Magento 2 has not become famous instantly. People are slowly and steadily moving to Magento 2, but an urgent urge for change is altogether absent. Some of the reasons for it are:
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People who have Magento 1 store are not in the mood to rebuild their website. Magento 2 is completely a different platform so if you want to move to it, you need to build your website on it again.
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Many do not feel it necessary to move as they are satisfied by the performance of the Magento 1 platform.
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The extension companies are slowly making their presence in Magento 2 and so it is not necessary that a Magento 1 user will find what they want here right now. So they are waiting for the right time.
Upgrading the Extensions of Magento 1
As Magento 2 is different from Magento 1, they need to rebuild all the extensions on the new platform. As the number of people moving to Magento 2 will increase, they will demand their favourite extensions on the platform. In case they fail to get what they want, they will move elsewhere. You can better a hire Magento developer team to help you with this transition.
Conclusion:
Though many are still to use Magento 2, it is very much evident that Magento 2 helps customers and admin have better user experience. It is more flexible and comes with some better features. The better checkout process will attract more customers in the long run. In the future, the number of business using Magento 2 will grow. So if you are still to go with the change, it is the right time to make the move.